FMTC Behind the Feed (Part 1: The Human Touch) 

Not surprisingly, FMTC’s mission as a tool and service provider means we inherently love technology. We love to automate processes – for our own business efficiency and to help make your job easier. And while we embrace (and often geek-out about) technology, we still understand that humans need to be involved in the process. 

We’re proud of the hybrid approach we have, combining the processing of deals, offers, and coupons using technology along with the human component of vetting every aspect of the final product we deliver.

What you get is a clean, formatted data feed, But there’s a lot going on behind the scenes to make that happen.

FMTC has more than 34 people processing data 24×7 in three countries These highly-valued FMTC team members are clicking on every link, checking every element, and ensuring that when deals are posted they are valid, valuable, and viable for your business to promote. Basically, we are doing the work, so you can do what you do best – online marketing!

How it Works

Amy Walsh, FMTC’s Data Processing Team Lead oversees all the data processors along with five shift leads. When Amy joined FMTC four and a half years ago, there were only six deal processors. 

Her department processes thousands of deals each day – on average about 65 an hour, per person. They also add an average of more than 100 new merchants each week and review an average of 557 merchant or network notifications every day.

Amy’s seen the process evolve during her tenure at FMTC. She’s also been instrumental in refining the process for efficiency. She works with the FTMC technical team to make modifications that reduce manual errors and make the process faster. 

FMTC is constantly evolving its complex algorithms that assign a queue score to every deal based on specific criteria. The higher the deal score, the higher priority for processing. Premium merchants are automatically routed to a different queue that is prioritized.

While technology streamlines the overall process, the entire method is still complicated. Adding humans into the mix helps ensure everything runs smoothly, but it also requires extensive training.

That’s why Amy created multi-facet training materials that include videos, self-paced online learning information, and a variety of resources that enable new team members to get up to speed quickly. These materials also give data processors instant access to information that can help resolve issues and solve problems. A Trello board listing the rules that have been encoded into the software is always evolving. Team members receive a monetary incentive for coming up with a new rule.

Creating a Team Culture

When the pandemic hit many businesses were forced to figure out how to have workers do their job remotely. Many scrambled and some struggled. FMTC has always had a virtual workforce. This means there was no disruption to processes and services. 

Still, more than ever workers craved an even stronger sense of connection with other FMTC  team members. 

“The unification piece was important for each team member to feel like they are important and when everyone is working together, it builds up momentum,” Amy says. “We want them to be able to reach out and help each other. Seeing others hitting goals or getting promotions is motivating – especially during COVID.”

In addition to a monthly all-company meeting and weekly department team huddles, Amy started some fun initiatives to bring workers together. There’s been a virtual 5K, a virtual lunch Zoom call, encouragement to share more photos on Slack based on certain themes – Superheroes, wearing FMTC team gear, and more.

There’s also an app (called Bonus.ly) that enables team members to give points to coworkers for helping them, for solving a problem, or simply to recognize an effort. These points accumulate and can be redeemed for hundreds of choices of gift cards or cash via PayPal.

Fostering a team culture has created a cohesive group. The team is happier, invested in their personal and the company’s success, and more productive. 

The Numbers

The results of this team + tech approach can be seen in the data.

• For the week during Thanksgiving ending November 28th (and leading up to Cyber Monday), FMTC processed nearly 52,000 deals. 
• In November 16,728 network and merchant newsletters and notifications were read
• For November 280,257 affiliate deals were processed.
• FMTC has product feeds available for 1,963 merchants.

Stay tuned for FMTC Behind the Feed (Part 2: Tech Talk). We’ll dive into the technology behind the data feeds and give a sneak peek at what’s in the pipeline for 2021.