Does focusing on brand promotion eliminate traffic? Take a look at this Belgian charging station.

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According to data from Global Market Insights, the global smart charging pile market was worth approximately US$3.07 billion in 2023 and is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 27.5%.

This is due to the widespread market access of electric vehicles (EVs), technological advancements, and government policies supporting clean energy and sustainable transportation.

In addition, the advantages of smart charging piles in improving charging efficiency, user experience, and power grid management have also attracted a large amount of investment and corporate participation.

The report predicts that the global smart charging pile market will reach $27.69 billion by 2032.

In this article, I'll be dissecting the business website "Smappee," a Belgian company in the smart charging pile industry.

According to the profile of "Smappee", the company has an annual revenue of approximately £15 million (equivalent to RMB132 million) and about 140 employees, with an average revenue of RMB942,800 per person.

I. "Small Companies" and Differentiated Competition

Founded in 2012, Smappee promotes green environmental protection and sustainable development, primarily manufacturing smart charging stations and providing related software services. Its products cover multiple fields, including residential, commercial, and public utility applications. The company also has achievements in smart energy management systems, such as its Smappee monitoring system, which can measure various energy and power quality data. Founder Stefan Grosjean started his business in energy management .

The company is actively expanding its business globally, with local staff in five major markets including Australia, the United States, the Middle East, the United Kingdom, and South Africa. However, its market coverage is not comparable to that of some large multinational corporations.

While it cannot be compared with industry giants such as Tesla, Alfen, and BP Pulse, Smappee enjoys a certain reputation in the industry due to its leading intelligent energy management system and unique product features , such as seamless integration with solar panels, remote access, and timed charging.

II. Focusing on the local market and having no interest in the global market?

My previous description might mislead people into thinking that "Smappee" is a "small company".

In reality, while his company simply can't compare to multinational corporations, it's still considered above average within   industry. The "Smappee" business website performs exceptionally well in terms of user engagement and traffic growth.

The "Smappee" business website has an Authority Score of 36, which is enough to prove the value of its business website.

p.s : Authority Score is an indicator used to measure the authority and credibility of a global information site or individual in a specific field.

However, in terms of "organic search traffic" and "backlinks," a rough assessment would only place them at an average level globally.

Although it cannot be compared with industry giants such as ChargePoint, Shell Recharge, and Alfen, which often cost hundreds of thousands, the "Smappee" business website is unrivaled in its own SEO field.

However, from the perspective of the entire industry (especially the rapidly growing smart charging pile market), more than 800 keywords is not a very high coverage .

This is especially true when other competitors (such as ChargePoint or Alfen) may cover thousands of keywords.

To this end, I briefly examined the homepage, service aggregation page, and blog sections of the "Smappee" business website.

Judging from all indications, his website may be more focused on attracting users' initial interest and building brand trust than on driving conversions.

This explains why the "Smappee" business website, despite being officially operating for nearly ten years, exhibits a "laissez-faire" attitude in its various metrics.

However, the so-called "Buddhist-like" attitude is relative to multinational giants. In Belgium, his company is already the undisputed No.1 in the smart charging pile industry  

Having seen countless business websites focused solely on SEO, let's change things up this time and take a look at how excellent brand-focused business websites are created.

3. Winning with "Brand" – No Need for SEO?

Since it's a brand showcase website, we should definitely take a look at the homepage first.

It is clear that the Smappee website design emphasizes visual appeal, conveying a "modern and innovative" brand image through high-quality images and a minimalist design .

First, the page uses a dark background paired with simple white font and decorative highlight elements to showcase a professional and modern brand image.

Furthermore, the irregular lines and geometric patterns in the background enhance the sense of technology while avoiding being too monotonous.

The layout of images and modules is clear, and contrasting colors are used to highlight key content (such as the title "Designed to Empower").

In addition, the product display images (such as charging piles) are designed to be aesthetically pleasing, using a simple shooting style and bright lighting effects to convey a sense of high-end quality and technological leadership.

Incidentally, its copywriting style (such as "Designed to Empower" and "The smartest charging stations for any situation") is powerful and futuristic, which aligns with its brand positioning in the smart charging field.

This brand awareness is also incorporated into the "Smappee" Blog strategy.

Using technical means, I scraped the entire blog's title directory. They published their first post in 2016, then only two posts that year, and continued updating at a leisurely pace each year thereafter.

Until last year, the frequency of blog posts increased slightly, from 6 posts in 2022 to 13 posts in 2023.

Putting everything else aside, anyone who regularly follows CTMON can see that this blog posts far too infrequently and in very limited quantities.

It's important to understand that a robust content matrix strategy needs to cover different stages of user needs (cognition, consideration, decision-making, loyalty) and expand brand influence and drive conversions through multi-channel and multi-format content.

His blog covers multiple aspects such as brand promotion, industry education, technical solutions, and product promotion, which can indeed meet the needs of some early users who are in the "awareness" stage and some who are "considering".

TIPS

• Users in the awareness stage are typically just becoming aware of their own needs or problems (e.g., "I need to install an electric vehicle charging station" or "How to manage energy efficiency"). Their search behavior focuses on learning and acquiring industry information, as well as finding potential solution providers.
• Users in the consideration phase have already identified a specific need , such as businesses requiring charging stations or home users looking to optimize energy management. Their focus is on finding a suitable solution while evaluating the capabilities and product features of different vendors.
• Users in the decision-making stage have narrowed down several candidate solutions and are comparing the specific advantages of different vendors before making a final selection. At this stage, users are more concerned with detailed data (such as cost and energy-saving effects), technical implementation methods, ease of operation, and service support.

A blog geared towards users in the cognitive stage, for example:

• “Smappee wins international design award twice with smart charging stations”
• “How Smappee’s NILM technology works”
• “Why smart meters aren’t delivering on their promise of energy savings”

These blogs effectively attract users in the awareness stage by showcasing Smappee's award-winning achievements, technological leadership, and industry insights (such as reviews of smart meters), conveying brand authority and market positioning.

A blog for users in the consideration phase, for example:

• “Smappee’s complete charging solution helps Damman focus on electrification”
• “Why DPD Ireland embraces sustainable delivery with Smappee’s Smart Charging Solution”
• “How does Smappee enable auto-consumption?”
• “8 reasons why Smappee EV chargers are the smartest of them all”

These blogs primarily showcase Smappee's product advantages, success stories, and ability to solve specific customer problems.

In my opinion, it's not that they don't consider driving user decision-making on their business website, but rather that the nature of their B2B business dictates that "decision-making" primarily occurs in specific business communication scenarios.

However, Smappee's blog content does need more specific data and in-depth content to enhance its persuasiveness to users in the "consideration" stage and meet their needs for service comparison.

At the same time, following the Google SEO best practice principle of "accurate traffic on one hand and conversion rate on the other," it is also important to focus on driving content production from "decision-making" users, and to plan topic blogs similar to the following:

• "Smappee Charging Station Installation Cost Comparison Guide"
• How can businesses save up to 30% on charging costs with Smappee?

Try to get users to leave their contact information or initiate instant communication to promote user conversion.

Epilogue: Little Creator Has Something to Say

Despite Smappee's mediocre performance in global SEO and traffic metrics, its business website has successfully cultivated a brand image closely associated with technology, innovation, and environmental protection through its clean, sophisticated visual design and futuristic copywriting.

This strategy, which emphasizes brand experience and user trust, is relatively rare among small and medium-sized companies in the smart charging pile industry. Despite facing giants such as Tesla and Alfen, Smappee still holds a leading position in the Belgian domestic market.

For other B2B export websites, Smappee's case reminds us that innovative products and a strong brand strategy are key to standing out.

As the smart charging station market expands, Smappee is poised to gain a larger share of the global market if it strengthens its SEO optimization and content marketing. This provides valuable experience for any company hoping to achieve a breakthrough in the global market.