by Kyle Leavitt | 9 Comments
Yes, you read it correctly. 
I’m thrilled beyond description to officially announce that Infusionsoft has acquired our product CustomerHub!!!
CustomerHub is now a part of Infusionsoft. Wow, that’s so amazing for me to say!
Since the days of our company’s inception, there have been many important milestones in the history of CustomerHub. The idea for the product simply ‘came to us’ during a lunch discussion one day over three years ago. Even then, we had no idea what it would eventually turn into. It was created initially as a simple customer account portal for Infusionsoft users’ customers, allowing them to manage their accounts online.
Then there was InfusionCon 2009, the event where we officially ‘launched’ the product and acquired our first 70 customers. That was pure ecstasy.
In the months following, our customers started asking for the ability to add ‘member areas’ inside CustomerHub and the beginnings of our current membership functionality were born.
It was only a handful of months ago that we made the decision to abandon our very successful Infusionsoft consulting business (many of you know this service business as ‘Infused Systems’) in order to focus our attention fully and squarely onto CustomerHub. As “software guys”, we had been looking forward to that day for a long time.
There have been many other important milestones (in fact too many to mention in this blog post), but all of them dwarf in comparison to this day. This is a day when CustomerHub enters a new dimension. We’re going from a five-person company with little resources and practically no capital to a well-established company with over 180 employees, significant resources, and plenty of capital.
We’ve been able to accomplish some amazing things with only a handful of people and no money in the bank. Imagine what the future holds as we now move forward as a part of the Infusionsoft organization – opportunity is abundant and the possibilities are endless!
Why Infusionsoft purchased CustomerHub
The primary reason that Infusionsoft has acquired us is because they recognize the value of the technology we’ve built and the fast-growing industry we’re a part of. The number of membership sites is growing rapidly and is only projected to grow faster in the coming years. Small businesses are looking for a way to simplify their operations, reduce overhead, and create sustainable recurring revenue, and membership sites are one of the best ways to do that!
As a user of CustomerHub, you can look forward to the accelerated improvement in the product that is on the near horizon. Joining Infusionsoft will also allow us to market, sell, and support it better. Yesss!
What’s changing?
Initially, not much. We’ll continue to operate the same way we have been until the end of 2011 (we’re even staying in our current office for now).
Starting in the beginning of 2012 a more significant integration effort will begin, during which our company operations will begin to merge in with Infusionsoft.
I expect that you’ll experience nothing but positive impact from these changes. As we work to integrate our sales, marketing, development, and support efforts you should see significant improvements in these areas! And of course throughout the transition we’ll communicate any relevant information to you as it becomes available.
One thing I do know is that my brother Nathan and I (founders of CustomerHub and Infused Systems) will continue to be in charge of driving CustomerHub forward. This product has been our passion over the past three years and it’s exhilarating to know that we have the opportunity to maintain that within the Infusionsoft organization!
In closing, I want to thank you, our CustomerHub users. Without your support none of this would have been possible. With your support we have built something special! We look forward to rewarding your loyalty with even better software in the near future – designed with the same purpose in mind as always: making your life easier, your business stronger, and putting more money in your bank accounts!
Kyle Leavitt
Co-founder & President, CustomerHub
by Kyle Leavitt | 2 Comments
This video explains the problem with default opt-out links in Infusionsoft and outlines best practices for opt-out links that are marketing friendly and help you maintain the integrity of your email list.
by KC DeKorte | Leave a Comment
There is a lot of talk today about Forced Continuity. Let’s start by defining it for those who don’t know what it means. Forced Continuity is a recurring charge that automatically begins to occur on a regular scheduled basis after an initial sign-up and/or purchase of a product/service is made. The payment continues to bill until the buyer cancels. The idea behind Forced Continuity is that the buyer has bought something they want and has agreed to continue to buy it until they make the effort to stop. Some people confuse Forced Continuity with membership. While you can use Forced Continuity to establish a membership subscription the Forced Continuity does not have to be associated with a membership.
Let’s look at pros and cons of a real world example. Let’s take a 30 day free trial for hosted software. Once the free trial is over forced continuity would kick-in and the monthly charges kick-in. The charges continue until the user cancels or as long as the software is valid. So why forced continuity in this scenario?
Pro:
- Free trial to paying customer conversion is higher with forced continuity
- The retention rate is higher when customers are being auto billed vs. being asked to pull out their credit card each month
Con:
- No matter how often you communicate it, you will always have some people who don’t read or don’t fully understand what it is they are agreeing to and you risk making these people angry
- For those who didn’t understand what they were signing-up for you may be faced with charge backs. If you have a number of charge backs your credit card processing rates can go up
There are some very basic rules to follow when putting a forced continuity program in place.
- Make it very clear in the ordering process that the buyer’s card will be charged (do not use small print)
- Clearly state how much they will be charged and how often
- Have the buyer agree to the charge in a set of terms/conditions
- Send the buyer an email reminding them of your terms/conditions
- Make it easy for the buyer to cancel at any time
- Never try to hide a forced continuity program. It is not in anyone’s best interest
by Kyle Leavitt | Leave a Comment
Since Infusionsoft is such a comprehensive system, sometimes its difficult for new users to know what things to focus on in order to ensure they’re effectively implementing and using the system.
With that in mind, I’ve compiled a list of the five most important must-do items for every Infusionsoft user:
1. Capture leads online
Every business should offer a free report or other ‘carrot’ (free gift, trial offer, etc) in order to build a list, qualify prospects, and gain permission to market. If you don’t have a targeted list then you have no way of marketing or following up effectively and you’re essentially relying on your prospects to either a) sign up for your product or service on their own (i.e. ‘sell’ themselves), b) pick up the phone and call you for more information, or c) remember who you are when they need what you offer. In other words, if you don’t capture their information you’re living on a prayer—-you’re at the mercy of your prospects and have no control over generating new business on your own.
2. Follow up like a pro
If you’re using Infusionsoft and you’re not following up like a pro then you’re really missing the boat. This should be the primary reason you own Infusionsoft! This is what makes Infusionsoft so powerful. Properly leveraging the automated follow-up technology in Infusionsoft is the key to converting more leads (at a lower cost), getting more repeat sales from your customers, and growing your business quickly and profitably.
3. Sell online
99.9% of all small businesses should be selling their products & services online. This allows you to generate money without incurring a cost to take an order. You need to make it as easy as possible for your prospects & customers to buy your products and services and this means letting them sign up online if and when they want to. If you want to be taken seriously then you need to be selling online.
4. Automate
Follow-up is only one aspect of Infusionsoft automation. By properly utilizing Infusionsoft actions, action sets, and triggers you can automate everything from list segmentation to lead distribution to membership management. This is the key to growing your business without growing your staff and achieving maximum profits.
5. Get organized
When everything’s said and done, you need the ability to make business decisions based on the information in Infusionsoft. This requires that you’re managing your Infusionsoft in an organized way and know how to access the right reports.
Use these five points guide your implementation and get maximum ROI out of Infusionsoft!
If you need Infusionsoft help, we offer a variety of specialized services to help you get implemented quickly and efficiently.
by KC DeKorte | 1 Comment
This blog post goes along with my prior post about Web Presence vs. a Website but I want to put a little twist on it. The other day I was reviewing a website for one of our clients. On their homepage, they had the typical top navigation that basically led their three different target audiences deeper into their site. It got me thinking. Why would you market a single website that spoke to three different audiences? Back in the 1990’s this was common because a website could cost tens of thousands of dollars to build and maintain. Today it can cost you a thousand or so to build and a few dollars a month to maintain. Why wouldn’t you just build a unique site that speaks directly to each audience? This does not mean you can’t link them together and have a corporate brand that goes across each site. As a matter of fact, that can only help you with your search optimization. What I am talking about here is a specific website that is designed, written and provides tools for the audience you want to capture. There are a few key reasons why this concept can only help you business:
1 – When someone comes to your site you are speaking their language – resulting in higher conversion.
2 – The visitor is not confused by other paths (navigation links) that do not pertain to them – resulting in a more streamlined experience.
3 – If you are marketing a B2C product/service the consumer does not learn about how the B2B side of your business works – this could be a big turn off to them.
4 – Your site is simply cleaner – less clicks, less paths, less opportunity to lose the visitor.
5 – You can give the visitor specific calls to action that are geared right at them.
6 – You can provide tools and education for the correct market every time.
7 – The follow-up that is connected to your lead generation can be geared to the right audience because you know who you are capturing by the site they were visiting.
Let me take you through a real world example. Let’s say you market to home buyers but the product/service you offer has an opportunity for real estate agents as well. Why would you want to tell the consumers about the realtor programs you offer? You wouldn’t bring up this program if you were talking to them on the phone so why bring it up on your website. This is a great situation for two websites. One for your B2B market and one targeted directly at your B2C market.
The bottom line – - If you have more than one market you need to have more than one website. Don’t cheat your visitors out of the “direct” experience they deserve.
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