Acens Case Study

Strategic Goals

• Target self-employed and small business owners with new products.
• Give customers an easy way to create high-quality responsive websites.
• Boost customer retention and satisfaction.

How BaseKit was launched

• High-profile cross-channel marketing drew customers’ attention to product.
• Key customers were contacted directly to inform them about the sitebuilder.
• During sale and after sale, marketing was continuous to encourage customers to activate their bundled products.

Results

• 40K sites provisioned with BaseKit in 6 months.
• Improved perception of Telefónica and Acens in marketplace
• 42% less churn among customers using the sitebuilder.

Background

Spanish hosting company Acens is a pioneer in the development of Cloud solutions for small and medium-sized companies to which it offers flexible, secure and efficient solutions, both in private, public and mixed cloud environments.

Acens was founded in 1997 and has grown rapidly since then. In 2011 it was acquired by Telefónica and by 2015 its turnover had reached €39 million and its staff numbered around 250 people across Spain. Today Acens sells its services under its own brands, as well as through Telefónica’s brands as white label offerings.

The need for simple web presence products

The team at Acens are incredibly good at understanding their customers and their needs. They recognised that a large segment of their customers would really benefit from having an easy way to create a business website.

Building a business website has always meant a large commitment – both financially and in terms of input of time and effort. But things are changing. A fast growing company like Acens knew it needed to offer a product that would be far less painful for customers, financially and logistically.

Gain new customers, retain old customers

This was a perfect opportunity for Acens on two fronts: to gain a wave of new customers and to reach out to existing customers, particularly those with old, non-responsive websites which were a struggle to update.

BaseKit’s website builder equipped Acens with a smart, cutting edge product which caught the eye of new customers – a potential engine of enormous growth in newer markets. At the same time Acens was able to give a powerful reason for existing customers to stay locked into their services.

Fast integration through close support

Integrating a new product into an existing suite of services is often a long, difficult process. Not so in this case.

The importance of helping customers use the product

Acens knew one of their biggest challenges was getting customers to activate products included in their bundles. Their solution was to put a strong focus on post-sales marketing.

Customers needed tangible evidence of the benefits. They needed to see what their site could potentially look like and how it could boost their business. So that’s what Acens gave them.

Email campaigns and one-on-one conversations with their customers have seen huge activation rates that exceeded Acens’ expectations. There’s also been a startling 42% reduction in churn for those customers who are using the website builder.

A shift to adding value rather than cutting prices

Acens’ adoption of BaseKit website builder and e-commerce platform has delivered instant benefits, but it’s the longer term benefits that could prove most powerful.

Once a customer has built a website using the tools provided, they have a more compelling reason to stay put. A website is a key part of a business’s face to the world and it’s not something they’re willing to discard lightly.

In a sector with constant downward price pressure and ongoing commoditisation of services, a website builder can be a genuine game changer. There’s a shift in the dynamics: as the constant pressure to find new customers eases, businesses such as Acens can focus more on adding value, and begin to change how their customers see them.