Capital-Efficient Customer Acquisition, Company Building: ReTargeter CEO Arjun Dev Arora (Part 5)

Sramana: You started this company in 2009. Could you talk about the companies ramp and what strategies you have used to achieve that?

Arjun Dev Arora: Initially, a lot of our ramp was based on referrals. Eventually, we started to do some more formal marketing programs. We started sending out emails, we made AdWord buys, we attended conferences, and we did things that were more traditional market activities. Once we hit profitability, we hired salespeople. We did a lot of cold calling and email to try and get initial entry.

We continued to use technology in interesting ways as we scaled over time. We continued our email outreach programs to include automated campaigns. We were one of the first to use Twitter advertising as a means to attract new customers. As the companies we worked with grew, we were able to increase with their growth. A company may have had 10,000 unique users when they started working with us, and they now have 50,000. We grew with them through that process, so instead of spending $500 a month they are now spending $2,500 dollars.

Sramana: What does the sales cycle entail? Do people come to your site and buy the technology on their own, or do you sell through the phone?

Arjun Dev Arora: From our perspective, we need to get people on the phone. We need to explain what we are doing. There is a lot of change in the market, so we do a lot of education. Our marketing department puts out a lot of good content, and our sales force does a lot of education. We spend a lot of time doing that. As re-targeting becomes increasingly prevalent we are finding people who sign up online; however, the majority of the time people submit lead forms or call our office. We will take conversations as they happen from there.

Sramana: How many clients do you have right now? What type of penetration have you been able to reach?

Arjun Dev Arora: We have a couple of thousand of clients now. We believe 2012 will be a big year to scale.

Sramana: What market segments do you see a lot of traction with?

Arjun Dev Arora: Retail, consumer goods, hospitality, automotive, B2B software, HR and education are all great verticals. There are many more coming. Finance is another big vertical that is continuing to grow. I think B2B software is an ideal situation; using us is a no-brainer there. The price point is so high that people can sign up online. We find that B2B software players understand the web pretty well, and they require less education. We also find a lot of traction with retailers who sell online. They have a very similar adoption rate.

Sramana: Do you have an affiliate program?

Arjun Dev Arora: We do not formally have one, but we do have a lot of partners that we work with. Our marketing team is working tirelessly to raise awareness of re-targeting. There are still so many people who do not know about it. That is our biggest challenge. We need to raise awareness.

This segment is part 5 in the series : Capital-Efficient Customer Acquisition, Company Building: ReTargeter CEO Arjun Dev Arora
1 2 3 4 5 6