Helping SaaS Companies Grow Through Revenue Sharing: Avangate CEO Carl Theobald (Part 6)

Sramana: It seems that many of your mid-market customers could be coming in through the self-service channel as well. Have you found that to be the case?

Carl Theobald: That is a very good point. Our self-service channel is a very good sales tool. Software AG is a customer of ours that came to us through the self-service channel. They certainly are not a startup. These days, more and more customers want to try before they buy. They just want to get their hands on it and see what happens. We obviously see them come in, which allows us to get into a more formal sales cycle for larger customers.

Sramana: Where do customers go to sign up?

Carl Theobald: They can sign up directly at www.avangate.com; that is probably the easiest way. There is a link on the top of that page where customers can sign up and get started with the self-service portal. You can choose between the e-commerce solution and the SkyCommerce Suite, which is our mid-market solution. Both options are based on the same platform. When you elect SkyCommerce, you are getting additional bells and whistles, so when you are on the self-service suite it is feasibly to upgrade to the SkyCommerce suite.

The sign-up process is straightforward. There are a few questions to be answered and then we will do a quick review before sending you a note giving you instructions. When you sign in, there is a quick wizard that will guide you through setting things up. It is all an intuitive self-service interface.

Sramana: Are you still actively attracting SaaS customers?

Carl Theobald: SaaS is big for us. Software in general, but SaaS in particular is very important. Now we are broadening out to anyone that offers information or technical services online in a subscription model. myFICO is a good example. Next year we are really going to target particular segments that use that business model. Software SaaS and cloud services are key.

Sramana: What is an example of a SaaS company that has been with you for a while that can attribute a strong growth in sales to your platform?

Carl Theobald: Padiact is one example of an early-stage company that we have helped. They are a young company focused on enabling marketers to personalize website interactions by segments delivering the right message at the right time in order to increase email subscription rates and collect highly targeted leads. As a young company, they needed to expand distribution, optimize their online experience … and do so without hiring extra heads. In 12 months, we’ve doubled the number of countries to which they sell without having to add local business entities or deal with financial reconciliation and exchange rates; increased their sales by over 300% and trial conversion to over 85% with localized online experiences coupled with automated follow up and trial management tools; and more recently, we’re supporting their subscription billing, customer management, and retention efforts without having Padiact have to stitch a bunch of tools together themselves.

We love stories like this where we help the entrepreneur compete globally on par with any competitor.

This segment is part 6 in the series : Helping SaaS Companies Grow Through Revenue Sharing: Avangate CEO Carl Theobald
1 2 3 4 5 6 7