2008 Forrester Groundswell Award Submission |
|||||||
|
|
|
|||||
Applian Technologies Seeks New Customers
Applian Technologies was seeking a way to attract new customers to its affordable streaming media recording software. Their traditional marketing methods, such as web site, email and PPC, were driving expected results, but the company was disappointed with conversions from their free trial. The company was confident, however, that if it could increase usage of its free product, that it would drive more purchases.
In the summer of 2007, the company discovered a new method for deploying a free software product and keeping itself top of mind with users: a branded community toolbar called “Freecorder”. Using Conduit technologies, the company put its audio recording software right where users’ need it -- in the browser. In doing so, they also found an intuitive, effective, fast and free method for communicating news and daily updates to its customers.
Applian customers who install the Freecorder Toolbar have plenty of good reasons to keep it. They enjoy recording audio from the web, and having instant access to the new products, news and other content from the Applian site. They can also directly connect to the Applian blog and user community which offers tips and other news of interest.
New revenue far exceeds expectations
Applian was pleased to find that the Freecorder Toolbar became a smart, yet subtle, marketing tool by allowing them to use the free product to show off their technology and to communicate constantly with customers directly in their browsers. The toolbar proved to be a potent method for driving site traffic and introducing prospective customers to myriad products. Most importantly, Freecorder subscribers converted frequently to new buyers for Applian's higher-end products. In fact, the company converted thousands of users and garnered tens of thousands in new sales directly attributed to the Freecorder Toolbar.
The toolbar can be updated without programming skills, and those changes hit the browser the next time the user opens Firefox or IE. This has given Applian a powerful method to test different marketing strategies and methods and get instant feedback. For example, according to CEO Bill Dettering, the company recently tweaked a button on the toolbar (to take users to the Recording Solutions page) and immediately they saw the sales from the toolbar increase 50%.
Drives new "male 18 to 34" demographic to the Applian site
Applian found that giving away a really cool tool for free has paid off in unexpected ways. The toolbar attracted an entirely new demographic of males 18 to 34, an audience that can be difficult to reach and even harder to keep. This demographic has an expectation that software is free, but after using the Freecorder toolbar, this valuable audience converted at surprisingly high rates to purchase higher-end offerings. Because the free product on the toolbar established credibility for Applian with this demanding audience, it drove interest (and purchases) of the company’s other products.
Results: Site traffic increases by 7,000 new users daily; over two million active users
With 7,000 new users installing the Freecorder Toolbar every day, it has proven to be an effective method for talking about Applian and its products. Once users installed the Freecorder Toolbar, Applian had their brand prominently on the browser of people who may not have thought of returning to the site. Now they can go from the toolbar to the website and get to know all of Applian’s products.
Since the 8/1/2007 launch, Applian has had over 2.3 million toolbar installations, dramatically expanding the number of people who are exposed to the company's new developments in audio recording.
Business results at-a-glance
- Site traffic increases by 7,000 new users daily; over 2.3 million active users.
- Tens of thousands of dollars garnered from upsells in the last 12 months.
- Increased engagement and customer loyalty.
- New participation among valuable "male 18 to 34" demographic.
