Nozbe’s Clever Strategy for Improving Onboarding & Retention
Gregg Blanchard /
There are a few ideas that I’ve chewed on over the years around SendView, but rarely as different parts of the same whole.
For example, we want folks to use the platform more because more usage correlates to more value they get from the product and the likelihood they’ll keep paying for it. We also want to partner with more agencies because they’re constantly working with email clients at the point where competitive insights are most useful. Then there’s the affiliate angle, I’ve tried to crack the “reward people for telling others about us” concept a few times but never quite found a way to make it work for the right voices in the email space.
Today when I was listening to Nathan Barry’s recent work session with Michael Sliwinski from Nozbe, I started hearing some similar challenges their team has tried to solve. Specifically, the correlation between someone getting setup up really well on the platform and that user sticking around.
So I pulled up their site and poked around when I found an idea I thought was really clever: Nozbe Experts.
Nozbe Experts
This program combines a handful of different marketing concepts under a single program, many of which were the ones I sketched out at the top of this post.
1. A Name
First, I love that it has a name to help it feel more concrete. Names aren’t always needed, but I like the way they kept it simple with a single, descriptive word.
2. Certification
Having a certification tied to this feels like another strong move. It’s not just a group of smart people, it’s a group a smart people who you can trust know the product really well.
3. Affiliate
Next, these Experts also get access to an exclusive tier of Nozbe affiliate commissions. Whether Nozbe recruits experts as affiliates or as experts who happen to get commission, I love that this is an option.
4. Selling Point
The existence of this group is a nice selling point. For potential users, it’s great for them to know experts are available to work with. For the experts, that visibility is a nice perk that can help recruit folks to the program.
5. Voice at the Table
You’ll notice below in the feature table that the group gets regular strategy sessions with the Nozbe CEO. This tie back to the product roadmap is really smart and a win-win for both the Expert and Nozbe.
Add it All Up
Add it all up and you have a group of:
- Savvy, trusted experts in Nozbe’s market…
- Understand the value of Nozbe on a deep level…
- Sharing ways to improve the product…
- Telling their clients / others about Nozbe…
- Helping (some) Nozbe users become less likely to churn.
It doesn’t solve the entire problem – most users probably won’t work with an expert – but for a certain segment of user I can see this working really well. I like how this also feels right on brand for a smaller SaaS company that has a more personal, direct connection to their users and the company’s leadership.
I love this concept.
Honestly, I might sketch out a similar approach for SendView and see how it feels.