Awesome to see Jimmy! Well-deserved.
275 karma · joined April 11, 2011
We're building a newsletter/messaging product[1] that connects directly to SQL databases rather than storing user data ourselves. Think Mailchimp but sitting on top of SQL. Or Mode, Looker, etc. but for sending messages.
Vero Newsletters does not store user or activity data. This is important to us. We run queries inside your data warehouse, use query results to personalise your newsletters then forget the data.
The only information we maintain is endpoint (e.g. email address) subscription statuses: Vero is a giant “sieve” through which all messages pass to ensure unsubscribed endpoints never receive another message.
Why is this approach different?
- Invest in a data flywheel. If all your data is read from and written to a central data warehouse a flywheel is created. Investments in data aggregation and organization benefit all users and tools that leverage the central warehouse. This avoids the scenario where customer data is copied to several platforms, all siloed. We are actively working not to become another “system of record”.
- Save money. We don’t store data so have a different cost structure. This means we can charge per message rather than per subscriber. This is unusual for messaging / marketing products and means our pricing is much more cost-effective.
- Minimal data footprint. By not syncing we help you store private user data in fewer places. Data in less places is always a good thing and there are a growing number of tools that can provide secure access-as-needed. We also intend to build out a self-hosted version of our product: much more achievable under this model.
We launched our original product here on HN nine years ago[3]. Since then we’ve been squirrelled away quietly building a business. It’s been an interesting journey.
We think it’s time for the next major iteration in how marketing/CRM software is built.
We hope this data warehouse-first, data-minimal approach will resonate with the sorts of builders here on HN and would love to hear your thoughts, questions, concerns or ideas re: where we're going. Thank you!
[1] Our product: https://getvero.com/newsletters/ [3] Post on HN many years ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4129228
I think the idea of getting real exposure sooner is underrated.
Incidentally, this is why your Startup Apprentice role is so interesting nedwin ;).
Keep it up!
That's one of the big benefits of Vero and the other guys: a typical autoresponder (think Mailchimp) is hard to 'cancel' but it's easy to setup different flows with Vero depending on where a customer is in your product's lifecycle!
I use chrish@getvero.com instead of chris@getvero.com to send the emails. 'chrish' goes to the entire team.
I remember seeing HelloFax do this way back in May 2012 (at least, as far as I can remember!) and it was very effective.
Get on board!
Do you have any details on having used something like this yourself btilly?
Do you sell just the one course?
Some of these tactics could help you up-sell them on other offerings of yours.
Alternately focusing on getting more customers who abandon your funnel could be a quick win. See last week's post: http://blog.getvero.com/how-flightfox-doubled-their-remarket...
chris AT getvero.com if you want to go into real depth / just have a chat: I'd love to help and get you some more sales personally.
Absolutely a relevant question. I was going to put a few disclaimer paragraphs at the top but took them out at the eleventh hour because this post was already pretty long.
For the sorts of tactics in this post I'd say you definitely need product/market fit and a steady stream of incoming customers. Depending on the price of your products, the product mix and your target market this could be 50, 500 or 5000 customers/potential customers. It's more likely to be the upper two, in this case as you need a good sample size to get see any change and know that it's statistically relevant.
After I get through this series of post (or in the meantime, if I get a chance) I'll put together a post that addresses exactly what you've asked for: what 3-5 lifecycle emails should you ABSOLUTELY be sending from the word go and at what point should you implement new strategies like those mentioned here.
It'd be my pleasure :). chris AT getvero.com if you ever want to get in touch and chat directly too.
The truly quality information comes from thought leaders like Jason Cohen and you can understand why he (or anyone with a rigorous scientific approach to customer acquisition) does so well.
There is definitely lots of room for people to focus more heavily on LTV. It's an extremely interesting, complicated and powerful number.
It's a big market with lots of different segments so the future will definitely be interesting!
Hopefully we can cover more of their tests in the future as it's great stuff.
I'll make sure they see this comment too, in case they have any feedback.
Tracking metrics properly would help you take it every further.
Intercom is (in my opinion) more closely related to a CRM. It's messaging features are quite powerful and give you the ability to do support and in-app messaging really easily.
In contrast, our focus is squarely on email right now. We make it easy to setup sophisticated campaigns, use custom HTML templates and do A/B testing - all the good stuff you'd expect when dealing with emails. On top of that we want to make it easier to send better campaigns by building out tools that really help you drive your conversions higher. Reporting is a big part of that, as is sharing real-world examples!
You're not alone in cobbling together a solution, there are a ton of people in that bucket. We want to make Vero the tool that not only helps people save time building their own solutions but allows them to send better campaigns (i.e. better reporting and internal smarts).
The blog posts with examples are hopefully helpful even if you're not using our system!
Also, if you're interested in automating emails based on analytics you should checkout http://getvero.com (disclaimer: I'm a founder). We're working on a Mixpanel integration as I type so we should pick up right where Mixpanel leaves off :).
I'll send you an email with some thoughts on integrating custom events and where we'd like to go with it!
In building a platform we're aware that there is a large piece around education and ensuring our customers use the system effectively and respectfully. It's in our interest that they do this as it means they'll see happier customers / better conversions and continue to find value in Vero.
Further to that I think there will always be a need for true customer support and one-to-one customer service depending on the situation. We've got a few features to help with this, one example is being able to see what emails your users have actually received in order to better understand their needs when talking to them one-on-one. We'll be adding more over time!
Likewise, very interesting to see the same diagram come out of someone else's brain. 'Great minds think alike' as they say.
Email is an extremely effective tool for both marketing to and communicating with your users. Our aim is to make event-based emails as targeted and personal as possible. If a user receives an email pertinent to their personal situation it's much less likely to be received as an annoyance or spam.
You need to respect the inbox but that doesn't mean you can't use it at all!
Just fixed the link on the header logo (did the same for the logo in the sidebar), good suggestion.