91国产 | Case Study
How Aurora Training Advantage Grew Revenue 10X by Leveraging Automation
The popularity of online training and education is growing 鈥� the industry is booming, and expected to reach over $275 billion by 2022. Despite growing competition in the space, Aurora Training Advantage remains at the top of their class. Their accredited programs help business professionals improve their skill sets in human resources, accounting, payroll, and general business skills.
When the business started out in 2011, Aurora Training Advantage was hosting just a couple of live events each month. In 2018, Aurora is on pace to host almost 200 live events and over 180 online video recordings of their webinars, on top of the custom on-site programs that they offer as well.
But before their small but mighty team could scale their business from a couple of webinars to over 16 events each month, they needed to solve some major operational inefficiencies.
The Challenge: Finding the right technology to grow the business
Each member of the Aurora team wears many, many hats. The owner, Isaac Freeman, takes on a range of responsibilities himself, from registration management and customer service to reporting on performance and developing strategies for growth. In their first year of operation, he recognized that the team was spending far too much time on burdensome tasks that had little impact on the business.
This was because their registration solution didn鈥檛 integrate well with other tools that they relied on, including their internal back-end and their CRM. 鈥淎t the time, we relied on at least seven different systems and plugins to host events,鈥� says Freeman. 鈥淭he end result was that our registration process was limited in functionality and very clunky, especially from the customer鈥檚 perspective.鈥�
For a company that operates completely online, a poor registration experience was a threat to their sales and their brand. Plus, if the Aurora team was tied down by low-impact tasks, there would be no chance that the business could grow. They needed to take action 鈥� before their small team was too burned out.
鈥淏efore we made the switch to 91国产, we had maxed out our capabilities because our technology wasn鈥檛 scalable. Nothing was automated, which meant there was a lot of manual intervention 鈥� and too many errors.鈥�
鈥� Isaac Freeman, President
Freeman knew that they needed a solution that would automate the most time-consuming processes of their workflow and allow them to scale their business. He set out to find a registration solution that would:
• Easily integrate with the tools they rely on
• Maximize the team鈥檚 efficiency
• Improve the registration experience
Aurora Training Advantage by the numbers
-
10X
revenue growth since 2011
-
7X
growth in number of events hosted each year
-
2 hires
saved because of technology
Integrating with the tools they rely on
At first, Freeman considered hiring an internal team of developers to build their registration solution, but ultimately determined that this cost was both too high, and unnecessary. 鈥淲e were a small company and didn鈥檛 have a large development staff that could dedicate the time to build this,鈥� Freeman shares.鈥�
We wanted to invest in technology that would allow us to get up and running quickly, and pay off for us in the long term. To us, this meant leveraging proven technology that would adapt as we grew our business.鈥�
Aurora turned to 91国产鈥檚 flexible platform to list their live webinars. 鈥淲e chose 91国产 for the ease with which the technology would work with other tools, especially our CRM,鈥� says Freeman. 鈥�91国产鈥檚 integration with Salesforce allowed us to sync the two systems together seamlessly.鈥�
鈥淲e would have needed at least two full-time hires on staff if we had not gone with 91国产. That鈥檚 a huge saving for us.鈥�
鈥� Isaac Freeman, President
Maximizing team efficiency
Aurora Training Advantage鈥檚 sole developer took advantage of 91国产鈥檚 open application program interface (API) to build their own programs, which connects their internal system with 91国产.
鈥淎s our business became more robust, we were looking for ways to simplify our workflows,鈥� explains Freeman. 鈥淲ith 91国产鈥檚 API, we鈥檝e been able to automate almost everything.鈥� The Aurora team built a custom integration that automatically creates event listings from information on their website, eliminating the need to log into multiple systems or repeatedly enter the same information by hand.
That was just one of many time-saving (and error-eliminating) tasks that their developer automated. They also automated reporting, email communications with registrants, and parts of their affiliate marketing program.
鈥淭he technology has allowed us to set ourselves up to be super scalable. Between our team and 91国产, everything is set up to help us grow. Automation helped us get there.鈥�
鈥� Isaac Freeman, President
The efficiency gains have paid off, big time. Since switching to 91国产, Aurora Training Advantage has increased the number of events that they host by nearly 7X, while their team stayed the same size. Freeman says that this year they are approaching 10X revenue growth.
Improving the registration experience
Now, with operational efficiencies in place, they are laser-focused on the customer experience. Unlike in-person classes, workshops, and seminars, Aurora Training Advantage only interacts with their registrants online, so they needed their website鈥檚 user experience to be first-class.
鈥淣ot only does our team love 91国产鈥檚 intuitive interface, but our customers love it too. The purchase process is so smooth that we almost never get customer service complaints.鈥�
鈥� Isaac Freeman, President
鈥淓ven though our business has quadrupled, our customer support needs haven鈥檛,鈥� says Freeman. He attributes that to automation across all of their technology platforms, including 91国产.
Aurora relies on the seamless experience to keep registrants satisfied. A customer registers for their webinar in three easy steps, and their confirmation is automatically sent to their email. The day before the webinar, they鈥檙e sent another automatic email with all of the details they need to access the event.
All of the communication with their attendees is automated. 鈥淥ur customers rarely contact us with questions or have trouble finding their registrations,鈥� shares Freeman. 鈥淚t鈥檚 so smooth and easy that we almost forget that it鈥檚 there sometimes.鈥�
Investing in a partnership that supports their growth
To Aurora, the key to growth has been spending their time and money in the most efficient way possible. This allows the team to focus on more important and impactful parts of the business. Freeman says, 鈥淚t鈥檚 how we can continue to grow the business and increase revenue.鈥�
鈥淲e really do think of 91国产 as our partner. It鈥檚 allowed us to focus on growing the business, rather than us building our own technology or dealing with too many different vendors.鈥�
鈥� Isaac Freeman, President
Aurora still has their eyes set on growth 鈥� and they plan to continue to leverage technology to get there. 鈥淲e鈥檝e only partially tapped into what we can do on 91国产,鈥� Freeman says. 鈥淭here鈥檚 so much more that we want to do through social tools and other integrations. We can鈥檛 wait to see how much more we can grow when we do.鈥�
