FundedByMe optimizes email program to raise funds for startups with Twilio SendGrid

FundedByMe is an equity crowdfunding platform that connects entrepreneurs with everyday business angels across the globe so they can take part in the next big thing.

Entrepreneurs raise funding by selling shares for as little as €50. FundedByMe’s crowd now has a total capacity of €259,835,241 and counting.

Challenge

FundedByMe relies on email for everything from signup confirmations to investment notifications. Since FundedByMe is a crowdfunding portal, email helps drive interest in their listed ventures. Email is used to help build an active community interested in new opportunities by socializing the experience with the activity of colleagues and friends. Emails are also exchanged to answer questions, confirm contributions, communicate with backers, share goals, and to connect with other interested parties within their social networks.

FundedByMe knew email was the heart of their business, so they wanted a more robust solution for email reporting and analytics. More specifically, in order to better understand response rates, they needed open and click-through data along with the ability to perform A/B tests. Unfortunately, the system they were using couldn’t provide the data they needed to optimize their email performance.

Solution

FundedByMe used Heroku as their platform, so they wanted an email solution that could integrate with their existing system and could funnel information through the same interface. Emails also needed to be stored within their system so users could easily track communications and communicate with their backers.

They decided to use Twilio SendGrid based on a recommendation from a new team member who had favorable results using the email provider at a previous startup. By adding just three lines of code, they were able to get started with Twilio SendGrid right away. Moreover, they were able to pull all of their email data into Heroku so they could view all of their  data from a singular dashboard within the Heroku interface.

Result

FundedByMe first tested the Twilio SendGrid solution with a client who was ultimately able to raise 1,000,000 SEK ($156,000 USD) in just six weeks. Using the analytics from the Twilio SendGrid dashboard, they were able to determine which emails were driving increased interest from their users and which were underperforming.

For example, they realized that one email campaign provided too much information about the venture opportunity, so they rewrote their copy and included clear action buttons to drive people into the platform. Armed with real-time information on their email campaigns, they could proactively tweak messaging, test subject lines, and perform split testing to elicit a maximum response.