Nex-Tech Boosts Subscriber Engagement 375 Percent

Nex-Tech, a Kansas-based broadband and wireless networking provider, was established as a cooperative more than 65 years ago. Today, the company has 32,000 residential and business customers across a 10,000-square-mile area in rural America. The company has also leveraged its extensive broadband marketing expertise to provide advertising services to nearly 100 clients in telecommunications and other sectors.

But that doesn’t mean that the company isn’t in the market for new customers. Just the opposite. In fact, the quest for new subscribers recently drove the company to conduct an eight-week campaign to reach potential subscribers with profiles that match its most profitable subscribers.

The limited-time campaign combined Nex-Tech’s subscriber data in Calix Marketing Cloud with look-alike audiences in Facebook to target new subscribers and drive acquisition.

The integration between Calix Marketing Cloud and Facebook enabled Nex-Tech to accelerate revenue growth, maximize ROI on marketing spend, and lower operating costs.

Through this ultra-targeted approach, Nex-Tech achieved a 375 percent higher click-through rate on ads while decreasing cost-per-click by 66 percent compared to previous location-based campaigns. The integrated tools also simplified marketing for Nex-Tech, reducing the time it spent on the process by a full 50 percent. And in line with its ultimate goal, the Facebook campaign contributed to a 1 percent increase in subscribers in just two months.

“The integration of Facebook and Marketing Cloud has enabled us to dramatically simplify and increase the engagement with our marketing campaigns and, more importantly, accelerate our business growth,” says Dustin Schlaefli, director of customer engagement at Nex-Tech.

Nex-Tech can now create custom audiences based on key attributes (such as revenue, tenure, or usage) of their existing high-value subscribers and then target those prospects with acquisition campaigns or reach out to existing subscribers for upsell opportunities.

The integrated Calix Marketing Cloud/Facebook solution has also significantly streamlined Nex-Tech’s marketing processes. The company eliminated manual exports of audience spreadsheets and contact lists between the two platforms. Instead, company execs set all campaign parameters and launch the campaign in Calix Marketing Cloud. With real-time campaign performance and marketing channel results available directly in Calix Marketing Cloud, Nex-Tech can assess the ROI of their marketing spend and quickly adjust Facebook campaigns as needed.

“With Marketing Cloud, Calix makes it easy and cost-effective for us to drive highly targeted Facebook campaigns that deliver impressive results while maximizing our investment,” Schlaefli adds. “We’re excited about the impact that we’ve seen in our own business and look forward to extending this in the campaign strategy we undertake with our Advertising Solutions clients.”

“We are thrilled to see how Nex-Tech has been able to take advantage of the integration of Marketing Cloud and Facebook, driving improvements across their business,” said Matt Collins, executive vice president of commercial operations and chief marketing officer at Calix, in a statement. “With this integration, service providers of any size can operate as though they have a team of data scientists and social media experts on staff, providing the behavioral insights and data they need to make smarter marketing decisions and optimize the ROI of their marketing campaigns. We’re looking forward to seeing many other success stories like Nex-Tech.”

Nex-Tech is a longtime user of Calix’s Revenue EDGE platform, which includes its GigaSpire BLAST systems, Marketing Cloud, EDGE Suites, and the CommandIQ mobile app. In 2018 it received a Calix Innovation Award for Subscriber Experience, which recognizes Calix customers that demonstrate outstanding creativity when leveraging its technology. 

The Payoff

During a recent eight-week marketing campaign using Calix Marketing Cloud's integration with Facebook, Nex-Tech saw the following results:

• a 375 percent higher click-through rate on ads;
• a 66 percent reduction in cost-per-click;
• a 50 percent reduction in the time needed to create and manage campaigns; and
• a 1 percent increase in subscribers.