our journey to 1 million customers — Stripo.electronic mail

Why do you do what you do? How typically do you mirror on why you selected your job?

Folks normally have a number of doable causes, however typically, in a technique or one other, all of us wish to be useful. If we glance past this, we wish to do one thing that may assist others — and if we dig even deeper, to create one thing that may change the world. Ask your self: Do I wish to go away a mark in historical past? Sure? How?

In 2016, in a fantastic metropolis on this planet’s bravest nation, Ukraine, an entrepreneur with a want to unravel the issues of a large number creates a product…

I’m certain many books about unbelievable manufacturers begin this fashion. However this isn’t a e-book; that is only a easy sketch, and it began very otherwise.

Stripo historical past: The way it all started

Q: Dmytro, why did you create Stripo? Did you wish to make one thing unbelievable to assist many professionals?

Working with one other system, I typically needed to cope with code throughout the electronic mail, so each marketer needed to have a good quantity of technical data. This was fairly irritating for me. So, I wished to vary that. I assumed this might be a venture lasting not more than 2 years, however now we have already got improvement plans for 10 years!

Dmytro Kudrenko,

Founder and CEO of Stripo.

Okay, you can say, “That is simply the story of an atypical startup.” Possibly — however give it an opportunity!

Dmytro Kudrenko: Had been there every other editors in addition to ours? Completely! However in some unspecified time in the future, every of them began branching out in numerous instructions, and it was the editor itself that bought misplaced. We selected the trail of working particularly with the editor and bettering it.

I as soon as realized that to create a really nice product, you need to do the next:

• concentrate on one factor (in our case, it’s electronic mail advertising);

• perceive your person’s drawback;

• discover a solution to remedy it;

• and remedy it in such a method that the person can’t think about their workday with out your answer.

If you’re constructing a product, essentially the most difficult half is creating one thing that didn’t exist earlier than. A very powerful second is fixing the person’s drawback in such a method that they’ll grasp the answer and begin actively utilizing it. And essentially the most fascinating story tells us how one can transition from complexity to simplicity.

This has been Stripo’s fundamental aim from the very starting and our focus all this time.

I’ve been concerned in advertising for fairly a while, and you understand what I at all times lack? Time! I at all times want that there have been a couple of extra hours within the day. However how rather more time do those that create emails want in a day? What if they’ll’t code? What if it’s an bold startup with a small crew, the place one particular person handles a number of duties?

By the best way, this is an instance from our COO, Dmitry Kulaksyz:

Q: Dmitry, what was the most important problem?

Dmitry Kulaksyz: Within the early phases of product improvement, the crew was very small. There have been about six of us, together with our chief, Dmytro Kudrenko.

Maybe essentially the most difficult process at the moment was discovering the stability between amount and high quality. We always needed to make selections, even when they turned out to be fallacious, draw conclusions, and transfer ahead, typically into uncharted territory.

The stakes have been excessive, and we could not afford to spend our funds recklessly. We have been at all times studying on the fly and from our errors. It was concurrently traumatic and provoking like strolling a path along with your eyes closed searching for a method ahead. We at all times ran out of time, and we needed to change our focus dozens of occasions a day.

Dmitry Kulaksyz,

COO at Stripo.

Returning to the time scarcity challenge, are there any instruments that will help you optimize it? In fact! Do all of them really remedy this drawback? In fact not.

Q: Dmitry, you talked about that you simply wish to remedy the viewers’s drawback by saving them time on routine duties and permitting them to concentrate on extra fascinating and essential ones. How?

Dmitry Kulaksyz: Modular electronic mail design. Properly, you see, it wasn’t our invention. However we’ve targeted a lot on modules that now our customers can change any electronic mail ingredient they want with out dropping any important information.

After we have been creating modules, they didn’t exist in any editor but. Nevertheless, they have been utilized in web site improvement, and that’s precisely what we used as the idea of the concept. We have been those who launched the modular system into emails, and now it’s a compulsory function in all places.

I imagine that coding electronic mail templates just isn’t one thing entrepreneurs ought to be doing. As an alternative, they need to think about advertising methods. Our modules are what’s going to allow them to make it occur.

By making a module as soon as, a specialist can use it an infinite variety of occasions whereas altering any ingredient they want with out affecting the general modular framework. And since you’ll be able to create an infinite variety of modules for any unit or process as soon as and use them always, it reduces the time it takes to create an electronic mail by a number of hours, simplifying communication between enterprise models or venture contractors.

In fact, we take a look at the whole lot ourselves, and we have described how the modules work and the way they save time in our case research.

I’m writing about this with delight, and also you would possibly assume I’m boasting. I’m! As a result of after I talked to the crew that has been engaged on this from the very starting, I used to be amazed by their calmness.

Anton Hrynenko, CTO at Stripo:

Anton Hrynenko: I’m a perfectionist, so it was initially very difficult for me to mentally modify to the product-oriented strategy to work. The seek for “product–market match” led to fixed adjustments that typically didn’t match into the preliminary structure in any respect.

To place it merely, think about that simply yesterday, we have been creating the proper automotive, and this morning, I used to be sprucing this automotive to make it shine within the solar and catch the enchanted gazes of passersby. After which, after lunch, we determined that we would have liked the automotive to fly within the air, and we urgently needed to punch a gap within the roof and determine how one can connect a propeller. It was solely with time that I spotted that that is how masterpieces are created.

Anton Hrynenko,

CTO at Stripo.

It seems like an motion online game, doesn’t it? By the best way, have you ever ever seen that we dwell each second of our lives as if we have been enjoying an countless recreation?

Right here’s a quest for groceries; there’s a shootout for a reduced merchandise. In truth, life itself is one huge simulator. However for advertising, video games are the most effective mechanics for interacting with the viewers.

Stripo and electronic mail gamification

Entrepreneurs have been actively utilizing video games for a very long time every time they’ll, and Stripo makes this doable in emails. Interactive video games for electronic mail campaigns are considered one of our distinctive choices.

Yow will discover extra particulars about gamification in electronic mail advertising right here, however we’d prefer to share some info about our video games:

• that is what our first recreation regarded like — recipients needed to click on on completely different parts, and after that, they obtained predictions about electronic mail advertising. This gamified electronic mail generated twice as many clicks as a daily one;

• that is what our most just lately launched recreation appears like.

What’s extra:

• we realized that recipients like our video games;

• because of this, we created our eBook on gamification in electronic mail advertising;

• Dmytro Kudrenko has spoken on this matter at 20 completely different occasions;

Liubov Rolenko, developer accountable for designing all recreation mechanics at Stripo

Q: What have been your ideas whenever you created your first recreation?

Liubov Rolenko: I wished to create one thing fascinating and acquainted, just like the outdated video games from childhood, however in an easier model. One thing that would present a bit distraction and convey again the childlike pleasure and pleasure in the midst of a workday.

Work can typically be gloomy and routine, and it may be exhausting. However think about that at such a second, you obtain an electronic mail with a small recreation proper in it! I hope it sparks shock, curiosity, and pleasure. So, I merely wished so as to add a contact of one thing unbelievable to our lives.

Liubov Rolenko,

Developer accountable for designing all recreation mechanics at Stripo.

Q: Are you able to inform me, what’s your favourite recreation of all time?

Liubov Rolenko: I’m a gamer, so I’ve been enjoying video video games since childhood, and I nonetheless do it. Video games have at all times been part of my life.

Really, I don’t have a favourite one as a result of I really like range. Nevertheless, I bear in mind my first recreation. At school, throughout a pc science class, a instructor confirmed us a recreation the place there was an animal in a maze, and also you needed to enter instructions specifying the route and the variety of steps, like “5 steps proper.” You needed to information the animal out of the maze. It was whereas enjoying this recreation that I spotted I wished to turn into a developer.

Stripo training

All the things at all times begins with training. Maybe not all of the data we acquire in class might be helpful sooner or later, however that’s the place we purchase the important parts of our future life: a data base, pals, and allies, in addition to assist.

Though we at Stripo have already got a superb 24/7 assist service prepared to help you, we’re creating our data base, the place customers can delve into all of the intricacies of utilizing our product. Our assist crew is at all times able to reply your questions, however exploring the academic database will provide its personal fascinations.

Maryna Krivenets, the top of buyer assist at Stripo

Q: Maryna, do you assume the data base will substitute buyer assist?

No, by no means. Our assist is not only about answering questions. It is all about care. And our data base will help customers navigate the editor and hone their electronic mail advertising abilities, even when they’ve by no means performed it earlier than of their life.

Maryna Krivenets,

Head of buyer assist at Stripo.

It is a picture from the shoot of our Udemy course, which is appropriate for all freshmen and has already been accomplished by practically 2,000 college students.

If you would like to take considered one of our programs, you are able to do it proper right here. You can too observe this hyperlink to discover a information with 94 electronic mail advertising assets for inspiration and work.

And if you would like to depart a assessment of us, you’ll be able to simply do it on G2 or Capterra. Imagine me, our entire crew is over the moon once we see your evaluations! Your suggestions is extremely inspiring to us.

Stripo and interactive content material in emails

By the best way, do you know that inspiration is considered one of our crew’s core ideas, and everybody strives not solely to create one thing new however to do it in a method that conveys a bit of their inspiration?

For instance, whereas engaged on this text, I used to be impressed by the tales of the individuals who created (and proceed to create) our product. After one other dose of inspiration, I turned to Roman, our head designer and the one who remembers the very first template that appeared in Stripo.

Right here it’s — our first electronic mail template, which was used 450 occasions.

Roman Burdyga, product designer at Stripo

Roman Burdyga: Hey! I’m Roman, a product designer at Stripo. I used to be additionally the developer of the e-mail template structure construction, which is the idea for all templates within the system. Now, let me share some historical past…

Earlier than Stripo was launched, I labored on the identical factor in one other product, the place there was additionally a template editor, and gained all my expertise in creating templates there. I created templates for our shoppers and realized all of the intricacies and subtleties of electronic mail structure. Since I’m a designer, I mixed this expertise with my data of template creation to strengthen Stripo.

As Stripo started to take form, my crew and I spotted that our customers would wish one thing that may encourage them, one thing they may have a look at and use of their electronic mail campaigns, a spot the place they may discover concepts for his or her business. That is how the Stripo Template Library was born.

Roman Burdyga,

Product designer at Stripo.

By that point, I had a number of colleagues who began creating templates and have become the primary authors of this library. These colleagues embody Liubov Rolenko, who initiated this nice venture and later grew to become a mentor to different colleagues. Afterwards, Ruslan Trepuhalov and Oleg Ponamarchuk joined us, including a unique perspective and concepts and accelerating the library’s progress. A 12 months later, Anastasiia Babintseva joined us along with her sense of magnificence and inventive abilities.

All of them made a big contribution to the template improvement, and every of them is exclusive of their model, abilities, and views, which is why the templates are so numerous and fascinating.

At the moment, after all, I used to be creating templates rapidly as a result of I used to be the creator of each the template editor and the template code. The primary problem was discovering concepts, designing, selecting themes, and turning the whole lot right into a completed template.

What I bear in mind most have been a couple of of our electronic mail campaigns at first of our interactive content material improvement at Stripo:

1. A Christmas electronic mail for our shoppers with an interactive coloring function that collected information and reproduced all of the customers’ drawings. We obtained quite a few superb drawings, rigorously chosen the most effective ones, and despatched due to our artists.

Whereas creating the design for that electronic mail, I inspired my youngster to make use of the coloring function and provided his drawings for example of what may very well be created. It was very fascinating and satisfying to obtain such suggestions and encouragement from our shoppers.

2. Then, we had the concept to create a crossword puzzle immediately within the electronic mail. It was extremely cool, though fairly difficult and time-consuming to implement. Nevertheless, it was completely price it, and we obtained many optimistic responses.

3. One other memorable mechanic was a quiz the place I labored on the design. It was an interactive chat throughout the electronic mail. It felt such as you have been having a real-time dialog with somebody who was responding to you. It was extremely cool.

These interactive parts have been extensively mentioned within the electronic mail group as effectively.

Stripo’s plans for the long run

Properly, I’m getting carried away with the previous. We’ve 1,000,000 customers. 1,000,000. For me, that’s an unbelievable quantity. After I requested everybody concerned on this article what they might say to our million customers, all of them replied: “Stick with us! We’re getting ready a whole lot of fascinating and helpful issues on your electronic mail advertising campaigns!”

For instance:

• a new editor;
• real-time co-editing and commenting;
• integration with Figma;
• enhancements in AI performance inside Stripo’s construction;
• collaboration instruments;
• electronic mail accessibility precheck; 
• darkish mode UI for electronic mail preview; 
• new video games, templates, useful guides, and rather more on your emails.

For those who’ve learn this far, I wish to personally thanks on your time. On the very starting of this text, I discussed how we at all times appear to lack time. However we’re always working to liberate as a lot of it for you as doable!

Volodymyr Kreshchenko, CMO at Stripo

Q: What do you assume makes Stripo distinctive?

There are lots of issues, however I imagine the primary uniqueness lies in our imaginative and prescient and concentrate on time-saving. Whereas others develop their spheres of exercise and pursuits and enterprise into new territories, we’re solely targeted on emails. The emphasis just isn’t on amount however on high quality and evolutionary improvement.

Volodymyr Kreshchenko,

CMO at Stripo.

Q: What has shocked you essentially the most throughout your total time working at Stripo?

Volodymyr Kreshchenko: What shocked me essentially the most is that within the firm, there are lots of individuals who genuinely care about our customers’ issues and the bugs that come up, and so they attempt to repair them as rapidly as doable. It’s very nice to work collectively on one thing when persons are keen about what they do.

Chances are you’ll ask — why not develop our horizons? Partly as a result of the concentrate on one thing is an countless horizon itself.

Ivan Burban, former CMO at Stripo

Q: Ivan, what was most difficult at first of the journey? What did you imagine in?

Ivan Burban: Probably the most difficult factor was understanding how one can stand out from different merchandise. At the moment, we positioned ourselves as an electronic mail template builder, and we grew to become a platform three years later. Throughout this transitional interval, we have been trying to find this positioning and had many conversations with customers and market specialists.

I believed within the crew that was creating Stripo primarily. The CEO and Product Proprietor/Supervisor appeared to me the strongest professionals I had ever met, and this opinion has not modified to at the present time. The entire crew, from improvement to assist, actually wished to make the most effective product, which may be very uncommon. We had little question that we might attain a million after which ten million customers.

Ivan Burban,

Former CMO at Stripo.

Q: What do you assume it takes to depart a mark in historical past?

Ivan Burban: I imagine that to make a mark in historical past, it’s good to change the strategy to a specific course of, not simply enhance it barely. Within the case of Uber, they reimagined the method of calling a taxi. Within the case of Stripo, I feel you’re on the correct path, and you cannot solely change the strategy to creating emails but in addition make this complicated process extra accessible to a broader viewers. Our inboxes will turn into interactive and straightforward to understand.

Wrapping up

Will we go away a mark in historical past as an entire crew? I don’t know. However I do know that should you ask the query, “Do you utilize Stripo?” virtually everybody within the digital market will reply: “In fact!” So, we positively don’t begin our day with crew conferences for nothing!

We’re the most effective as a result of we care in regards to the electronic mail drawback and its answer on daily basis!

Dmytro Kudrenko,

Founder and CEO of Stripo.

We thank every considered one of you for being part of Stripo.