Phlearn
A new sales platform for a new business model.
The Customer
Phlearn is the #1 Photography, Lightroom, and Photoshop tutorial website in the world, with more than 1,700,000 YouTube subscribers and customers in 149 countries.
The Challenge
“We were fundamentally changing our entire business model, switching from a download product to a subscription video streaming service,” says Phlearn CEO Seth Kravitz. “We needed to do it to keep up with how content consumption is evolving. It was going to be the biggest change in the company’s history.”
The Stakes
- Affect 10,000+ customers
- Complicate the checkout process
- Dramatically increase transactions
- Burden already-slow WordPress database
PROCESS
“Right from the beginning, working with Saucal was a great experience,” says Seth. “It was like having an outsourced CTO. They managed our additional contractors. They led thorough, weekly development meetings to show us their progress. They held our hands when we needed it.”
Focused on speed, scalability & performance
“They wanted to get it right the first time. That they wanted to build code that delivered speed, scalability, and performance. tested well, and scales well.”
Specialized WooCommerce expertise
“We got specialized developers working on our project that we couldn’t just go out and hire on our own. They were the kind of WooCommerce experts that are hard to find.”
Fast, dependable support
“Before, if there was a technical issue, there wasn’t really anything we could do about it Now if there is a technical issue, Saucal can usually crush it out within a couple hours.”
SOLUTIONS
Transformed Phlearn’s video download store into a subscription-based streaming platform.
Adapted the existing WooCommerce and WordPress infrastructure, replacing all of it over time without disrupting sales.
Built custom features into the open WooCommerce platform, reducing reliance on third-party SaaS.
Results
- Launched a profitable, custom couponing system that earned $22,000 during testing.
- Went from 0 to 10,000+ subscribers in the first 3 months (including 5,000 gained in 10 days).
There are new things we can do. We can partner with other companies. We can offer bulk subscriptions. Building all this has opened doors that weren’t available to us before.
Seth Kravitz, CEO, Phlearn
It was a lot of fear driving our decision to find a great agency.We were six years into our business, and we had a lot of existing, happy customers.
Seth Kravitz, CEO, Phlearn
Best WordPress agency I have ever worked with. Seriously. They go so far above and beyond, it’s like having an in-house dev team sitting there with you.
Seth Kravitz, CEO, Phlearn