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IdeaScale
SaaS

IdeaScale is a crowdsourcing and idea management software that helps organizations gather, prioritize, and develop ideas from their communities to drive inno...

ideascale.com · Founded 2009 · 31 public sources · Updated 7 days ago

Researched profile. Starter Story's AI research system compiled this page from 31 public sources — the founder didn't write it. Automated research can misread or misattribute a source, so treat figures as best-effort. How this works →

How IdeaScale Grew

Idea management software for collective innovation

How did IdeaScale grow?

Summary of the sourced claims below

IdeaScale grew primarily through inbound interest generated by optimizing their site for search engines and content marketing, including blog posts and articles. They also leveraged community contributions by involving employees, customers, and prospects in an ideation community to build their product roadmap. Customer retention played a key role in their growth strategy, focusing on customer success and support to drive renewals. Additionally, they used freemium trials and partnerships, especially with government agencies, to expand their user base.

Channels

11 channels · grouped by how IdeaScale grows

  • SEO

    · 3 mentions · 2 sources
    “From the beginning, IdeaScale has been built on inbound interest and that interest was largely generated by our ability to optimize our site for search. If you were looking for an “online suggestion box” or “idea management software” (granted these weren’t high traffic terms), it’s likely that yo...”
    high
    Show 2 more quotes
    “From the beginning, IdeaScale has been built on inbound interest and that interest was largely generated by our ability to optimize our site for search. If you were looking for an “online suggestion box” or “idea management software” (granted these weren’t high traffic terms), it’s likely that yo...”
    high
    “I've got 10 times the organic SEO traffic of my next competitors, next nine competitors combined. So we are extraordinarily successful. We get a ton of inbound leads, both through organic marketing, sorry, through organic SEO, as well as through offering free product demos.”
    high

  • Freemium

    · 2 mentions · 2 sources
    “And we offered a freemium trial. If you enjoyed the experience, if you saw it work and wanted to try it at your own company, you could launch your own in just a few clicks and some of our initial prospects found this speed to launch really inspiring.”
    high
    Show 1 more quote
    “The company uses the freemium model of engagement, offering free communities on an open basis and additional, customized functionality to paying clients.”
    medium

  • Partnerships

    · 2 mentions · 2 sources
    “We did this through our partnerships with our customers (particularly in the government) - offering an affordable solution as long as the site linked back to us.”
    high
    Show 1 more quote
    “It launched in tandem with President Barack Obama's Open Government Initiative. In its first year, IdeaScale was adopted by 23 federal agencies. It served many organizations, including the Executive Office of the President of the United States.”
    medium

  • Pay Per Click Advertising

    · 2 mentions
    “Now, this approach has changed as we’ve grown. To find and retain the customers that are the best fit for you, you do need to invest a little bit in outbound and pay-per-click marketing.”
    high
    Show 1 more quote
    “Now, this approach has changed as we’ve grown. To find and retain the customers that are the best fit for you, you do need to invest a little bit in outbound and pay-per-click marketing.”
    high

  • Community Contributions

    · 2 mentions · 2 sources
    “everyone, all of our employees participate in our internal community. This is public. So customers can also participate both things up or down. And that's how our ideas are shared and created with an idea scale. That's how we actually build our product roadmap for 2024 2025 or a long-term product...”
    high
    Show 1 more quote
    “we actually have an ideation community (https://ideas.ideascale.com/) dedicated to this (of course running on IdeaScale software), but it’s totally in line with Blank’s thinking about customer-centric solutions.”
    high

  • Word of mouth

    · 1 mention
    “We’re a bootstrapped company, which means that we think of our customers as our investors. We are driven by their requests, their successes, their challenges, and their referrals.”
    high

  • Speaking at conferences

    · 1 mention
    “Also - the only conference that I go to every year is SaaStr (https://www.saastrannual.com/). It’s amazing to hear from other leaders who are working in the SaaS industry. There are tips about marketing, sales, product, regulations, and more.”
    medium

  • Email marketing

    · 1 mention
    “We built tools to share on social media or through email.”
    medium

  • Group Product Demos

    · 1 mention
    “We get a ton of inbound leads, both through organic marketing, sorry, through organic SEO, as well as through offering free product demos.”
    high

  • Content marketing

    · 1 mention
    “We also invested heavily in content marketing - generating tons of articles, blog posts, and text in our early days.”
    high

  • Organic social media

    · 1 mention
    “Website (https://ideascale.com/) Podcast (https://podcasts.apple.com/my/podcast/ideascale-nation/id1460296281) Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/ideascale) LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/ideascale-llc) Twitter (https://twitter.com/ideascale) Medium (https://medium.com/@ideascalenation)”
    medium

How 3,289 businesses grow

Of businesses with mapped growth channels, the share using each — IdeaScale’s highlighted.
  • Social media
    64% ◀
  • Referral/Word-of-mouth
    64% ◀
  • Search/SEO
    58% ◀
  • Email
    47% ◀
  • Community
    37% ◀
  • Content/Inbound
    35% ◀
  • Partnerships
    32% ◀
  • Events
    24% ◀
  • Paid ads
    23% ◀
  • Outbound/Sales
    19%
  • Press/PR
    17%
  • Marketplaces/App stores
    12%
  • Podcasting
    4%
  • Influencer partnerships
    3%
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