CityWest Engagement Rates for Email Marketing Soar 262% Above Industry Benchmarks With Combination of Calix Marketing Cloud and Mailchimp

Canadian broadband service provider simplifies the planning, creation, and execution of omnichannel campaigns with the integrated Calix Marketing Cloud and Mailchimp solution, exciting subscribers with targeted emails that yield amazing open rates and greater marketing ROI

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Calix, Inc. (NYSE: CALX) today announced that CityWest, a fast-growing British Columbia-based broadband service provider (BSP), is capitalizing on the tight integration between Calix Marketing Cloud and leading email marketing platform Mailchimp to transform its marketing execution. CityWest is using the combination to create highly targeted, relevant, and engaging email campaigns that boost open rates to 54 percent, 262 percent higher than the industry average of 21 percent. As a Calix Revenue EDGE customer and longtime user of Mailchimp, CityWest is now harnessing the power of the integrated platforms to automatically share audience segments, enriched with behavioral data, from Marketing Cloud directly into Mailchimp. The integration also automatically shares the results of the campaign from Mailchimp back into Marketing Cloud. This enables CityWest to manage email lists, create targeted messaging, and run email campaigns for premium managed Wi-Fi services that excite subscribers. As a result, CityWest is able to run a closed-loop campaign to drive high impact offers that maximize the return on investment (ROI) of its marketing dollars and grow average revenue per user (ARPU).

The winning combination of Marketing Cloud—which is purpose-built for BSP marketers—and Mailchimp is boosted by the expertise of Calix Premier Customer Success Services. Calix Success Services experts work with marketers to help them execute plans that maximize subscriber engagement and realize value quickly. In just three months, CityWest has been able to:

• Simplify and streamline campaign development. The integrated solution gives CityWest an outsized marketing presence, allowing the three-person marketing team to create more campaigns than they ever thought possible—each with distinct, targeted messaging. CityWest can now easily micro-segment their subscriber base, engage them with messages that resonate, and deliver offers that will enhance their experience—all from an integrated platform.
• Maximize ROI with actionable insights. In one campaign, CityWest identified their “power user” subscribers who repeatedly exceeded their usage limits and who would benefit from an upgrade. They developed an omnichannel marketing program including email, targeted Facebook ads, and outbound calls from their customer service reps (CSRs). The results were staggering; by targeting the right subscribers with timely and relevant messages through Marketing Cloud and Mailchimp, CityWest achieved an engagement level of 54 percent—nearly three times that of a typical email campaign, which has an average open rate of 21 percent.
• Gain an end-to-end view of campaign performance. Marketing Cloud makes it easy for CityWest to monitor the performance of its campaigns and adjust tactics accordingly. The performance dashboard in Marketing Cloud provides end-to-end visibility into key metrics such as open rates, click-throughs, unsubscribes, and bounce rates, as well as performance reporting for in-app mobile notifications, allowing them to quickly assess the impact and ROI of their marketing investments. Additionally, Marketing Cloud helps the team uncover actionable insights that drive acquisition, cross-sell, and upsell while also reducing churn, making it more straightforward and efficient to track, manage, and grow revenue.

CityWest was founded more than a century ago to serve small communities in and around the city of Prince Rupert, British Columbia. Since then, CityWest has grown its footprint significantly, serving diverse communities from Prince Rupert to Vanderhoof in the north while expanding into southern areas of the province. This includes recently announced initiatives to bring broadband services to previously underserved areas such as Cortes, Denman, and Hornby Islands. CityWest offers a full range of residential and business services, including premium managed Wi-Fi services delivered via the comprehensive Revenue EDGE solution. In addition to Marketing Cloud, CityWest has deployed GigaSpire® BLAST systems, the CommandIQ® mobile app (under the CityWest HomeNet brand), EDGE Suites applications ProtectIQ™ and ExperienceIQ™, and Calix Support Cloud.

“We may be a small marketing team, but with the solutions, partnerships, and resources that Calix provides, we can take on even our largest competitors to win the marketing wars and, more importantly, win over subscribers,” said Scott Simpson, marketing manager at CityWest. “The integration of Marketing Cloud and Mailchimp is a great example—it simplifies and streamlines so many processes, making it easy and cost effective for us to do a larger number of focused campaigns than would have been feasible before. And with the recently announced integration with Facebook, we’ll have access to all our key marketing channels and subscriber behavioral data in a cohesive, easy-to-use platform. Calix truly understands what BSP marketers need to be successful.”

Last month, Calix—which was also recently named an official Mailchimp Integration Partner—announced the integration of Facebook with Marketing Cloud. The integration enables BSPs to automate marketing workflows and infuse them with the intelligence to successfully segment, target, execute, and measure omnichannel marketing campaign performance in a fully integrated fashion—driving even higher marketing ROI. This latest enhancement to the Revenue EDGE solution underscores the company’s continuous commitment to deliver turnkey solutions that help BSPs excite subscribers and grow the value of their marketing operations.

“We are thrilled to see how service providers like CityWest are already benefiting from the marriage of Marketing Cloud and Mailchimp—it is a match made in marketing heaven,” said Matt Collins, chief marketing officer at Calix. “Marketing has grown increasingly complex, and this challenge is compounded when you’re a small team, with limited resources, trying to keep pace with industry giants and their deep pockets. At Calix, we’re changing that dynamic, creating a range of out-of-the-box solutions that enable BSPs to create and execute award-worthy campaigns while helping them automate and simplify their marketing processes. Mailchimp and Facebook are just the first of many planned integrations with major social media and marketing technology platforms. We look forward to helping BSPs continue to raise the marketing bar.”

To learn more, view a replay of our recent webinar “Elevating the Subscriber Experience in the Home.”

About Calix

Calix, Inc. (NYSE: CALX) – Calix cloud and software platforms enable service providers of all types and sizes to innovate and transform. Our customers utilize the real-time data and insights from Calix platforms to simplify their businesses and deliver experiences that excite their subscribers. The resulting growth in subscriber acquisition, loyalty, and revenue creates more value for their businesses and communities. This is the Calix mission; to enable broadband service providers of all sizes to simplify, excite, and grow.

This press release may contain forward-looking statements that are based upon management's current expectations and are inherently uncertain. Forward-looking statements are based upon information available to us as of the date of this release, and we assume no obligation to revise or update any such forward-looking statement to reflect any event or circumstance after the date of this release, except as required by law. Actual results and the timing of events could differ materially from current expectations based on risks and uncertainties affecting Calix’s business. The reader is cautioned not to rely on the forward-looking statements contained in this press release. Additional information on potential factors that could affect Calix's results and other risks and uncertainties are detailed in its quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC and available at www.sec.gov.