Foundr is using SMS to build connections with their students

Foundr is familiar with rapid change – in just over a decade, they went from an online magazine that interviewed well-known founders (hence the name) to a world-leading online education provider that helps fledgling business owners navigate growth. 

Now a global leader in the online education space for entrepreneurship, Foundr offers subscription-based online courses, one-on-one coaching and mentoring to an audience of entrepreneurs and start-up owners across Australia, New Zealand, North America, Europe and Asia. 

Of course, that growth came with challenges. Supporting students all over the world requires strong communication, and Foundr’s tools couldn’t keep up. As it adapted and scaled, they found themselves using two competing communication tools that didn’t work with their CRM – or deliver the insights it needed. 

“The key problem that we had was a lack of data, analytics and insights into how our campaigns were going,” explains Tech and Automation Lead Jesse Song. “So, you know, while it did perform quite well in terms of being able to send SMS, we were missing a lot of the insights.” 

Jesse and his team wanted a solution that could manage SMS more easily and give them a central source of information.   

“We were looking for a tool that could help connect with our CRM and make it a single point of truth about our students, for our potential students as well, so we can better serve them.”

That search led to Sinch. 

For Foundr, communication with students is an essential part of the job. As an online education platform, it needed to send students notifications and updates, along with support messages and information about new campaigns. 

“We try to maintain really strong communication with our students,” says Jesse. 

After realising that its SMS systems weren’t connecting as needed, Foundr partnered with Sinch, replacing a disjointed tech stack with a unified platform. This meant dedicated Sinch numbers for key markets, SMS and bulk delivery through Sinch, and a HubSpot integration to ensure seamless, consistent communication. 

The team is now using Sinch to send transactional messages – like reminders about upcoming events, course completion notifications and other updates – along with marketing communications, like information about upcoming sales and promotions. 

Although Jesse and his team have only been working with Sinch since the beginning of the year, they’re finding it simpler to use, with higher delivery rates and better reporting. They’ve already sent around 30,000 SMS, with minimal issues so far. 

“So, with what we’ve seen so far, we’re very happy with the delivery rate of Sinch. It blows the previous platform’s delivery rate by a mile,” explains Jesse. By the numbers, he thinks Sinch’s SMS platform has increased the delivery rate by around 65% – a huge increase in just a few months. This means that Foundr can rely on SMS for communication, and that students get a consistent experience with the business. 

Campaign and messaging analytics are another benefit. The previous platform offered very little insight into message performance – according to Jesse, all the team could see was the student’s name, number and status. With Sinch, they get detailed information about delivery rates, open rates and timing, broken down across regions and subscriber types.

“So it really comes down to end-to-end, like just the reporting at Sinch, how many are being sent, how many are actually being delivered, and then breaking it down into opens and just seeing exactly what’s going on within the campaign,” says Jesse. 

These insights help the team understand their audience and refine their messaging strategy, so they can communicate more effectively. 

Jesse explains that the simplicity of the system and accessibility of reporting are saving significant time for his team. 

“We’re saving up to about two to three hours a week. Before, we were just trying to find the information that Sinch readily provides in the form of two clicks,” he says. 

Foundr is taking a focused approach to growth, prioritising strong foundations and optimising its current SMS setup.“I think our main goal is just to make sure that we optimise our SMS marketing with what we have right now,” says Jesse. “So, we’re really just making sure that we get that part nailed down before we explore other components.”

Still, he and his team have some big plans for the future, with AI a key focus. For an education platform with a global audience and extensive online resources, Jesse can see the potential of AI chatbots and other AI-powered technology for student communication. 

“The unfortunate thing about us as humans is that we can’t be online 24/7,” he laughs. “So, really just making sure that we are able to capitalise on AI to the point where it can answer students’ questions in real time. So, that’s kind of like the next phase we’re approaching as we continue to scale.”

It will be another big step forward for a fast-moving, ambitious business – and Sinch will be there to help.