The doubling of the number of customers is, on the one hand, a good result and, on the other, leaves one unsatisfied.

Let us start with the positives:

1. The doubling in itself shows a good direction of development. We are growing.

2. 2020 was the year of the pandemic. It wasn’t easy to forecast anything then and think about good sales results. However, in 2021, the world was already returning to normal, and business started to function normally despite the pandemic. The good sales result was an important signal that we had survived the worst and could look to the future with optimism.

3. 2021 was also the first year when we could sell Element 2.0, a completely new ATS system. Element 2.0 replaced Element 1.0, the previous ATS we developed in 2014. Element 2.0 was written from scratch based on five years of experience and customer feedback. (See a short video demonstrating the differences between version 1 and 2) Strong sales results confirmed that building a new ATS system focused on maximum user convenience and agile recruitment was a hit.

4. We doubled sales by minimizing marketing costs. We had already cut unnecessary expenses during the pandemic and lowered costs to an absolute minimum. To achieve this, we focused more on automation tools that help us to generate new leads and brand recognition. Still, I was responsible for all the product demos, offers, onboarding, and customer care. On top of this, I regularly created the content for our blog, newsletter, social media, and organized webinars.

5. The result was achieved despite the fact, that our ATS’ landing page visitors cannot create accounts in Element by themself. Those interested in trying out Element ATS usually send us requests using the contact form available on the landing page. Then, I contact each interested company and carry out the onboarding process. However, some people would prefer to access the system without unnecessary contact and without waiting, and unfortunately, we lose some of these leads. Therefore, I believe that we can have better sales results after providing visitors with the possibility to create accounts in our ATS without our help.

Why the shortfall remains:

1. The lack of the option mentioned above to create a user account in Element ATS directly on the landing page has probably reduced the number of acquired customers. Currently, 86% of people who click on the “schedule a demo” button do not submit an application form. We assume that this indicator, and thus the sales result, would have been more favorable if we had implemented the discussed function last year.

2. The appearance of the contact form on the ATS’ landing page also had room for improvement, and its imperfections certainly hurt conversions.

3. The lack of optimization of my time management may also have negatively affected the sales result.

Overall, we are moderately satisfied, there is still a lot of room for improvement, while we are optimistic about the sales forecast this year.