CXL (ConversionXL)

Pep Lea started CXL as a conversion optimization company, helping fast-growing companies convert more of their existing traffic into buyers. The business ran on an agency model for its first years, charging a flat monthly retainer. Pep's reasoning was that a 1% sales lift is worth far more to a company with a billion dollars in revenue than to a small business, so the agency focused on larger clients.

The agency model was the first revenue source. Retainers started at a minimum of $10,000 a month and went up to $20,000, with a three-month minimum engagement and month-to-month terms after that. The agency team of about 10 people, mostly based in Estonia, ran client work largely on its own while Pep focused on the training business. Pep noted that the agency was serving about 15 clients at the time of the interview.

In mid-2016, CXL added the CXL Institute, which started as a self-paced monthly subscription. Pep found that self-paced learning did not work because people do not make time for it, and he pointed to low completion rates on large course platforms. The team then added live courses: two per month, with eight 90-minute live sessions over four weeks, taught by instructors who shared revenue with CXL. Early on, the subscription was aimed at small businesses, but churn was high, so CXL raised prices and shifted to enterprise buyers, who were less price-sensitive.

The company's main engine was its blog. Pep launched the blog at the end of 2011 and wrote every post himself at first. Growth was slow in the beginning. Years later, the list was around 100,000 people, with more than 100 new subscribers a day. Pep said the biggest driver of opt-ins was a pop-up, not a static form. He credited Bounce Exchange for triggering pop-ups on exit intent and high engagement. The blog funneled traffic to the agency landing page, where leads were generated.

Live course seats were filled mainly from the mailing list, with some Facebook retargeting. Pep said that 90 to 95% of course buyers came from CXL's own channels, while instructors also promoted their classes to their own audiences.

What worked was the content-to-list pipeline. The blog built an audience over several years, and pop-up triggers turned that traffic into subscribers. Those subscribers then bought live courses priced at $299 to $499 each. Pep estimated that each live course, with about 100 people at roughly $500 each, brought in around $50,000.

What did not work was self-paced learning and selling to small businesses. Completion rates were low and churn was high. Moving upmarket to enterprise customers fixed the churn problem, and the company's annual plans, which made up about 20 to 25% of sign-ups, pointed to a more committed customer base.

By the time of the interview, CXL was running three revenue lines: the agency, live courses, and a self-serve subscription with certification programs, with new certification tracks planned each quarter. The company also planned a three-day conference, CXL Live, in San Antonio. Pep's main advice was to think bigger when setting goals.