Case study · IONOS
How IONOS scaled its referral program
while reducing internal effort.
IONOS is Europe's largest hosting provider and one of the leading digitalization partners for small and medium-sized businesses. Its portfolio spans domains and web hosting through to cloud infrastructure and AI-powered business tools. IONOS operates across numerous European countries as well as North America and is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.
The opportunity
A program run entirely in-house, and the effort that took.
IONOS originally ran its referral program in-house, which demanded significant operational and administrative effort. The company had to run a reliable billing system, ensure legal and tax compliance in every market, provide customer support, and continuously develop the underlying processes.
For business customers, commercial register extracts had to be requested and reviewed manually, and invoices issued. At its peak the program was managed by three full-time employees, supported by additional call center agents.
The program
One referral program, run end to end across five markets.
Customers and business partners recommend IONOS products and earn a commission when the referral converts. Everything below is delivered by Aklamio, in every market the program runs in.
The impact
The same program, at a fraction of the effort.
By outsourcing the program to Aklamio, IONOS eliminated those internal structures. The entire referral program is now managed internally with an effort of around 0.2 FTE, a substantial reduction in personnel requirements, operational complexity and overall cost.
Efficiency gain
less internal effort on the program
Before
plus additional call center agents
After
to run the same program
Markets
run end to end from one program
Tree planting initiative
A tree planted for every successful referral.
Aklamio approached IONOS with the idea of planting a tree for every successful referral of an IONOS product, in cooperation with Tree-Nation. The concept aligns with IONOS's corporate culture, which combines digital growth with responsible action, and Aklamio takes care of the entire process.
We previously operated our referral program entirely in-house, which involved significant manual and administrative work, particularly when reviewing and processing business customers. With Aklamio, we can now run the program with only a fraction of the internal effort, without having to manage fulfillment or the technical and legal details ourselves. The collaboration is straightforward and reliable, and the team is also very pleasant to work with on a personal level.
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