Timeweb, a leading web hosting provider in Eastern Europe, faced market saturation and shifting industry trends that threatened growth. With no prior international brand presence and past expansion failures, they needed a structured, data-driven approach to break into new markets. Our growth strategy focused on identifying high-potential regions, optimizing product experience to reduce churn, and executing a scalable marketing mix. Within the first 30 days, we successfully launched in India and Nigeria, achieving 250% MoM revenue growth and $25,000 MRR. Through influencer partnerships, PPC campaigns, and UX improvements, we helped Timeweb establish a sustainable international presence, securing long-term stakeholder confidence.
250%
MoM revenue growth in new markets
$25,000
MRR in 30 days with new products
Date
May 19, 2024
Topic
Case Study
Services Provided:
New Market Entry Product Strategy Customer Acquisition Strategy
Timeweb Global
Challenges & Business Objectives
1. Market Saturation & Industry Shifts
Timeweb had already captured a significant portion of its home market, making further expansion challenging. The company faced stiff competition from established providers, and customer acquisition opportunities were limited. At the same time, the web hosting industry was undergoing a major shift—many users were moving towards website builders with bundled hosting solutions, reducing demand for standalone hosting services. This external pressure threatened both new customer acquisition and existing customer retention.
2. Lack of International Brand Presence
While Timeweb had a strong domestic presence, it had no brand recognition in foreign markets. Expanding internationally meant starting from scratch—building credibility, establishing trust, and figuring out the right pricing models, positioning strategies, and marketing channels for each region. This presented both a challenge and an opportunity: without an existing brand reputation, we had the flexibility to test new messaging and market approaches without the constraints of prior expectations.
3. Management Skepticism Due to Past Expansion Failures
Timeweb had previously attempted an international expansion into the European market, but the lack of a structured growth strategy led to a costly failure. This experience made stakeholder trust and buy-in a critical factor—company leadership was hesitant to commit significant resources to another expansion attempt. To overcome this, we needed to demonstrate measurable early traction and maintain continuous communication to keep all decision-makers informed.
4. User Experience Barriers
The existing Timeweb platform was optimized for its home market, but international users had very different workflow expectations. Usability testing revealed that potential customers found the interface unfamiliar and unintuitive, leading to early churn. This meant that even if we successfully acquired users, poor product adoption would limit long-term retention and revenue growth. A strong UX improvement plan was essential to drive sustainable success.
Growth Strategy & Execution
1. Market Research & Selection
To ensure a data-driven expansion, we conducted in-depth research to identify the most promising markets. Our selection criteria focused on:
✅ Low market consolidation (minimal dominance by global players) ✅ High internet penetration growth (a growing pool of online businesses) ✅ Increase in newly built websites (indicating demand for hosting solutions) ✅ Favorable business conditions (ease of entry, payment infrastructure, local support)
Through this analysis, we identified five high-potential markets: India, Nigeria, Brazil, Indonesia, and Kenya. To refine our focus, we conducted additional feasibility assessments based on localization requirements, competitive landscape, and market entry costs. As a result, we selected India and Nigeria as the initial test markets.
Key Insights: These regions showed a strong demand for affordable and flexible hosting, aligning well with Timeweb’s existing strengths.
2. Customer & Competitor Research
A successful market entry required a deep understanding of both customer behavior and competitive positioning. Our research combined:
🔹 Customer Development: Conducted in-depth interviews, surveys, and UX tests to understand pain points, expectations, and pricing sensitivities.
🔹 Product Usability Testing: Recruited local web developers and admins to interact with Timeweb’s platform, identifying friction points that could impact retention.
🔹 Competitive Benchmarking: Analyzed key competitors' pricing models, acquisition strategies, content marketing, and user experience to determine differentiation opportunities.
Key Insights: The biggest obstacle to growth was not marketing inefficiency, but product friction—users struggled with unfamiliar workflows, leading to drop-offs. Customers in target markets prioritized pricing flexibility and local payment options over premium hosting features.
Timeweb Global dashboard interface
3. Product Readiness & Stakeholder Alignment
To secure stakeholder confidence and reduce expansion risk, we:
Established a transparent feedback system with regular updates to leadership.
Implemented a continuous sprint-based iteration process, ensuring small but measurable improvements at each stage.
Conducted small-scale product and demand generation experiments before full-scale investment, proving market viability in a low-risk, data-driven way.
Implementation & Go-to-Market Execution
1. Marketing Mix Development
A successful go-to-market strategy required a blend of trust-building and direct acquisition tactics:
✅ Influencer Partnerships: Partnered with local web development influencers (YouTube, blogs, Telegram) to build credibility and drive referral traffic. ✅ Paid Advertising: Launched a PPC strategy combining search, display, and remarketing campaigns to maximize targeted reach. ✅ Content Marketing: Developed an SEO-driven content library, including how-to guides and knowledge base articles to improve organic discovery and user onboarding. ✅ Email Drip Campaigns: Created an automated email system to nurture trial users, increase conversions, and upsell services over time.
Key Takeaway:
Influencer marketing combined with remarketing campaigns delivered the highest ROI, as it helped establish credibility while maintaining cost-effective acquisition.
Timeweb Global MVP pricing page
2. Agile Growth Execution
To maximize efficiency and minimize risk, we used an agile, data-driven approach that allowed us to test, iterate, and scale efficiently. Given the complexities of entering a new market, we designed our strategy to minimize upfront risk while ensuring rapid learning cycles. Our approach revolved around three key phases:
Phase 1: Initial Market Testing – Before committing significant resources, we launched small-budget ad campaigns and localized landing pages to test demand in each target market. By analyzing engagement, conversion rates, and cost-per-acquisition, we gathered essential data on how different audiences responded to our messaging and product offering. This phase provided crucial insights into which market segments had the highest potential for scalability.
Phase 2: Iterative Optimization – With initial data in hand, we refined our positioning, pricing strategy, and onboarding experience. We continuously ran A/B tests on messaging, tested various acquisition channels, and monitored user behavior to identify friction points in the funnel. Additionally, we worked closely with the UX and product teams to implement key improvements based on early user feedback, ensuring a more seamless adoption process. Our goal in this phase was to build a strong foundation for conversion and retention before scaling efforts.
Phase 3: Scalable Expansion – Once we validated the most effective acquisition channels and optimized the user experience, we scaled investments in high-performing strategies. We doubled down on paid acquisition campaigns, expanded our influencer partnerships, and optimized our retargeting efforts to convert leads who had engaged but not yet purchased. This phase was about achieving sustainable growth at a higher velocity while keeping customer acquisition costs in check.
By following this structured test-learn-scale approach, we not only maximized efficiency but also mitigated financial risk while ensuring sustainable, long-term market penetration.
Phase 1: Initial Market Testing – Launched small-budget ad campaigns & landing pages to measure demand.
Phase 2: Iterative Optimization – Continuously refined positioning, pricing, and onboarding flows based on early user data.
Phase 3: Scalable Expansion – Focused investment in high-performing channels and customer segments.
Results & Business Impact
Successful entry into multiple new markets (India & Nigeria). 250% MoM revenue growth in new markets. $25,000 MRR within the first 30 days of launch. Lowered churn by improving onboarding UX, increasing early user retention. Stakeholder trust secured, with ongoing investment into international expansion.
Conclusion
Through a data-driven, product-aware growth strategy, we helped Timeweb successfully break into new markets after years of stagnation. By addressing both acquisition and product adoption challenges, we built a scalable foundation for continued international growth.
Timeweb’s case underscores our core approach: growth isn’t just about acquisition—it requires a seamless blend of strategy, execution, and product alignment.
