The Academy of Brain offers online training programs that help organizations support, among other things, the implementation of their strategy and values. The challenge was proving the overall value to potential new customers: logos alone were not convincing, and collecting social proof took too much effort. Trustmary solved the problem by automating the measurement of customer satisfaction, exporting the feedback to sales and marketing through the HubSpot integration, and introducing real names to the testimonials alongside the logos. As a result, buying became easier, and the website traffic and website conversion increased.

The Academy of Brain's target group is HR, middle managers and executives in large companies. However, buying paths are complex and often involve a buying committee.

When Janne Nieminen, Academy of Brain's Sales and Marketing Director, stops to consider the biggest challenges to growing a business, one thing immediately stands out:

– We've struggled with getting customers to assess the value of our solution as a whole, he says.

The feedback on individual training courses is important, but the range of courses is wide, and feedback from a single course cannot accurately convey the value of the entire program.

For a training company aiming to grow internationally, it was crucial to have reliable and genuine testimonials of what the entire package brings to customers.

At the same time, the team has its hands full with customer work and simply didn't have the time to collect feedback manually.

HubSpot Integration Frees Up time for Customer Work

Trustmary provided the solution: collecting feedback and testimonials was automated with a HubSpot integration, freeing up time for customer work.

– We are a small team, and every hour saved through automation means that we can spend more time with each customer and deliver more value, says Nieminen.

After each customer meeting, a feedback survey is sent out to ensure that the service is satisfactory.

– We provide a very personalised service to our customers. We design study paths and create annual plans for communicating the programme internally with ready-to-use materials. It's important to measure that customers are satisfied with the service they receive, Nieminen continues.

In the future, customer experience will be systematically monitored through automated surveys every six months. Customer feedback has become a natural and ongoing part of everyday life, without any extra work.

In Academy of Brain's everyday life, feedback, NPS results, and customer satisfaction metrics flow directly into HubSpot. This way, all information flows conveniently into one place.

hubspot integration with trustmary to automate feedback collection

From Logo Marketing to People - and Sentiment

The Academy of Brain works with many large organisations. Nieminen points out that a logo alone is cold and does not evoke the same sense of relatability as a recommendation from a person.

– A genuine comment, name, and face build trust. Many websites feature big logos, but a comment from a real person reflects the real value they have experienced or received.

There is a huge difference in just seeing the logo of a well-known brand and seeing what the contact person from that company had to say about their experience. By attaching a name to the comment, the reference becomes more convincing.

– Using logos on websites is a bit of a gray area, as companies might feature big brand logos on their websites even after they no longer work together. When a review is given by the real person with a relevant title, it's easier to trust them, and relate to their experiences, Nieminen says

Reviews Make Buying Easier

Buying decisions in large companies are not taken lightly. The Academy of Brain's procurement is often the responsibility of a purchasing committee. The HR department is typically the initiator for the purchase, and it needs to convince the entire management team internally.

Every purchase requires careful consideration to avoid making the wrong purchase.

– The bigger the company, the more people are wary of bad purchases. It's a bit like the Game of Thrones of buying, Nieminen says.

That's why genuine, third-party reviews make the buyer's job easier. They reduce risk and make the decision feel safer.

– Trustmary enables us to have a review page where all public feedback left by customers is in one place. We link this page to all potential customers, where they can go and read for themselves what others have thought of our service, he continues.

The review page can also be found by anyone on search engines and AI searches.

Results: More Traffic, Higher Conversion Rates

After starting to use Trustmary, the Academy of Brain has more traffic to its website and a notable increase in conversion rates.

– The average length of site visits has increased since we added review widgets to various landing pages. People clearly want to read about other people's experiences.

It has been particularly notable that clients with whom the Academy of Brain does strategy work give higher than average NPS scores. This information is readily available in the reports generated by Trustmary and also guides the company's own development and strategy.

– We compare the satisfaction levels of different customer groups with each other and try to replicate good practices across segments, says Nieminen.

By identifying the most satisfied and productive segments, growth can be sought by targeting sales and marketing more strongly to these groups in the future.

International Growth Through Excellent Customer Experience

The company has ambitious goals for international growth. Nieminen sees collecting, analyzing, and using customer feedback in marketing as the key to growth in international markets.

– Trustmary has been an important tool for us in boosting international growth, he says.

Nieminen praises Trustmary's ease of use, but also the proactive customer success team of Petteri Puumala and Pasi Isomäki.

– Implementing the basic functions by yourself is easy, but Trustmary also has an excellent onboarding and skilled staff, with whom we were able to quickly get the most out of the system right from the start, Nieminen says.

Nieminen's work list includes improving feedback processes in continuous cooperation with Trustmary.

– During the year, we have increased our NPS score from 66 to 81, but we will continue to focus on measuring feedback more systematically. Fortunately, we have the support of Trustmary, Nieminen sums up.

sharing social proof on linkedin

Summary Academy of Brain x Trustmary

The Academy of Brain found a solution from Trustmary that:

  • Automate customer surveys and save effort
  • Bring feedback into your everyday life with HubSpot integration
  • Turn cold logos into real experiences
  • Make it easier for customers to buy and reduce their perceived risk
  • Increase traffic and conversions
  • Develop business by identifying the most satisfied customers

The result is a stronger foundation for growth, at home and internationally.