Freshworks Marketplace – 500 Apps and Counting
We announce with great pleasure that as of October 2018, we have 500 apps listed on the Freshworks Marketplace.
These apps on the Marketplace are helping tens of thousands of our customers extend the capabilities of our products and get complete solutions for their business needs, by integrating with various other products in the ecosystem. The Marketplace has also paved the way for nearly 200 of our partners to harness the capabilities of a powerful platform to build innovative apps and scale their business along with us.
The Journey
In 2015, we had the vision to create a platform that would deliver partner growth, foster innovation, and drive critical business solutions across Freshworks’ products.
When it was launched in 2016, the Marketplace was supporting apps for Freshworks’ flagship product, Freshdesk. The first app was the Google Calendar App which allowed users to manage their Google calendars without having to leave the comfort of Freshdesk. This remains one of our most popular apps till date.
Since the launch of the Freshdesk Marketplace, we’ve seen rapid growth. We hit 100 apps in our first year, 300 apps in our second, and 500 apps as of October. Over the years we’ve expanded the Marketplace to include two more Freshworks products – Freshservice and Freshsales, and earlier this year we also launched the unified app gallery called the Freshworks Marketplace. The marketplace now provides a single interface for customers to browse, find, and install apps that work with all three products.
Our marketplace has seen one of the fastest growth curves in comparison with some of our key competitors. Here’s a quick look at how fast we have grown:
The Freshworks Marketplace and Partner Program
Core to Freshworks Marketplace’s success so far is the marketplace platform and the Freshworks Partner Program.
The Freshworks Marketplace includes apps across categories such as agent productivity, knowledge management, e-commerce, CRM, email marketing and more. These apps have been built predominantly by companies that are part of our Marketplace and Partner Program.
Companies such as Cx Moments, Hugo, BrightReps, Motorq, and Nearsoft have partnered with us and are building apps using new-age technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), and Internet of Things (IoT). These apps are now being widely used by our customers across the globe.
All partners who are a part of our Freshworks Partner Program get access to a complete product, sales, and marketing toolkit, so they can learn about our product, build apps, and publish it on the marketplace as well as run joint promotional activities to customers.
We run a Freshworks ISV Partner Program that provides companies with a comprehensive set of tools and resources. They can use this to showcase their integrations with the Freshworks suite of products, jointly go to the market, and scale faster. Companies, as well as citizen developers, can build, test, and deploy apps on the Freshworks Marketplace.
We also have a Solution Partner Program that helps organizations leverage their technical and sales capabilities to consult, sell, customize, and implement Freshworks products for businesses globally, to accelerate and amplify growth. In addition, we work with strategic partners and affiliate partners who refer leads to Freshworks and help us increase revenues.
We’re excited to say that we’ve been able to provide value to partners in terms of monetization and visibility. The Marketplace and Partner program has not only seen credibility from the partners, but from our customers as well. Customers have adopted a lot of apps, and the results speak for themselves.
We have seen a 51% improved retention from customers who use apps.
Partner Relationships
One of the focus areas for us at Freshworks was to make sure the partner program delivered the best value to partners. We are as invested as our partners are in building and listing their products on the marketplace. We ensure that we engage with them constantly to learn about their needs and to understand how we can grow together and mutually add value. For instance, earlier this year, we hosted our first ever Partner roundtable during the Dreamforce 18 conference. More than 50 partners from across the globe visited to learn more about our program, plan strategic joint marketing initiatives, and connect with key folks from our Marketplace and Partnerships teams.
Similarly, during our annual user conference Refresh ‘18, held at New York in October, we had an exciting partner track where several partners attended to showcase their apps and capabilities to customers. Our partners set up over 15 sponsorship booths, interacted with prospects, our internal sales and product teams, to understand the market fit better and improve the capability of their joint offering.
Journey to 500 Apps
Over the last year, we have seen an extraordinary amount of inbound requests from organizations to integrate their product with Freshworks’ products and to be listed on the marketplace. Thanks to the healthy inbound growth and our constant addition of apps based on customer requests, we saw an unprecedented growth that took us from 250 Apps to 500 Apps in just the last nine months!
With three products on the platform(more joining soon) and a fully featured and flexible platform for partners to easily build apps, the Freshworks Marketplace has risen to great heights. We are deeply committed in our efforts to deliver the perfect customer engagement experience to our customers.
We’d like to thank every single person who has been part of our journey so far. We couldn’t have done it without you, and we hope you’ll continue to support us as we grow!
