Flazio is the first Italian no-code platform to be recognised for its revolutionary approach to creating websites and e-commerce stores. Most recently, it was mentioned by Financial Times for being one of the fastest growing Italian companies in Europe.
Website Planet sat down with Calogero Milazzo, CMO at Flazio, where they discussed how Flazio has reached where it is today, and what’s in the pipeline for the future.
What is Flazio and how does it work?
Flazio is an innovative Italian company, specialized in the creation of websites, web applications and tools for the automated and simplified management of online content.
Flazio’s innovation consists in the development of a CMS (Content Management System) capable of reinventing the way websites are created: the platform does not require any specific technical expertise allowing anyone to create a website and update it in real time independently.
Flazio’s structure was created on the basis of results obtained through market research and surveys, that have allowed us to identify in simplicity and speed, the two key parameters required by users who intend to create their own website without necessarily having to rely on a web agency.
Its user-friendly nature, which represents the innovative break with the classic platforms aimed at professionals,
allows the design and implementation of a website without the knowledge of programming languages and in line with the usability of tools and web applications widely used as Microsoft PowerPoint or Microsoft Word.
After a quick sign up, the user can immediately start to give space to creativity: each element of the page is created visually and the user will have full freedom to decide which components to add (a menu, an image, a hyperlink, and so on), where to place them on the page and which size to assign them, without having to put their hands on the keyboard.
The engine is equipped with a
WYSIWYG technology (What You See Is What You Get): everything you see on the screen during the construction phase of the site is exactly
what will appear to online visitors.
We have designed many innovative features, such as the import of content from social media, which allows you to use the information already available on your social profile; or a native marketing automation system for send mail, sms, push or chat message to customers that make action on the websites, like signup, purchase or abandoned chart. Innovative features, like the ones listed above, make Flazio highly attractive to users of DIY (Do-It-Yourself).
Currently
more than 1.0000,000 websites have been created using the Flazio platform.
How does your mission differ from the other companies in your niche?
Flazio’s mission is simple:
digitalize small and medium enterprises.
With a complete and cheap solution Flazio Platform allows anyone to
manage their own online presence on their own, reducing development costs and time. Furthermore, we stay at the side of customers at any time thanks to an active multi-channel fanatical support, via chat, email, telephone and social networks.
Our customer care includes a team made up of marketing specialists who guide users in strategic choices, such as launching campaigns on Google Ads or Meta and how to use the marketing tools present on the platform, SEO experts who help users climb positions on search engines, and web designers who train them on use of our creative tools and who can also intervene on the improvement of the website or for the creation of logos.
One of Flazio’s prerogatives is listening to customer needs: we contact users and provide them a survey to propose and vote on improvements to existing features or development of new benefits. Our Dev’s Team publishes more than 10 news every month, including new features and updates to optimize customers’ websites.
How did it all start, and what are your best achievements so far?
“Why, instead of creating sites, don’t we create a platform that allows our clients to build their own websites independently?”
This question makes Flazio real. It is 2012 when the Flazio project wins Mind The Bridge and flies to Silicon Valley, but Flazio Fazio decides to return to Italy and founded the company in Sicily. We receive proposals from ItaliansVenture Capital, Zernike Meta proves to be the ultimate choice.
During 2014 we switched our system to Flash on Html5 and Team expanded with talented young people in programming, web design and marketing. Once the break even point is reached Flazio decides to return the 400,000€ received.
In 2017 we launched our White Label reseller program: SiteBuilderBuilder.com. Hundreds of leading international companies like Terra Prime, Tim and Tiscali, during the last year, have already decided to create their site builders with Sitebuilderbuilder.
In 2019 Flazio expands to reach over 1 mln users and conquers new markets, Spain, France and USA
In 2021 we launched Flazio Domains, a domain providing service that allows Italian clients to buy a .it domain at cost price forever.
In 2022 we won
Growth Leader 2023, the Il Sole 24 Ore and Statista included Flazio to the list of the best Italian growth companies and in 2023 Flazio entered the Financial Times 1000: the seventh annual ranking of Europe’s fastest-growing companies.
Who are your typical users and what problems do they have when they come to you?
Our typical customer is a small or medium-sized business or a freelancer who wants to go online quickly and independently. Clients who decide to create their website with Flazio often do so to reduce online publication times and reduce agency costs.
The possibility of having an easy-to-use editor allows them to resolve the most obvious problem that the user has when the website is created by an agency, i.e. updating the contents.
Thanks to Flazio, the user can access an intuitive work area and, for example,
modify prices, add or modify pages without having to foresee processing times and costs typical of a web agency.
And what makes them eventually choose you over other sitebuilders?
All functionalities in one plan with one pricing, 9€ per month. With one solution the customer can have access to all features from the start. Every feature is native and perfectly integrated with all Flazio
systems: for this reason our clients don’t have the necessity to add plugins or tools from other services.
But this is not Flazio’s only advantage over our competitors.
When we decided what to include in our single package, we thought about what customers needed to create an effective website without activate other services: for this reason,
we decided to include the cost of the domain and 5 mailboxes of 5GB each, space unlimited and all plugins for online sales, for bookings in accommodation facilities, professional studios and restaurants (all without commission), statistics, tools for dem and marketing automation and an innovative multilingual system, with integrated automatic translation system.
Our assistance boasts various channels including telephone contact which allows users to have the information they are looking for quickly and directly.
What integrations and other tools are your customers mostly using in combination with Flazio to build and promote their websites?
They mostly used tools are tag and conversions pixel (Meta and Google Ads) and Analytics tools like Google Analytics or Search Console integration.
Is there a success story from your customers that you are particularly proud of?
We have three important case studies involving three totally different companies, both in terms of size and industry.
The first is the story of the Panificio La Farina, a small Sicilian company that had no digital presence before getting to know Flazio. It seemed in fact unthinkable that the bakery sector could be associated with the digital world.
The real breakthrough came, however, when Anthony, the bakery owner,
decided to create a website using our platform. He created the e-commerce panificiolafarina.it and in no time at all received a boom in orders within the first few hours of putting the site online.
The second story is about Papini Store, a historic company founded in Catania in 1973, active in the high-fashion and luxury clothing and accessories industry. In 2017, Papini landed online, relying on a leading global platform for luxury fashion.
The real revolution, however, comes when Papini Store decides to create its own e-commerce site on Flazio (papinistore.com), opening the doors to new customers and new market prospects and achieving a 30% increase in turnover in just 4 months after going online.
Lastly, we are very proud of our collaboration with TIM, who decided to use Flazio’s technology to launch a new TIM-branded platform called SitoSemplice (https://sitosemplice.timbusiness.it). This is a platform that, like Flazio, allows users to create websites easily without any coding skills.
The project is part of a Flazio ‘spin-off’, the
Site Builder Builder, the company’s initiative to help international service providers offer their customers a fully integrated online platform, including ecommerce, customer management, chat and payment functionality.
What do you see in the future of your industry, and how do you plan to cope?
Accelerating the process of digital transformation of Italian companies and an expansion plan towards new international markets are the next goals of the company,
which is constantly on the lookout for new talent thanks to a major recruitment plan scheduled for 2023 and which can be consulted directly on the website. *
* you know what this means, right? It means that Flazio is hiring! So, if you want to join one of the fastest growing Italian companies in Europe, go here asap >> https://www.flazio.com/it/lavora-con-noi
