Jose Luis Duron: From a Radio Station Manager to an Entrepreneur and Business Consultant

Back in the early 2000s, Jose Luis Duron was working as a radio station manager in Honduras. At that time, online business wasn’t very popular in that part of the globe. However, Jose still felt their radio station needed a website and ended up developing one using FrontPage (a website builder by Microsoft).

When people saw what Jose built, they wanted one for themselves. The rest is an amazing story of a radio station manager becoming a web development entrepreneur serving thousands of clients.

You know what sparked the interest, but how was the journey? And how did Jose become who he is today?

That’s the focal point of the story!

Initiating the era of online business in Honduras

Obviously, building websites wasn’t a walk in the park in the early 2000s. FrontPage wasn’t a modern visual builder which you could see while customizing. In fact, Jose had to hard-code the website using HTML and GIFs.

Despite that, Jose took the opportunity to express his devotion to web development and ended up developing his first website for the radio station that he was working for. This memorable achievement of his life still hits him like a fresh memory.

“I remember that my first website was developed in FrontPage and HTML and using some GIFs and something like that. Well, that’s how I began or started to develop a website.”

Jose’s remarkable work struck a chord of admiration and inspired him to continue on the web development path.

In those days, online business wasn’t popular in Honduras due to people’s limited technical skills in website development. When people learned of Jose’s skills, they asked him to create their websites, and he wholeheartedly embraced web development while still learning new programming languages. 

“Since that episode in my life, I’ve been developing websites. Well, in some years or a few years after that time, I started to study and learn PHP and MySQL. My websites were launched to another level because I included some dynamic features and websites. People started to ask me for eCommerce in the early stages. So, that’s the way I started. I didn’t stop learning. I’m still studying and learning new languages.”

He emerged as one of the pioneers and played a pivotal role in the beginning of online business in his country. However, he faced several challenges while running his online business.

The search for a cost-effective data management tool

Running an online business isn’t an easy job. It involves reaching the target audience with your product or service and turning them into paying customers strategically. A startup requires huge effort and investment. So, choosing the right tools and techniques is crucial for any businessman.

As an entrepreneur, Jose believed that email marketing could be the game changer for his business since it has the ability to reach customers more personally than any other digital marketing channel.

Unfortunately, Jose Luis Duron couldn’t find any reliable email marketing automation tool for his business during the initial period of his journey. So, he dedicated himself to developing his own email marketing tool which would send emails via PHP mailer.

“I was studying and learning PHP and MySQL. Then I developed my first email marketing tool for my own business because I saw the potential of email marketing. In that stage, there weren’t tools for automating email marketing. So, I started to use PHP mail for sending emails to my customers and I never stopped using email to attend to my clients. And email marketing has been my own core part, has been one of my strengths”

Despite having his own email marketing tool, Jose was keeping an eye on the development of email marketing tools. Later, he learned about ActiveCampaign and its strong features.

At that time, ActiveCampaign was a brilliant tool with modern functionalities. Thus, he decided to become an early adopter of ActiveCampaign. Since then, Jose has been using ActiveCampaign for all his email marketing needs.

Discovering FluentCRM

In 2019, the COVID-19 pandemic struck. The pandemic not only affected people’s health but also affected small business owners like Jose.

ActiveCampaign wasn’t bad. In fact, it was the best tool on the market according to Jose. However, it was quite expensive, and a Saas application it’s incapable of managing Jose Luis Duron’s data centrally.

Jose wanted to reduce the cost of his business and was on the lookout for a cost-effective solution. Fortunately, he discovered FluentCRM at that time.

“ActiveCampaign wasn’t bad. Actually, it’s one of the best tools in the market. But I didn’t control my own data. So I saw an opportunity with FluentCRM.”

Jose thought FluentCRM could be a game-changer for his business since everything can be managed inside WordPress. Plus, the crazy-affordable pricing helped him make the decision in no time!

“When the Pandemic started, one of my decisions was to reduce costs and I discovered FluentCRM. And when I read about what FluentCRM was offering, I said, this was the best opportunity to change ActiveCampaign.“

“If you write in a way that connects people, you don’t need to send pictures or images”

Jose Luis Duron sends approximately 100,000 emails per week without any hassle using FluentCRM. His email content is basically text-based newsletters, that are designed to connect with people.

He believes less HTML, fewer images, and fewer links result in better email deliverability and high engagement. 

“My communication with my customers is mainly in text. And if you write in a way that connects people, you don’t need to send pictures or images. Images are only a way to enhance communication. Obviously, less HTML, fewer links, and images give you more delivery and overall a better experience.”

FluentCRM offers a simple block editor as the primary email writing tool. While you can design great emails with our visual builder, the block editor makes writing plain emails a breeze. Thus, it helped Jose write the exact kind of email he wanted to write.

Takeaway #1: Send plain text emails that connect people to your brand

Visually appealing emails can steal the show. But they aren’t always effective. Introducing heavy textures in emails means you’re making your emails bulky & as a result of more HTML, it will also hamper email deliverability.

From Jose’s experience, it’s transparent that plain text emails with fewer HTML, fewer links, and fewer images work smoothly. If your emails are written in a way that connects you with the audience and delivers value, it can convert maximum recipients. Also, it significantly improves email deliverability.

However, the most important thing is to know how to write emails in a way that connects the audience with your business. It can be a consistent stream of emails that generate value for your audience, or some personalization techniques like behavioral emails that grab the audience’s attention and engage them immediately.

What Jose loves about FluentCRM?

Email marketing is the centerpiece of Jose Luis Duron’s marketing strategy. He usually sends around 100k+ emails to his audience every week. This approach helps him to convert his target audience into customers. 

FluentCRM’s scheduling and automation features streamline his email marketing efforts, ensuring timely communication with his audience.

He also praises FluentCRM’s effectiveness in handling bounce rates and complaints, especially through Amazon SES integration, which allows him to focus on writing the email content rather than spending time worrying over email delivery.

“I mainly use FluentCRM’s schedule campaigns and automation funnels. I love the way FluentCRM manages the bounces and complaints with Amazon SES. So, I don’t have to worry about complaints. If somebody doesn’t want to receive my emails, it is easy. That is unsubscribing and I certainly know that those people will not receive any emails from me. That’s mainly how I use FluentCRM.”

Jose also uses FluentCRM for his wife’s business where he mainly sends emails with product pictures, showcasing her products.

“And obviously for my wife’s business, she sells products that need to be showcased or shown. So, I include some people with products or if I have to show a beautiful product.”

FluentCRM’s WooCommerce product block is a great fit for this. It is a simple one-click option to bring your WooCommerce product inside the email.

Takeaway #2: Bounce and complaint management is vital

Bounce rate and complaint management are critical for email marketing success. Bounce rate is an important KPI of email marketing. It’s the percentage of emails that failed to be delivered to the recipients. The major reasons can be an invalid email address, server problem, or full inbox.

Hard bounce can affect the overall email deliverability and harm the sender’s reputation. So, monitoring and improving the email bounce rate and complaints will significantly improve the effectiveness of your email marketing campaigns and help maintain a positive sender reputation.

FluentCRM supports bounce handling with most email service providers. Thus, you can easily filter bounced contacts and exclude them from the email list. By doing so, you’ll ensure that next time your emails will reach authentic contacts only.

Also Read: Email Bounce Rate: Causes and How to Minimize Them

The importance of a great tech stack

Every business needs a good set of tools. A good tech stack is invaluable for several reasons. While some tools can help manage ongoing operations and boost efficiency and productivity, some tools will simply help you scale up your business.

Jose has formulated a complete ecosystem for his business operations. His eco-system revolves around the following products:

• WooCommerce for product display
• Cartflows for ensuring a smooth and effective sales process
• TidyCal for appointments
• Fluent Forms for different types of form-making
• FluentCRM for sending and automating emails
• Tutor LMS for managing his courses

This holistic approach reflects his dedication to providing a seamless and engaging experience for his customers.

“Mainly I use Cartflows with WooCommerce. Obviously…I use FluentCRM and Fluent Forms. I used Fluent Forms for contact forms, subscription forms, payment forms, and appointment booking forms. For booking, I use TidyCal and connect it with FluentCRM. People book in TidyCal and I connect to my FluentCRM with Pabbly. I also have some courses online and for that I use Tutor LMS”

Takeaway #3: A good tech stack is vital

A well-organized setup can boost the productivity of business operations and increase sales and profit.

Jose formulated an ecosystem of effective tools that help him generate leads, showcase products to generate demand, and run email campaigns to turn subscribers into customers. He uses Fluent Forms to build all kinds of business management forms and integrates with FluentCRM to keep the customer relationship management process smoother.

Cartflows help him build his sales funnel to convert prospects. Integrating TidyCal with FluentCRM helps him to schedule and manage appointments with his clients.

Also, Pabbly helps him to integrate numerous tools under a single umbrella, providing a complete tech stack environment that makes business management more manageable and more fun.

Note: Although Jose Luis Duron was using TidyCal when we were interviewing him, he recently switched to FluentBooking for appointments as it has better integration with FluentCRM and Google Calendar. Currently, FluentBooking is offering a 50% Off Earlybird LTD. We highly recommend FluentBooking if you already have FluentCRM.

“After installing WordPress, I have to install FluentCRM”

Jose made a significant shift from being an ActiveCampaign user to a happy FluentCRM user. He added that FluentCRM is the foundation of his success. The privilege of being an early adopter allowed him to vouch for its effectiveness.

He confidently recommends it to others because it delivers results. His clients benefit from its capabilities, and it remains one of his most successful investments. Now it has become a major part of his business.

“I have to say that I don’t care what template or website builder I use at this moment with WordPress, but I’m certainly convinced or I know that after installing WordPress, I have to install FluentCRM. That’s a must!”

– Jose luis Duron

Presently, his 100K email list enjoys his weekly emails without any problems. And impressively, his email open rates hover around 30-50%, proving his email strategy works perfectly with FluentCRM!

“Well, my open rate is 30-50%. So it works for me and FluentCRM does the work. So that’s the way I use FluentCRM and that’s my email strategy.”

Takeaway #4: FluentCRM can be an absolute game-changer!

An efficient email marketing strategy can boost a company’s growth. It can increase sales and revenue by promoting products and services to a targeted audience and develop customer engagement by using effective email communication.

As Jose’s fantastic journey from ActiveCampaign to FluentCRM demonstrates, FluentCRM is a game changer for email marketing. And it has been the core of his email marketing success, with an incredible 30-50% open rate!

FluentCRM’s success is shown by Jose’s praise and consistent results show its effectiveness, making it a must-have tool for anybody who is serious about email marketing.

A happy evangelist!

Jose is successfully using email marketing to connect with his customers and expand his business. His business strategy together with the cost-effective solution of FluentCRM is helping him to reach his audience and succeed in email campaigns. Now he loves FluentCRM and is a happy evangelist!

From a radio station manager to an entrepreneur…what a journey it has been for Jose Luis Duron. Want to share your story with our audience?

We hope you liked reading the story. Jose Luis Duron is always happy to help you start your online venture. You can connect to him through his website.