In this country, "To be frank, in some months, we still lose as many customers as we acquire," CFO Stephen Hare said in the recent webcast of earnings for the year ended September 30.
Nevertheless, Net Promoter Scores in the U. S. have improved substantially. A year ago, the NPS was -40, which means many more people would not recommend it than would. This year, the benchmark has reached the mid-teens, according to Sage CEO Steve Kelly.
Sage has also changed its approach to what Sage One is. Kelly said that two years ago, "Sage One was a different product in each market." Now, it is one product with what he described as a single scalable code base. Certainly, the change in Sage One here was visible when the different editions and their prices changed from year to year.
Hare said the company has strong retention in the United Kingdom and Brazil. Kelly said Sage is getting 10,000 new subscribers a month in Brazil while Canada has had an 81-percent increase subscribers. Asia is weak where the company acknowledged product quality issues a year ago.
Noting the company is disappointed in its U.S. performance, Kelly said, "The product is fine. The strategy is absolutely fine," said Kelly. "The execution is one place where we have to step it up."
