AEC grew traffic by 75%
and event-registration revenue by 70% YoY
A new website, CRM, and email marketing stack
that streamlines memberships, events, and communications.
Since 1953, the European Association of Conservatoires (AEC) has connected 300+ conservatories and music academies across 57 countries and is a leading voice for higher music education in Europe.
The Challenge: Strong mission, limited digital momentum
Old tech kept AEC’s ambitious team behind
Fragile CMS made routine updates risky and time-consuming
Hard to manage subscriptions, invoicing, and mailing lists
No single source of truth for members, events, or projects
AEC needed more than a facelift
They needed a seasoned strategist to understand complex operations and align communications, events, and memberships—backed by a solution that fits how they work.
Our Approach: Phased rollout with day-one impact
A comprehensive, phased approach ensured seamless delivery and measurable impact from day one.
Deep Discovery
We listened—no templates, just honest discovery to surface goals, constraints, and risks.
Interviewed stakeholders across communications, events, and finance
Aligned on goals and constraints
Audited current state of tech, data, and processes
Strategic Blueprint
We translated the vision into a strategy-led blueprint and executable roadmap.
Defined platform architecture and MarTech data model
Governance—roles, workflows, and approvals
Prioritized roadmap with milestones, owners, and timelines
Phase 1: Platform and Content Launch
Launched the core platform and completed data migration from legacy systems.
Designed a new, brand-aligned UX/UI for the website
Rebuilt the site on a secure Laravel backend with headless WordPress (ACF) for content
Built a drag-and-drop component library for non-technical staff
Completed data migration from the legacy CMS
Team onboarding workshops on authoring, publishing, components, and releases (recorded and shared)
Phase 2: CRM and Email Marketing
Integrated CRM and email marketing with initial data import and system sync.
Integrated Salesforce Sales Cloud and Campaign Monitor to enable full-lifecycle management of member institutions and contacts
Created 30+ dynamic segments for highly personalized campaigns
Automated event registrations: payments, invoicing, and contact creation
Initial data import and system synchronization
CRM workshops on segmentation, journeys, and campaign operations (recorded and shared)
Ongoing Development and Support
Continuous iteration with fast releases, daily communication, and hands-on enablement.
Rolling features and enhancements prioritized to business goals
Rapid releases, proactive monitoring, and knowledge transfer
Continuous optimization and technical support
The Outcome: Growth you can measure
From bottlenecks to harmonized performance
Headless architecture replaced risky, time-consuming updates with drag-and-drop page building
30+ automated segments in Campaign Monitor now power personalized campaigns to 3,000+ subscribers
Salesforce CRM unified the data of 300+ conservatories, replacing error-prone spreadsheets overnight
75% traffic growth. 70% revenue increase.
We didn’t just fix technical debt—we unlocked AEC’s potential. Automated payment processing, PDF invoicing, zero-downtime deployments, and comprehensive team training transformed how Europe’s leading music education network operates at scale.
Metrics: YoY for the launch calendar year vs the prior year. Because launch was mid-year, that 12-month window includes roughly half pre-launch and half post-launch; all figures are full-year YoY results. Why YoY: performance is highly seasonal (events/membership cycles), so full-year YoY avoids distortions from seasonal peaks and troughs. Data sources: GA4 (traffic & engagement), payment provider (event-registration revenue), Campaign Monitor (subscribers). Full details are available in the AEC Annual Report (PDF).
Is your stack holding you back? Let’s discuss your goals and constraints.
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Client Feedback
Alfonso Guerra
Network and Finance Manager, AEC
Barely six months after Forci rolled out our new website with Salesforce and Campaign Monitor, the first YoY figures were impressive: Traffic jumped 75%, lifting page-views to 234,787; visitors now browse 3.3 pages per session, an uplift of 15%. Our newsletter list more than doubled to 3,000 subscribers (+119%), and income from event registrations climbed well over 70%. Forci got us there by listening carefully, mapping every requirement in a clear blueprint, and delivering on schedule with the same attention they showed on day one.
Frequently Asked Questions
What CMOs ask about this rollout
What stack did you implement?
Laravel core platform with a Headless WordPress (ACF), Salesforce Sales Cloud, Campaign Monitor, and Mollie payments with automated invoicing.
How long did the rollout take?
Two phases over approximately six months, with measurable day-one impact post-launch.
Did you design the UX and UI?
Yes. We designed a brand-aligned design system and UX, then codified it as reusable components for speed and consistency so the non-technical team could work confidently.
Did you migrate content and data?
Yes. We completed the migration from the legacy CMS and synchronized data with the new platform. We also migrated contacts and organizations into Salesforce, ensuring clean mapping and deduplication.
Can non-technical staff update pages?
Yes. We built a drag-and-drop component library on headless WordPress so editors can author, preview, and publish without waiting in a developer queue.
How are website, CRM and email marketing integrated?
Contacts are fully synchronized across the website, CRM, and the marketing platform, with the CRM as the source of truth. Salesforce Sales Cloud and Campaign Monitor are integrated end-to-end, including 30+ dynamic segments for personalized campaigns.
Did you automate payments and invoicing for events?
Yes. Event registrations are fully automated—payments, invoice generation, and contact creation.
What workflow automations did you implement?
We implemented website-to-CRM lead creation with manual oversight to correctly map organizations and contacts—end-to-end Salesforce workflows customized to match AEC’s operating process.
How did you handle SEO migration and redirects?
We preserved rankings by mapping legacy URLs to the new structure with 301 redirects, carrying over meta data, and submitting updated sitemaps. We also monitored crawl errors post-launch to tighten any gaps.
Still have questions? Let’s discuss your specific situation.
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He advises startups and writes about AI, security, and execution at grigor.com.