Squarespace, one of the best website builders on the market, recently announced a host of new tools and features for users during its Refresh event in September of this year. This is the biggest announcement from the platform in some time and highlights Squarespace’s commitment to equipping users with the tools they need to build powerful websites.
Shortly after the launch, I had a chance to talk to Nikki Kuritsky, Head of Commerce at Squarespace and The Little Artists' Room. During the interview Nikki helped shed some light on what the latest announcements really mean for users and offered some advice on how businesses can leverage these updates to grow. Jasmin Dwyer and Alice Himsworth from the The Little Artists' Room also provided a unique perspective on how these updates are having a real impact on their creative business.
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Can you walk us through the key themes of Refresh 2024 and what it means for Squarespace users?
Refresh is Squarespace’s annual release of new products and updates, and this year, we've introduced a wide range of innovations and tools aimed at enhancing human creativity and driving entrepreneurial success. This includes advancements in automation, time-saving features, and seamless integration of business management tools like branded invoices, proposals, contracts, and client intake forms.
AI-driven advancements were a big part of Refresh for us this year. We introduced Design Intelligence, our new approach to web design combining cutting-edge technology with our two decades of industry-leading design, and launched the evolution next of Blueprint AI, our first AI-powered website builder. Together, these tools work to unlock human creativity, not replace it.
We also made significant strides to improve the commerce functionality of our platform, including new invoicing tools and expanded access to Squarespace Payments. For service-based sellers – like photographers or event planners – these tools make it easier to manage client relationships and win more business.
The release saw Squarespace announce 14 updates/features - that is a lot to digest. Which of the updates do you think will have the biggest impact on users building their website on the platform?
The total was actually closer to 50+, and that’s only a fraction of the incredible work the team has accomplished this year.
While every update has value for our customers, Blueprint AI stands out as a real game-changer. It allows users to create visually stunning and functionally powerful websites faster than ever before, thanks to AI-driven enhancements that reduce the manual work required for design and content generation. Outside of Blueprint AI, the expanded capabilities in ecommerce, the added ability to monetize video paywalls, will also have a big impact on users looking to monetize their knowledge or expertise.
Further, the introduction of branded invoices and integrated proposals and contracts will likely have a huge impact on entrepreneurs looking to scale their businesses. It’s no secret that successful branding can lead to an improved customer experience and, as a result, more income. These tools allow users to create cohesive, professional documents that match their website branding, further establishing client trust and credibility. The centralized project management system also stands out, offering an all-in-one platform to track client information, project progress, and payments, which will greatly simplify the user experience for business owners.
New ways to monetize content is a standout feature. Why does Squarespace see content monetization as so important? Why has the company chosen now to launch new features supporting the monetization of content?
The creator economy has grown significantly, and individuals are increasingly looking for ways to turn their passion into a career, all without sacrificing their work-life balance or spending a fortune to get there.
In fact, a recent study from Squarespace found that 65% of Squarespace customers started their business to pursue a passion. Squarespace has always empowered creators to do this, but now, with more advanced tools, like the paywall feature, content creators can directly generate revenue from their audience without needing third-party platforms. That same survey found that 89% of Squarespace users say their website is crucial to their business, which directly correlates with the increasing demand from entrepreneurs who want seamless ways to monetize their work and a growing trend of consumers willing to pay for high-quality content to support their favorite creators.
Launching these monetization tools now directly responds to the needs of the creator and the consumer, positioning Squarespace as a leader in helping creators capture new revenue streams and build long-term, sustainable businesses.
Firstly, can you tell us a little about The Little Artists' Room?
The Little Artists' Room is a subscription-based membership which gives members access to a large library of video tutorials to create art education projects. The video tutorials and accompanying resources were originally designed as a teaching tool for educators to use as part of their lesson input for their pupils in schools.
As experienced teachers ourselves, we understand the pressures that teachers face and wanted to create a resource that allowed them to provide high-quality art education for their pupils that is also low-cost and straightforward to use. However, we have discovered that as we have grown that many homeschooling families, parents with a keen interest in art, and adults themselves have become members to complete the projects which has been brilliant to see.
Why did you pick Squarespace as your website builder of choice?
Squarespace was an obvious choice for us to use to build our website because of its pleasing aesthetics and the tools that enabled us to set up what we needed to create our membership platform. From the outset, it was straightforward for us to create the website we needed with all of the features in order to sell our membership.
Squarespace has made it accessible for us to create a business platform because our expertise is not in building websites but in teaching and creating high-quality art education resources. Without it, we either wouldn't have started the business as we would have put it in the "too hard basket" or we would have a very different business model which wouldn't be as successful as the one we have.
Which of the Refresh 2024 announcements excited you the most? Which are you already implementing within your business?
The new dashboard updates and weekly report emails have been useful for us to see our growth more clearly which has been great. As we approach the end of our first year in business, we will naturally look to update aspects of our website and enhance our member's experience. The AI design tools look like this could be a great feature for us and we're interested to see what the Squarespace payments rollout could offer our business too.
Can you tell us a little about the types of content you have been monetizing at The Little Artists' Room? How has this new feature impacted your overall approach to doing business?
One of our personal values in setting up our business was to have as much freedom and flexibility in terms of time and location and so this shapes the products that we offer. As a result, all of our content is digital.
Our main content is our video library. Members pay a monthly fee to access the tutorials and resources in order to create our projects. We have a shop on the website too where we sell digital download posters and this is something we'd like to develop in the future.
Ultimately our driving purpose is to create a library for educators that is of the highest quality and is easy to access and navigate in order to raise art education standards and for children and adults to enjoy making art.
The Little Artists’ Room is all about helping children see the magic in art and sharing your passion for the wonderful world of art education. Have any of the Refresh 2024 updates helped you get your project in front of more children, guardians, and parents? If so, how?
The new marketing tools and email campaign features are something we would like use, as this is currently something we haven't explored much of. Our "shop front' is our Instagram page and this is where nearly all of our members come from. However, we would like to expand our email marketing and use the SEO tools to make it easier for people to find us off the Instagram platform as well.
Do you have any tips for businesses like The Little Artists’ Room that want to start driving new revenue streams through Squarespace?
For businesses like The Little Artists’ Room, I recommend capitalizing on existing technology to streamline operations and grow revenue.
Squarespace offers a robust suite of tools that do just that – simplify the website-building experience while creating new avenues to increase bottom-line cash flow. Start by creating paid content that aligns with your audience’s interests—whether that’s exclusive art tutorials, online workshops, or premium content behind a paywall. Use the invoicing tools to offer branded, professional invoices, and explore client intake forms to capture potential leads and client information more efficiently and effectively. This not only saves time but also allows sellers to focus more on doing what they love rather than spending precious time handling administrative tasks.
