In India what would be some good ways to get lets say 1 million members signed up. What you are becoming a member for is important but lets assume that the value proposition makes sense.
Initially if say for the first 10000 members sign up is free. Then membership costs Rs 99/-. A member gets Rs. 50 for every member that they refer. Thus early members could make significant amounts of referral income.
This kindof program would require around 5 lacs or Rs 500,000 of capital. After that Rs 49 per member would be available so you could acquire a million members for a relatively low cost. There may be other costs related to processing of member acquisition etc. To cover those the Rs 49 would provide approx 4.9 crores. If the other costs were say 10 crores then the net cost of acquiring a million members would be Rs 50 per member which could be worth it if network effects under Metcalfe’s law kick in.
What do people think. Is 10000 free memberships the right number. Do Rs 50 as referral fee and Rs. 99 as membership fee seem like good numbers.
Do others have any other suggestions on building critical mass. Are there are any examples of successful member get member schemes in India which are just referral based and not MLM ( multi level marketing) like Amway or Oriflame ?
- Community Platform For Ward 103 - November 22, 2012
- Municipal Elections New Delhi-16 days for rolls to close - October 15, 2011
- The next Facebook ? - September 17, 2011
Hi, am just back from Kolkata, where I was visiting for a family emergency. The day the emergency occurred, this Sunday was also the day when the Left Front government held their national convention in prep for the Assembly polls later this year.
Headed for the hospital ER and stuck in traffic, sharing roadspace with the slogan shouting masses, I stepped out and struck up a conversation with a few of the out of towners ( adivasi farmers who were in the city for the rally).
Here’s what I found: Ladies and Gentlemen, the country’s oldest and most efficient referral program is the Communist Party of India. The farmers told me they pay Rs 12 per person per month for membership, that’s Rs 144 per year. Every person, they refer they get back Re 1 which is not cash back, but a credit for free food, and transport to such mass networking events like these rallies. Assume you enrolled 10 people, you get a credit of Rs 10 against the above. participation in these mass events are at Rs 100 per person, taken as transport cost, food and incidentals. So if you got 100 people into the party, you’d go for free, as the farmer I spoke to mentioned.
The next day, the papers mentioned 10 lakh people had attended. that’s 1 mill, folks!! now the math. Rs 14.40 crore as yearly membership, another Rs 10 crore from funds raised for attending the rally, so we are looking at Rs 24.40 crore. Now the costs! the bus syndicate complained to the same paper that their buses were commandeered, I don’t know the losses the railways incurred, so the net cost was only for the canteen, PA system, and stage arrangements – At this scale, I’d hazard it to be about Rs 1.50 crore.
so net -net- the party gets almost Rs 22 Crore from this exercise. Good fund raising for an election, and I’m just scratching the surface, not to mention, great media coverage, motivated troops, and an opportunity to see the sights of a big city almost FOC.
Can’t think of a better referral model, question is what business idea can it support?