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Will
8470
Chief Product Officer
Mar 30, 2016
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Wow, thanks to everyone for having such a passionate discussion on the topic of possible VIP programs. Overall, lots of high quality posts, strong opinions, interesting thoughts.
Seems like there are a few VIP program Archetypes being discussed, glad to touch on each and give my thoughts.
Please note, just because I say I like something, or I think it's a smart idea, it does not mean we're going to do it, same thing if I say I think something's dumb, doesn't mean we won't do it. While I run our Custom Products department, I am not the god emperor of Massdrop.
Archetype One: Paid membership program ($X/month) for monetary benefit (discounts, free shipping, etc)
This is ultimately a math problem. Does Massdrop make more money from the $X/month than we would by charging everyone the same prices (no discounts) and continuing to charge shipping on the drops we do today? To be clear, it's not about the money on a per transaction basis, it's about Lifetime Value (LTV) of the customer. Amazon generally makes less money on each prime transaction than non-prime transactions, but prime members buy more stuff because the membership makes it easier to get the stuff you buy (faster shipping, instant media delivery, etc), thus the profit they generate for Amazon, in their lifetime as a customer, is higher than the profit generated in the lifetime of a non-prime member.
It's a really hard math problem to solve, largely because you need to determine your baseline LTV and that takes time. Massdrop's been in business for ~3 years, and most of the people who buy things usually stick around and keep buying things. If you have someone who's continually bought stuff for three years, and you've been in business for three years, do you assume their lifetime is infinity? Nah, that's silly (maybe), but you can see why it's a difficult question to answer.
Took amazon 10 years to create prime, this is the.... wait for it .... primary reason.
Archetype Two: Paid membership ($X/month) program for status/influence benefit (have a say in custom product design, your votes count 10x more than non-paid members in polls, etc)
Obvious big problems here. Massdrop depends on the integrity of our community to determine what products get listed, and what custom products get worked on. Someone who's been studying Acoustic Engineering for 15 years shouldn't be presented as less credible in audio discussions/polls than someone who's paying us $X/month with no knowledge. The Massdrop community is part meritocracy, part technocracy, part democracy. The ability to pay for influence breaks all three of those systems.
Archetype Three: Selective membership (massdrop selection) program for financial/status benefit (special pricing, prize pool entry, etc)
This is probably the safest because "massdrop selection" obfuscates the criteria, thus avoiding any explicit behavioral changes. You get rewarded for being a good citizen, not an arbitrary number of posts, purchases, or additional dollars you donate to the cause. This probably makes the most sense. The specific benefits would be unclear, but perhaps we can do something special for people who have bought custom products previously.
Overall, I think there's a lot of interesting potential here, thanks for all your discussion. We're a long way from rolling out any kind of program like this, but hopefully we can run a couple experiments soon : )
Mar 30, 2016
ducatirider
25
Mar 30, 2016
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WillAmazon has a much broader product portfolio than mass drop does. Massdrop products are very niche and vertical. As such I don't see how much value a subscription model holds for specialty items.
Mar 30, 2016
dominiquejames
20
Mar 31, 2016
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WillHi, Will! In case, would you also consider automatically rewarding (or enrollling in possible VIP program) those who reaches or have already reached a certain total of purchase amount, or for having joined a certain number of drops?
Mar 31, 2016
KallenStadtfeld_SC
24
Mar 31, 2016
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dominiquejamesI'd rather see a VIP program based on a person's interaction and positive influence within the massdrop community and not just based on the amount spent. As a reward, cheaper shipping and/or previews of upcoming drops might be nice.
Mar 31, 2016
bjw
290
Mar 31, 2016
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KallenStadtfeld_SCIn that's case I'm sure some of us would be in that rewards program. I know they have dangled the carrot in front of me to many times
Mar 31, 2016
KallenStadtfeld_SC
24
Mar 31, 2016
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bjwI feel like that's the most fair and rewarding way to do it. And it would probably lead to a few more sales for Massdrop due to shipping costs making some deals not worth it. I think it could be a mutually beneficial setup.
Mar 31, 2016
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