In 2004, Ashok was doing well as an amateur stock trader. He thought he was on to something as far as making money in the stock markets.
Then he made a bad call. All his gains were gone.
He then hit the books again and realised that making money in the equity markets was all about STAYING invested long enough in the right stocks. One of the smartest as well as low effort ways of doing the same was via systematic investments in mutual funds. It was as simple as that.
He, though, was puzzled.
“If it’s this easy, then why isn’t everyone doing it?” was the question that nagged him constantly. Trying to understand this issue he discovered that too many choices as well as lack of investor education was making this “easy to figure” solution “a hard to discover and understand” one.
His meetings with a friend and neighbor of his led him to a company which shared both his understanding of the investment problem and his vision. That company was Scripbox.
Scripbox was a ready personification of his vision of an easy to use mass solution for mutual fund investing. His decision to join the company at its helm was a natural continuation of his goal to spread what he had figured as the most effective way for most individuals to grow their money.
Though the idea is good, and is indeed something that was sorely required, Scripbox found itself facing problems with customer acquisition.
Why was customer acquisition so difficult?
A great product doesn’t necessarily mean easy acquisitions. In fact, about 84% of Scripbox’s customers came in this past year (they have been in business for almost 4 years). Why?
Here are the challenges they faced.
Gaining trust online was a challenge
If you wanted someone to give you their money on a promise, they have to trust you. But how to build it online? In a module where the investing and transaction happens digitally, convincing the target segment about authenticity was a big problem.
Some investments give returns only after 10 years
Convincing the customer to stay on for that long was again difficult. Already considered “slow” and “boring” mutual funds did not fit in well with a “Get rich quick” scheme.
A huge chunk of the population is not financially savvy
How on earth can you encourage them to invest in you, when they really do not know what is happening? The financial literacy of the general populace was extremely low – which meant that they would be very hard to get them to trust the business.
The Solution
Ashok quickly figured out that a potent combination of existing marketing strategies and new ones was needed to solve this problem.
This is how he and Scripbox did it.
Content marketing
Scripbox was already on to something when it comes to using the power of content to help the audience understand the need for the product. Ashok reinforced this faith in learning and content by focusing on a content marketing effort that was concerned with the realities of the Scripbox audience’s financial lives.
Relevant, engaging, and focused was the theme that Scripbox’s content marketing efforts relied on. Whether it was education loans or making their first million, Scripbox content showed the way.
Working on creating a focused acquisitions team
From Ashok’s point of view, the prospect will be intimidated again with a load of jargon he doesn’t understand and thus wont convert.
To overcome this particular roadblock, Ashok made sure that a rigorous training (so that they can learn the business better) regime as well as a focus on simplifying finance for everyone led the way for the acquisitions team. Remaining true to their motto of “friendly investment”, they ensure that each prospective client is handled in a manner that encourages them to go ahead with investments.
Encouraging small investments
As opposed to 1.5 lacs, 1,000 is a small sum to invest – especially for today’s consumerist generation. So offering a wide array of investment options allows the lead to invest small, build trust and then proceed with further investments.
At the rate Scripbox is growing, Ashok and the team seem to know what they are doing. That their approach works is almost a given, especially, when a global giant such as LinkedIn, says that they are the second most influential financial services brand in the world.
Have you read what Ankit, Co-founder of iService has to say on customer trust?
Oh, and Amit from Blubirch shared his learnings on B2B sales.
