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Summary: Expert Understanding

12/20/00

This summarizes the learnings from the Needs and Habits & Practices research conducted on Askme
experts.
Background and methodology
The Objective was to map category specific expert knowledge as well as characteristics cutting across
categories and indicate the impact on business objectives.
The methodology used was online 1X1s with 57 Askme experts covering over 40 subcategories across
between them.
Key Conclusions:
Role of free experts in business model: Capturing and maintaining a group of high usage free experts is the
single biggest key to the Askme success in sustaining a high volume of P2P interactions.
In depth product sampling and experience seems to be vital to generating expert trial v/s pure signups.
Key to retaining experts and driving frequency is formation of the answering habit as well as the
TringTring format. Additionally we also need to have expert feedback/ growth mechanisms and drive
community formation & pride.
Free Expert motivators
While altruistic needs, Community bonding and learning seem to be the key long term drivers of experts on
Askme, money and prizes serve the purpose of creating a surprise element and delighting regular experts.
There is a huge opportunity for TringTring to leverage Expert knowledge and have targeted marketing
initiatives.
Paid expert sites:
The key issue on paid sites seems to be very heavy revenue skew towards the top experts coupled with a
low loyalty rate among experts. The consumer decision process and the overall site shopping climate in a
paid p2p site also seem to be starkly different v/s a free p2p site.
In the context of Experts, Managing the internal tension between the paid and free habitats will be critical
for TringTring.
Brand Issues: While Keen and Info Rocket are purely power brands, Askme is an Identity brand. Both
Askme and Exp seem to be contenders vying for the Icon status which is likely to be owned by About.

Findings:
1. Distribution of experts across major categories: Askme seems to be more successful in attracting and
retaining experts. Additionally, the overall interaction frequency seems much higher in Askme v/s
other paid sites even though some of them also offer the option of free advice.
While the differences may be on account of varying marketing inputs, we observe that in the paid sites,
there is a very heavy skew of questions towards the top 2% of experts possibly resulting in the
remaining experts getting alienated and hence remaining inactive/dropping out. There also seems to be
compulsive advice habit formation among Askme Experts, which is likely to be absent on other sites,
which are completely Advice on demand sites.
As on 20th Dec 00
Categories
Relationships
Business/finance
Travel
Astrology
Cookery
Education
Parenting

Askme (a) purely free P2P

No. of
No. of
Answers/Exp
Experts
Answers
6074
1588
4174
304
807
6621
1212

72253
52123
25951
14628
14413
53328
13072

11.9
32.8
6.21
48
17.9
8.05
10.78

Exp (c) purely paid P2P

No. of
No. of
Answers/Exp
Experts Answer
s
1202
413
0.34
1029
323
0.31
1924
182
0.09
282
31
0.11
231
11
0.047
2356
317
0.13
Na
na
na

Total Number

20,780

2,45,768

11.83

7024

1,277

0.18

Profiles of experts.
Overall there seem 3 classes of categories when examined in the context of Expert motivations, habits and
attitudes.
1. Relationships & categories involving strong Human emotion.
2. Technical /Knowledge oriented categories.
3. Business/Services categories.
The experts within the group tend to be more similar in their profiles and their motivations than between
the groups.
Motivators and Demotivators for experts and Hot buttons.
MOTIVATOR
Helping others

NATURE
Strong in all Categories.
Very Strong in
Relationships/Human
categories.

Fun

Moderately present in all

categories.

Learning

Strong in all Categories. Very

Strong in
Knowledge/specialist
Categories.
Strong among
Relationships/Human
Categories.

Connecting

Esteem / Identity

Strong in
Knowledge/specialist
Categories. In India likely to
be strong in all categories.

Referrals/source of
business.

Strong in Business/services
categories.

SENSITIVE TO - Perceived impact on inquirers life.

- The results that the inquirer is able to
achieve.
- The number of people who can
benefit from the same advice.
- Brand Character.
- Product features and expert site
experience.
- Prizes and gifts, which contribute to
fun.
- Quality of Questions prevalent on
site.
- Very sensitive to richness of user
experience.
- Site atmosphere.
- Brand Character.
- Brand Character.
- Inquirer feedback & thanks.
- Ratings, repeat questions asked.
- Overall recognition given on the site
to the expert.
-Depth of categorization.
-Visibility.
-Credibility platform the site provides.

 Usage, Habits and Practices:

Most experts start off as inquirers and on getting a sufficient breadth and depth of experience, move on to
becoming experts. Suggestion/Encouragement from other experts(to the would be expert) may accelerate
the process.
While experts on certain categories like relationships tend to be compulsive experts spending a lot of time
answering questions, usually the time spent answering questions ranges from 5 minutes to 15 minutes.
For experts answering from home, there appears to be no preferred time, the working experts tend to
answer the questions in the night or from the office during evening hours when things are moving a bit
slowly as described by an expert. This also correlates with the fact that the peak traffic hour is 1800 to
1900.
While new experts start off from answering questions on the board, the regular experts eventually tend to
answer those questions that are directly asked to them v/s those put up on the question board. An
indicated reason for this is the time limitation and the fact that questions asked personally tend to be of
better quality than those openly posted on the board.
Loyalty /Awareness & Usage of other P2P sites: The Strongest loyalty driver seems to be community
formation on the site. Another loyalty driver is pride associating with Askme. While many experts
seemed to be aware of other P2P sites, they tended to only use Askme as it was the first site they started
answering on and new sites being of a visual/navigational/transactional format they are uncomfortable
with.
Feedback on various trial Loyalty schemes.
Money seems to delight but not motivate. If the usage is framed on money, experts tend to migrate to
other newer/emptier sites. Regular Askme experts indicate that the quality of experts/responses
significantly deteriorates on introduction of the incentive scheme. There are also incidents of some
experts who were dissatisfied with the Askme cash prize selection and fulfillment system and have
organized boycotts and sent off chain mails within the platform. Askme may have toned down its
incentive scheme on account of the above reasons.
The newer P2P sites seem to be attempting to poach Top Askme experts by offering them various
incentives. It is uncertain whether this is successful so far.
Differences between Paid and Free Environs
Key areas where the Free and Paid environs are different are nature of Interactivity, the Consumer
decision process, the Site Climate and the Brand character.
Indicated Actions
Marketing

Product Design

Identify Expert driving plan for each category.

Map consumer Understanding wrt P2P sites.
Get Askme experts to compare Askme and other sites.
Model revenue quanta for paid sites and identify implications for
TringTring.
Study paid sites & Identify Pricing principles to be followed.
Better understand the differences in Free/paid Environs from the
Consumer Point of view.
Identify ideal Expert experience.
Identify Loyalty driving features
Identify avenues to increase interactivity.
Identify Expert viral/word of mouth features.

Expert Profile Trends -- A Mapping across categories

Relationships/ other categories involving
Human emotion.

Technical Subjects / Knowledge

oriented categories.

Business/services categories.

The TA includes both young people and adults with a

slight skew towards Women and individuals above 30.
1. People involved in rehabilitation work/social service
institutions/ individuals working on civic & community
projects/NGOs, motivational speakers.
2. Students of social/clinical psychology.
3. Chat leaders.
4. Housewives who find this an involving pastime.
Verbatims
I seemed to have agony aunt written above my front door
and always had a influx of friends and neighbours asking
my advice /opinion. I always seem to find the right words
and answers.
I have had many life experiences that I feel could be of
use to other's and would like to share them.

The TA includes both qualified professionals as

well as students of the field. The individual has
invested considerable time and effort in the field
and is likely to be experienced.
There seems to be a mild skew towards the
Students, Teachers, research scientists/students
and hobby indulgers.

1. Office bearers/faculty of Educational institutions.

Successful retired businessmen.(ages 40+)
2. Aspiring businessmen/Entrepreneurs/independent
investors.(ages 25+)
3. Students? (ages 18-25)

Category Specfic

Individuals who have gone through experiences esp.

Victims of divorce/violence/abuse.

Demographic characteristics (mentioned above)

applied to the category.

Reactions to
Financial incentives
/ Prizes

Financial incentives serve to de-motivate more than

motivate. T here seems to be dissatisfaction with
incentives diluting the intensity of goodwill and altruistic
sentiment involved in the interactions.

Financial incentives do not motivate.

Often a distracting element.

Descriptors
Demographic

Psychographic
(Key attitudes /
beliefs.)

Community
building propensity

Loyalty

Extremely high.
Especially among high emotion/closed groups like
divorcees, abuse victims, transsexuals etc.
Extremely high.
There seems to be a certain Pride associated with being
on this site, which partly comes from the brand character
and from the user experience.
There seem to be many experts aware of the other P2P
sites but who answer only on Askme.
In the early stages, receiving feedback from inquirer or a
thank you note are critical payoffs. They are also critical
in retention as indicated by the experts themselves.

Strong Emotional involvement in the field, either

in the professional sense or as an indulgence.
Strong drive towards Learning about the field.
Hungry for interesting questions.
Strong Tendency to actually hunt/read up before
answering the question.

Overall low
High among academic groups, study groups and
belief groups (in the categories of religion,
meditation , astrology etc.)
High among Indulgers.
Uncertain among learners.
Likely to be high among more experienced
individuals, teachers, researchers etc.

1. Believe that the next avenue for their personal growth is to

share their knowledge and expertise with others.
2. Want control over their business. Looking for ways of
getting a competitive edge (insights/know how
/networks/learnings from others experiences).
3. Hungry for live & real interactions to overcome
inexperience. Want more knowledge.
Possess exclusive knowledge/experience on a specific area.
Askme incentives do not payout wrt the time and effort
invested.
There are cases of offline business/ offers on account of
sampling online.
There is a mild expectation customer contact and business
among those becoming experts.
Low
High among type 1 in demographic profile.
Overall Low Loyalty.
Not very compulsive experts.
Likely to be high among group 1, primarily driven by
emotional payoffs. Among group 2, it may be high only if it is
driven by business gains.