The document proposes a growth strategy for an international travel meta search engine to expand its user base in Hong Kong and Taiwan. It involves implementing a referral program where existing users receive incentives for referring new users via a referral code. The key aspects of the strategy include designing the referral mechanics and incentives, running social media marketing campaigns on popular platforms in the target markets like LINE and Facebook, and tracking metrics like acquisition of new users and credit redemption over two phases from May to December 2016. The goal is to create a self-sustainable viral user acquisition model with minimal advertising budget.

1. A Growth Strategy to
an int’l Travel Meta Search Engine
(excerpt)
Nov 2015
Frankie Chan
frankie.wailun@gmail.comc

2. Content
• Background
• Idea
• Execu2on
• Success
metrics
• Q&A

3. Background
• ??
M
unique
users
each
month
globally
• Growing
trac2on
in
Asia
– 20%
of
users
in
Asia
in
2014
vs.
6%
in
2012
• Minimal
awareness
in
Hong
Kong
and
Taiwan
– Each
comprises
only
0.1%
of
total
Facebook
page
followers
(5,530
and
7,033
respec2vely)
• Aiming
to
expand
in
its
unexploited
Hong
Kong
and
Taiwan
markets

4. Mission
Create
a
self-­‐sustainable
social
campaign
that
grows
the
brand’s
user
base
in
Hong
Kong
and
Taiwan
and
increases
usage
in
the
markets

5. Target
audience
• Young
adult
• Travel
lovers
–
making
the
most
out
of
a
2ght
budget

6. Channels
74%
of
Taiwan
popula2on
on
LINE
h]ps://www.techinasia.com/line-­‐releases-­‐regional-­‐breakdowns-­‐for-­‐its-­‐490m-­‐registered-­‐users/
41%
of
users
aged
16-­‐24
h]p://expandedramblings.com/index.php/important-­‐instagram-­‐stats/
71%
of
HK
mobile
internet
users
ac2ve
on
WhatsApp
h]p://www.sta2sta.com/sta2s2cs/291540/mobile-­‐internet-­‐user-­‐whatsapp/
91%
of
HK
social
media
users
on
Facebook
h]p://cw.com.hk/news/hk-­‐web-­‐users-­‐spend-­‐more-­‐2me-­‐facebook-­‐tv/
Top
4
network
in
Hong
Kong
h]p://www.go-­‐globe.hk/blog/social-­‐media-­‐hong-­‐kong/

7. Solu2on
REFERRAL PROGRAMME
#memberGetMember
#2SidedIncen1ve
#ViralLoop

8. Why
referral
programme?
• Zero
adver2sing
budget
• 2.8
million
direct
referrals
sent
in
one
month
• User
base
expanded
40x
in
15
months
(from
100K
to
4M)
• Similar
situa2on:
– Growing
a
user
base
from
barely
scratch
(in
HK
and
Taiwan)
– Keen
compe22on
(Adword
gets
expensive
–
tradi2onal
marke2ng
not
a
good
resort)
Ref:
h]p://www.slideshare.net/gueste94e4c/dropbox-­‐startup-­‐lessons-­‐learned-­‐3836587?ref=h]p://www.referralcandy.com/blog/referrals-­‐built-­‐dropbox-­‐empire/
h]p://www.referralcandy.com/blog/referrals-­‐built-­‐dropbox-­‐empire/

9. Principle
mechanic

10. Principle
mechanic
referral
code

11. Principle
mechanic
referral
code

12. Principle
mechanic
Incen2vise
usage
referral
code

13. Principle
mechanic
Incen2vise
referral
referral
code

14. Principle
mechanic
Incen2vise
referral
code
use
referral
code

15. Principle
mechanic
referral
code

16. Principle
mechanic
referral
code

17. registra2on
page
social
share
Viral
loop

18. registra2on
page
social
share
search
page
Viral
loop

19. Viral
loop
registra2on
page
social
share
account
page
search
page

20. Viral
loop
registra2on
page
social
share
account
page
search
page

21. Viral
loop
registra2on
page
social
share
account
page
search
page
influencers
Branded
social
content

22. Touch
point
NOT AVAILABLE IN EXCERPT

23. Touch
point
NOT AVAILABLE IN EXCERPT

24. Touch
point
NOT AVAILABLE IN EXCERPT

25. Rewards
User
Type
Reward
Defini1on
Non-­‐referred
HKD
400
/
NTD
1600
Any
new
signup
with
no
referral
code
Referrer
HKD
100
/
NTD
400
Any
exis2ng
user
whose
referral
code
successfully
generates
a
new
signup
Referee
HKD
500
/
NTD
2000
Any
new
signup
with
a
referral
code

26. Campaign
period
May
–
September
2016
Phase
1
(acquisi1on)
October
–
December
2016
Phase
2
(credit
burning)
Referral
code
valid
referral
code
no
longer
valid
Credit
valid
for
redeeming
(no
expiry)

27. Stakeholders
Area
Descrip1on
Stakeholders
Campaign
design
• Campaign
design
• Channel
Strategy
• UX
flow
• Social
Media
Manager
• Product
manager
Marke2ng
&
adver2sing
• Social
strategy
- Content
strategy
- Influencer
engagement
• Social
Media
Manager
• Crea2ve
Director
Technical
implementa2on
• Programme’s
technical
infrastructure
(i.e.,
implemen2ng
referral
code
&
account
bal.
features
in
CRM
system)
• Social
plugin
implementa2on
in
website
and
mobile
app
• Product
Manager
User
experience
&
customer
care
• Foresee
possible
users’
enquiries
and
devise
solu2ons
• UX
feedback
relay
workflow
• Social
listening
• Social
Media
Manager
• Customer
Service
Manager

28. Resources
Item
Details
Cost
(USD)
Influencer
engagement
• Poten2al
influencers:
- xxxxxx
(17.5K
followers
on
Facebook)
- xxxxxx
(20.5K
followers
on
Facebook)
Variable,
minimal
Social
listening
tool
• Poten2al
vendor:
XXXXXXXXXX
(www.XXXXXXXXXX.com)
12,500.00
promoted
post
• Facebook
geo-­‐targeted
suggested
post
• Instagram
referralted
post
Variable,
minimal
Incen2ve
to
acquired
users
Approx.
100/user

29. Timeline
Period
Ac1on
items
Time
Pre-­‐produc2on
Line
up
influencers
Mid-­‐March
–
Mid-­‐April
Plan
social
content
and
promoted
posts
placement
March
–
April
2016
Technical
implementa2on
• referral
code
feature
• credit
system
feature
December
2015
–
April
2016
(TBC)
Customer
care
scripts
March
–
April
2016
Social
listening
vendor
engagement
January
–
April
2016
Produc2on
Phase
1
(acquisi2on)
May
–
September
2016
Phase
2
(credit
burning)
October
–
December
2016
Weekly
review
May
–
December
2016
Post-­‐produc2on
• Data
consolida2on
and
analysis
• Review
Jan
2016

30. Primary
Metrics
Effec1ve
in
acquiring
users?
No.
of
new
users:
total
no.
of
new
users
during
Phase
1
vs.
total
number
of
new
users
during
the
same
period
previous
year
Referral
rate:
avg.
number
of
referral
per
user
Cost
effec1veness:
customer
acquisi2on
cost
(CAC)
vs.
customer
life2me
value
(CLV)
Cost
effec1veness:
CAC
of
the
campaign
vs.
average
CAC
of
other
ini2a2ves
Effec1ve
in
boos1ng
usage?
Transac1on
made:
total
no.
of
transac2on
made
during
the
campaign
periods
vs.
total
no.
of
transac2on
made
during
the
same
period
previous
year
New
users’
ac1veness:
Time
taken
to
burn
70%
of
total
credits
given
away

31. Secondary
Metrics
Effec1ve
in
acquiring
users
for
which
product(s)?
no.
of
transac2on
in
flight
vs.
no.
of
transac2on
in
hotel
vs.
no.
of
transac2on
in
car
hire
by
users
acquired
Channels’
effec1veness
%
of
total
referral
code
shared
in
each
channel
conversion
rate
in
each
channel
Influencers’
effec1veness
no.
of
converted
user
(to
signup)
Content’s
effec1veness
no.
of
converted
user
(to
signup)

32. Q&A

33. Possible
Ques2ons
Q1.
Any
poten2al
roadblock?
A1.
Account
balance
feature.
Massive
integra2on
works
with
partners
website
may
result,
more
technical
advice
required.
Q2.
How
can
users’
authen2city
be
ensured?
A2.
Introduce
a
phone
verifica2on
step
in
registra2on
process.

34. thank you.
Frankie Chan
frankie.wailun@gmail.com