5 reasons every platform leaks customers and 9 ways to stop it! Mentions: Platforms | Marketplaces | Etsy | Groupon | Youtube | Upwork | Topcoder | Twitter | Salesforce | Reddit | eBay | Thumbtack

1. and
TO STOP IT
WAYS
9
EVERY PLATFORM LEAKS CUSTOMERS
5 REASONS

2. Have you ever?
• Tipped your Uber driver in cash?
• Met someone on Tinder and texted them off the
app?
• Extended your AirBnB directly with the owner,
instead of on the app?

3. that’s platform
disintermediation

4. also known as
leakage

5. platform disintermediation
happens when users agree to transact off platform
after being matched
Platform
Disintermediation
Producer Consumer

6. 5
platforms suffer from
leakage
if…

7. THEIR RAKE
IS TOO HIGH
1

8. Groupon takes
approximately
of the sales revenue
50%
https://www.investopedia.com/articles/active-trading/080515/how-groupon-makes-money.asp
(effective rake)

9. Their users form
PERSONAL
relationships
2

10. freelancers
can form
personal
relationships
with their
clients

11. their users INTERACT in real life
3

12. all they do is
MATCH
4

13. Tinder adds little value after the match

14. users don’t
mind taking
on the RISK
if something
goes wrong
(common for low cost
goods/services)
5

15. it is easy and low risk to pay the seller cash instead of
on Facebook Marketplace

16. People will
always try to
AVOID
the rules you
put in place

17. 9 WAYS
TO PLUG THE LEAKS

18. RETHINK PRICING
1

19. Reduce your rake: For Apple, who faces congress today on an antitrust hearing partially due to its high rakes, can get away with it.
Conversely, Groupon does not add enough value to justify their high rakes.
Rake isn’t always right: Be like Costco. Shutterstock pioneered the pay for access, not per transaction, in the stock photo
industry.
Make it free-ish: ZBL/ZWork, (a Chinese WeWork & Upwork competitor) made their design platform rake free for your first
RMB20,000 and monetized on post-platform-transaction services such as trademarking and IP, as well as adding paid management tools
2
3
1
RETHINK PRICING
EXAMPLES

20. go beyond the
match:
add
tools or services
2

21. Etsy provides marketing services on top
of its marketplace

22. ADD TRUST
3

23. eBay adds trust via
• seller ratings
• free returns
• $ back guarantees

24. ENGINEER COMMUNITY
4

25. Reddit, SAP, and Salesforce instill “community status” by giving
users who learn, contribute, and interact, badges and trophies

26. REWARD LOYALTY
5

27. Upwork rewards volume with less fees

28. CREATE
BARRIERS
6

29. Upwork warns users to not give out
their numbers

30. and allows them to report inappropriate
behavior

31. SET RULES
(and make sure users know them!)
7

33. ENFORCE RULES
8

34. Thumbtack tracks your emails, texts, and calls
so it can better enforce their rules
In order to ensure appropriate charging of Fees and to
enforce these Terms, Thumbtack may track the occurrence
of communications between Customer Members and
Service Members that occur off of the Platform via email,
phone call, SMS text message

35. Not all disintermediation is bad. YouTube
PROMOTES disintermediation by kicking off
contributors who don’t follow their T&Cs.

36. SHEPHERD THE SUPPLY CHAIN OF
PROVIDERS
9

37. topcoder combines services
of its members (designers,
backend & frontend
developers) to create a
completed product
by stringing together
providers, disintermediation
is virtually impossible

38. SUMMARY
FIVE REASONS PLATFORMS LEAK
1. Rake is too high
2. Users form personal
relationships
3. Users interact in real life
4. Match is only value created
5. Users don’t mind taking on
transaction risk themselves
NINE WAYS TO STOP LEAKAGE
1. Rethink pricing
2. Add tools/services
3. Add trust
4. Engineer loyalty
5. Reward loyalty
6. Create barriers
7. Set rules
8. Enforce rules
9. Shepherd the supply chain of
providers