Learning Launch

Challenge

I am a member of India’s fastest growing consumer startup, Emirates Airlines. I am currently a part of the  corporate strategy team where in my role is working on projects of strategic importance that will  accrue benefits to the organization in the medium and the long term.

One such project I worked on was creation of a new distribution channel wherein Emirates Airlines will  enable its Key Opinion Consumers (most convinced and loyal consumers) to become resellers for the  products of the brand. We faced enormous channel in establishing such a distribution channel,  motivating the Key Opinions Consumers to resell on behalf of the company and overall keeping the  brand image positive and controlling the whole channel.

Selection

Our team had already brainstormed the problem statements and realized that the company is  excessively dependent on one type for channel for consumer order fulfilment. Being a D2C brand,  the channel was online marketplace (like Amazon, Flipakrt). We had identified that given the Indian  Business economy context, a word-of-mouth solution to such a problem is viable. More so it  increases the reach of the brand into economically poorer regions of India where online shopping  has not yet been adopted. Hence, we had a set of experiments figured out and need to choose the  one yielding the optimal results. Given the fact that the startup space is quickly evolving, with new  competitors budding up spontaneously we had extremely quick turnaround deadlines and hence the  choice of a learning launch, because definition learning launch is meant to test (and table) ideas  quickly and evolve at a faster pace.

Application

We conducted multiple learning launches to find the optimal fit for our brand and the problem  facing us.

First Learning Launch –

Our First experiment was to motivate the Key opinion consumers (henceforth KOCs) solely on the  basis of a lucrative commission structure, because at this stage we believed that our target audience  was homemakers, and have no external source of income and flexibility on the schedule, we  believed money could be a motivating factor for them. Our hypothesis was if we make the  commission structure lucrative enough, they would be motivated to sell the product in the close  family and friends’ circle. We hence created a business plan for them that returned unheard  commissions in the any industry (60% of their sales amount). While running this experiment over a  3-month period and constantly getting systematic feedback from them we ascertained a lack of  motivation, and hence our hypothesis that money was a motivating factor proved to be wrong. It  was time to pivot.

Second Learning Launch –

For our second experiment, we had a hard pivot from the first one. Leaning from our experiences we  created the second Learning Launch to tap into the softer brand proposition, wherein we wanted  the KOCs to actually become and feel like business owners and hence feel like stakeholders in the  process. We assigned team leads and created teams which made them feel not alone, and part of a  bigger mission. More so, we changed our approach to a high touch approach wherein we had  regular zoom calls for conducting motivational sessions and sales training to enable them to achieve

their dreams. Fortunately, this is exactly what our Target Audience was looking for, a brand that  makes them feel connected to a bigger mission. We instantaneously saw a rise in the sales  generated through this medium and within a 3-month period, we were contributing around 15% to  the bottom line of the company.

Insight

Our insight was simple yet powerful, and that is we really don’t know what the consumer is looking  for. Yes, we may have some preconceived notions, but it is much better to take regular feedback and  incorporate that feedback in form of quick pivots to find the product market fit, as soon as possible.

On the face of it, we believed consumer only needed money to get motivation to sell the products,  but in our particular scenario, it turns out they wanted to be associated with a brand and become  business owners themselves

Approach

We believe we could be even more agile next time, and start the whole learning launch process  sooner and roll out with prototypes with more efficiency thereby gaining the much-needed speed to  incorporate the feedback loop at the earliest.

