How to sell to Indian consumer market?

24 replies
Dear All,

This is my first post on this very informative forum and I'm hoping you can help me please.

I run a UK based start up company and I've developed an Information Product (membership site), which is in the area of coaching and increasing self-confidence.

Anyhow, I apologise for not putting a link to the site as I would like to maintain some confidentiality please.

The main market I would like to target is the Indian consumer market, as there is a big population of people in India who need the type of support I offer from my site.

I launched the site 1 month ago and my current proposition is as follows:

I offer a 7 day trial with automatic recurring membership which costs £5.99 a month which is 442 Indian Rupees.

I've made it very clear (at least I think!) in big and bold on the main home page and then the sign up page that the user can cancel at anytime during their 7 day and they will not be charged. I've also stated in that will only be billed in they continue past their 7 day period.

I'm using Google adwords to bring traffic from India to the site. I've noticed the following so far:

1. People seem to be spending a quite a lot of time on the site - up to 4 minutes.

2. Out of 10 Google adword clicks 1-2 people actually create an account for themselves (create username and login etc) from the sign up page, and then actually click the Google Checkout button at the bottom of the sign up page. I'm using Google Checkout for payment.

When these 1-2 people actually end up on the Google Checkout page, they then seem to leave the site, as they don't enter their billing details to set up the 7 day trial and monthly subscription.

I've put on the sign up page clearly, that they need to set up their trial and monthly subscription in Google Checkout and after they have gone through Google Checkout they will have login details e-mailed to them.

But they don't seem to be doing the Google Checkout part.

I don't know what I'm doing wrong.

There were a few of things I thought I might be doing wrong:

1. I have put the price in 2 currencies - one in UK pounds and the other in India Rupees. It is written in the following way on the site: £5.99 (Rs 442).

May be this is confusing?

2. Perhaps they don't expect to have to enter their billing details just to access a Trial?

3. They are getting confused with Google Checkout.

I've done some research on the web and it seems people in India can purchase products using Google Checkout.

I just wanted to ask if anyone who has experience of selling digital services to the Indian market or any Indian entrepreneurs out there could share any comments and advice please?

Best wishes,

mrinspire
#consumer #indian #market #sell
  • Profile picture of the author rosetrees
    I don't have any experience of selling to the Indian market but the first thing that leaps out at me is language. What language is your site written in?

    If a Indian marketer wants to target the UK market s/he will probably write the site in English, unless specifically targeting speakers of one of the Indian languages.

    I apologise for my ignorance in not knowing which are the most popular languages spoken in India - I'm sure you could find out and then hire a translator. If I was a speaker of one of those languages I would want to see a site that was aimed at me being written in my language rather than being expected to struggle to read a site in a language I wasn't so familiar with.
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    • Profile picture of the author drmani
      Might it be a reluctance to part with credit card details before seeing any tangible evidence of value delivered?

      Is there a reason to not offer a 'no strings' trial, esp. considering that there seems to be quite some interest on the part of responders?

      My experience of the typical Indian consumer is that s/he is extremely value conscious, loves a discount or bargain, will spend (often more time than it is worth) to try and locate the 'best deal', and relies a lot on what others (peers, friends, network) has to say about a product/service before purchase.

      Price point *might* be an issue, unless you know you're targeting a specific demographic.

      Hope this helps.

      All success
      Dr.Mani
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      • Profile picture of the author mrinspire
        Hi Dr Mani,

        Thanks for your reply.

        I understand what you mean about giving the credit card details upfront. One of my Beta testers in India did actually say that by a trial she wouldn't have expected to give billing information just to access the trial.

        The reason why I haven't been offering a 'no strings' deal at the moment, is because I read from another Internet entrepreneur on another forum that once he did this with his site, the conversion rate from those moving from the free to the paid subscription was very small.

        However, every niche and market is different and I'm pretty sure he wasn't targeting primarily the Indian consumer market. And again his experience was his experience.

        I'll think about switching to just a free trial with no billing information required and see if anyone converts to paid monthly subscription.

        Most of the traffic seems to be from the major cities including Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Chandigarh from young professionals so I'm assuming they can afford 442 Rupees a month, but again this is an assumption.

        Thanks for your help.

        If any other people have any comments then please do share.

        Cheers,

        mrinspire
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        • Profile picture of the author Istvan Horvath
          Originally Posted by mrinspire View Post

          The main market I would like to target is the Indian consumer market, as there is a big population of people in India who need the type of support I offer from my site.
          Originally Posted by mrinspire View Post

          Most of the traffic seems to be from the major cities including Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Chandigarh from young professionals so I'm assuming they can afford 442 Rupees a month, but again this is an assumption.
          For me the key issues are the bold words above.

          Many times we think that a certain population segment "needs" our product... however, it doesn't mean that they want it!
          So, the question is: is that "need" based on market research or just your guess?

          Next, making assumptions in business can be costly. Same question: is this based on market research or...?
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          • Profile picture of the author mrinspire
            Hi Istvan,

            I appreciate your comments. The research is market-based. I used a questionnaire a while ago with a sample of the market to ensure that was a real need/want before I actually built the service.

            Cheers,

            mrinspire
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    • Profile picture of the author mrinspire
      Hi Carol,

      Thanks for your reply. English is widely spoken across India. I've coached people in India via telephone and Skype also in English so I know this aspect isn't really the problem. People from India have also Beta tested the site which is all in English.

      Thanks again for your comments. Much appreciated.

      Cheers,

      mrinspire
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  • Profile picture of the author ajrocks
    Standard billing doesn't work with India. There just isn't a high level of credit cards. They use a debit system much like chunks of Europe. Most online transactions are conducted using phones. They downside to that is the charges are so low that its hard to make any profit.
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    • Profile picture of the author mrinspire
      Hi ajrocks,

      Thanks for your comments. Much appreciated

      I'm wondering if there is anyone on the forums who is not based in India but does sell to Indian people where they pay with credit cards?

      Cheers,

      mrinspire
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      • Profile picture of the author Patrick
        Originally Posted by mrinspire View Post

        Hi ajrocks,

        Thanks for your comments. Much appreciated

        I'm wondering if there is anyone on the forums who is not based in India but does sell to Indian people where they pay with credit cards?

        Cheers,

        mrinspire

        I am from India but I am not staying in India now. I do provide services to people there, and they pay me through paypal using their credit card.
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        • Profile picture of the author mrinspire
          Hi schwarzes,

          Thanks for your most recent message. I think as a test I'll just offer the free 7 day trial with no commitment to give billing details and I might switch from Google Checkout to Paypal as the payment option and see if this makes any changes to people subscribing to the service.

          Cheers,

          mrinspire
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  • Profile picture of the author Patrick
    The problem with the Indian market is that there are still a VERY few percentage of people who would actually "learn" something online.

    Each and every indian who is called "educated" has done a masters degree so they already have enough knowledge of business and work ethics.

    India is one of the leading IT workforce provider, but a majority part of their workforce are only used by other countries, the only reason being that they can provide quality service at cheap rates.
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    • Profile picture of the author mrinspire
      Hi schwarzes,

      I appreciate your comments.

      Cheers,

      mrinspire
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    • Profile picture of the author ikontent
      Originally Posted by schwarzes View Post

      The problem with the Indian market is that there are still a VERY few percentage of people who would actually "learn" something online.
      I'd slightly disagree with that comment - there is a sizeable percentage of Indians who learn online, just that a very small percentage would choose to "PAY" to learn online.

      Most of the others have already learnt about the usenet, bittorrent, blackhat forums, mediafire & rapidshare, etc. etc. etc.
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      • Profile picture of the author mrinspire
        Hi Ikontent,

        I just had one question please.

        You said the following:

        Without seeing the site, it's difficult to comment; however, I'd echo Dr Mani's comment about reluctance to sign up without seeing tangible evidence up front. While your pricing can be affordable to many middle class Indians, it isn't a "no-brainer" purchase... especially with an ongoing commitment.


        What in your opinion would be a "no-brainer" deal for a consumer in India thinking about purchasing a subscription to a digital coaching program?

        I would be really grateful for your views on this.

        Best wishes,

        mrinspire
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  • Profile picture of the author Mr BOLD
    i am not sure how many people use google checkout. you should definitely try out the paypal option. from a buyer standpoint its quite an easy process to purchase subscription / cancel subscriptions using paypal.

    so even if you are new in the market, if your offer is compelling enough and you make it easy for me to leave if don't like the product, then that would be an easy sale.

    while Rs.442 is not that big an amount, it depends on how you translate that value to your target group. hope you have that nailed.
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  • Profile picture of the author ikontent
    Originally Posted by mrinspire View Post

    I offer a 7 day trial with automatic recurring membership which costs £5.99 a month which is 442 Indian Rupees.

    I've made it very clear (at least I think!) in big and bold on the main home page and then the sign up page that the user can cancel at anytime during their 7 day and they will not be charged. I've also stated in that will only be billed in they continue past their 7 day period.

    ...


    I've put on the sign up page clearly, that they need to set up their trial and monthly subscription in Google Checkout and after they have gone through Google Checkout they will have login details e-mailed to them.

    But they don't seem to be doing the Google Checkout part.

    I don't know what I'm doing wrong.
    Without seeing the site, it's difficult to comment; however, I'd echo Dr Mani's comment about reluctance to sign up without seeing tangible evidence up front. While your pricing can be affordable to many middle class Indians, it isn't a "no-brainer" purchase... especially with an ongoing commitment.

    You could try a mini / lite version with a lower price point; or even a one-time payment to access part of the content, if you don't like the idea of giving a "free" trial. Keep in mind that to many Indian consumers, "free" = "no payment", not deferred payment.

    Since they are leaving at the signup stage, I'd also suggest you try a survey of the "non-sign ups" to check out the reasons.
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    • Profile picture of the author mrinspire
      Hi ikontent,

      Many thanks for your help with this.

      Best wishes,

      mrinspire
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  • Profile picture of the author murtuza
    I guess instead of telling them to pay for a 7 day free trial you should tell them to pay $1 for the 7 day trial and then remaining balance later on. Atleast they will realize that they have to add their credit card details to access the trial.

    Also give them the price in rupees. You can use 2checkout to accept payments as they offer pricing in various currencies on the order page and I guess once they track the IP of the buyer they display the pricing on that page according to the buyers country.

    Also a client can swith the currency right on the order page.

    Test using paypal because I feel many people in India are aware about paypal and feel safe interacting with paypal than other payment processing systems.

    If you have any address in India that you can provide on your site like your friends or relatives that can be a huge plus point. That's because people in India tend to trust more if the person is from India than abroad. I have got many clients in India who have purchased my memberships and digital products but they tend to meet me first personally and then either pay me cash or give me a check payment.

    People in India based on my experience are hesitant to use their credit cards and many of them even don't have a cc here as it is difficult to get a cc to normal people out here, banks are really strict out here. I remember I had a hard time to get a credit card in India...

    If you can use a cheque payment option for Indians that can be great or probably a bank wire transfer payment option as they will feel this is a real safe transaction.

    Hope this helps...
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    • Profile picture of the author mrinspire
      Hi Murtuza,

      Thanks for replying back so extensively.

      I've changed the offer so there is a free 7 day trial without any payment details required at all. Hopefully this will give people an overview of what is in the service and then decide if they want to purchase the monthly subscription.

      I'm also going to switch from Google checkout to Paypal. I'm definitely going to look into just putting the price in Rupees and the cheque and bank transfer options you mentioned.

      Thanks,

      mrinspire
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      • Profile picture of the author drmani
        Originally Posted by mrinspire View Post

        I'm definitely going to look into just putting the price in Rupees
        mrinspire
        If you do, it might be a thought to go with a "Rs. __99.95" price point.

        It's almost the Indian equivalent of the "$ __7.00"



        Good luck

        All success
        Dr.Mani
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        • Profile picture of the author mrinspire
          Originally Posted by drmani View Post

          If you do, it might be a thought to go with a "Rs. __99.95" price point.

          It's almost the Indian equivalent of the "$ __7.00"



          Good luck

          All success
          Dr.Mani
          Hi Dr. Mani,

          I just had a question please. The price point of Rs. 99.95 you mentioned.

          Did you mean per month?

          I would be grateful for your reply.

          Best wishes,

          mrinspire
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      • Profile picture of the author murtuza
        Originally Posted by mrinspire View Post

        Hi Murtuza,

        Thanks for replying back so extensively.

        I've changed the offer so there is a free 7 day trial without any payment details required at all. Hopefully this will give people an overview of what is in the service and then decide if they want to purchase the monthly subscription.

        I'm also going to switch from Google checkout to Paypal. I'm definitely going to look into just putting the price in Rupees and the cheque and bank transfer options you mentioned.

        Thanks,

        mrinspire
        I am glad you liked the advise, all the best...
        Signature

        Want to know my true story & how I got started with my internet business? What kind of problems I faced to get started & how I finally cracked the internet code? I have also prepared a 30 day blueprint for you to get started. No signup is required, just rush in to check out pure content ==> how to start an online business - And yeah, if you like what you read don't forget to 'like' & 'tweet' it. All the best :0)

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  • Profile picture of the author renukoot
    On all above may be the issue is also linked to Cards, the people coming to you either be Debit Card holders (As Google Checkout may not use Verified by Visa or 3D Secure system which is a must for Debit Card Holders in India & majority of Indians have access to this) these users go away.
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  • Profile picture of the author misterme
    I would think the problem may be the users don't want to create Google accounts just to suss out your site.
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