Referral Program

[xJollyRog3r]

I don't mean to boast, but in the past week I have referred at least three customers who have purchased legacy controllers. Now I don't know what it is, either I am a good salesperson or have really good persuasion skills and I think I and fellow others like me deserve some credit. Is there a possible referral program in the works? Possibly credit or percentage off a specific controller depending on how many are sold?

 

[RED SOX]

I'm pretty sure there is a referral program but for right now it's only for the viking warriors. They're probably working on it at the moment so that it's open to everyone though.

 

[MJ23KB24]

I actually dont think there will be a referral program just because it is a hassle to code it into the HTML format they are using (I think its HTML). This has been brought up several times and usually its a no. However I even think a "thanks" button would help for the forums since I think it would work in my benefit haha.

 

[odingalt]

I don't mean to boast, but in the past week I have referred at least three customers who have purchased legacy controllers. Now I don't know what it is, either I am a good salesperson or have really good persuasion skills and I think I and fellow others like me deserve some credit. Is there a possible referral program in the works? Possibly credit or percentage off a specific controller depending on how many are sold?

Agreed!!! I actually installed a plug-in for our website called "Refer-a-friend" and I can't seem to get it working.

To see a sample, log into your account on the website.
On the left-hand side menu, look for the item called "Referred Friends"
If you share this link with your friends, if they follow the link and complete a purchase, you should get store credit for the referral.
You will see a list of friends who purchased, how much they spent, and what your store credit is.

I have the credit set up so that you receive a % of the sale as a store credit.
Also, the referred buddy should get $5 off his purchase.

I am trying to figure out how to test the plug-in to make sure it's working. The documentation that comes with it is really lacking.

 

[odingalt]

i believe that Odingalt already went over this and said that there was not going to be a referral system.. i could be wrong though

Yeah I think I said for years we would not do a referral system. That was before we moved to the Magento e-commerce platform. There are third-party companies that sell a lot of plug-ins for Magento including the refer-a-friend plug-in. If I can get it to work properly. We spend on average anywhere from $25 to $40 per sale in advertising and search engine optimization. At the same time, people who buy based on a word-of-mouth are "Free" and don't cost me anything. I'd much rather put that advertising money that I have been spending into the pockets of existing Viking customers rather than into the pockets of advertisers. I already know you guys are out there spreading the word for free, might as well give you a kickback and try to get you to spread the word harder ))

 

[xJollyRog3r]

Yeah I think I said for years we would not do a referral system. That was before we moved to the Magento e-commerce platform. There are third-party companies that sell a lot of plug-ins for Magento including the refer-a-friend plug-in. If I can get it to work properly. We spend on average anywhere from $25 to $40 per sale in advertising and search engine optimization. At the same time, people who buy based on a word-of-mouth are "Free" and don't cost me anything. I'd much rather put that advertising money that I have been spending into the pockets of existing Viking customers rather than into the pockets of advertisers. I already know you guys are out there spreading the word for free, might as well give you a kickback and try to get you to spread the word harder ))

That's great Odin! Glad to hear the head of Viking is doing something to look after its loyal customers! Please let us know when you think you have the plugin all up and ready to go!

 

[odingalt]

Ok folks, we installed a Refer-a-friend extension to the Viking360.com website. Here's how (I think) it works:

1.) You start by logging into your account at https://www.viking360.com/customer/account/login/
2.) Log into your account, on the left hand side is a tab called Referred Friends. Click it.
3.) Next screen shows any purchases made by your referrals. Click on "Invite a Friend" and fill out the form.
4.) A link is e-mailed to your friend. Make sure your friend signs up for an account, too. This is how referrals are tracked.

As soon as your buddy signs up for an account, he/she will get a message that they are eligible for a discount on their purchase. If they decide to make the purchase, it will show up on your "Referred Friends" list, and you will receive a percentage of their sale as store credit to use on the Viking360.com website.

Right now I've got it set up where it is supposed to give you store credit for 20% of your friend's purchase. For example if your friend purchases a plain Thor's Hammer at $119, you get an in-store credit of $23.80. The idea is if you can get five of your friends to make a purchase, you'll earn enough credits to buy a free controller. If you've got a friend that decides to go in for a high-end model, your credits should add up pretty quickly.

Remember, this is all tracked by accounts, so be sure to send your invitations from inside of your account, and make sure your friends follow the link and sign up for an account using the same e-mail address, and on the same computer they received the link at. This will make sure their new account is linked to your account as the referrer. Remind your friends they get an extra discount if they sign up for an account based on your invitation.

Of course the idea here is to bring in new customers, so you are not allowed to refer other existing Viking360 customers .

 

[obo]

Good to see this. Hopefully loads of new viking members are on their way!

 

[odingalt]

Your sig makes me laugh every time I see it

 

[MJ23KB24]

I personally like his avatar picture more.

 

[BraveTitan]

Good stuff here. Obo was actually the one that got me hooked on Viking controllers. As a student majoring in Marketing I understand how crucial it is to have a great marketing campaign to get users to your site.

This referral program I believe is a great start to getting more users which in turn equals more money. The number one thing is getting people to frequently visit. After literally digging on Facebook I found that Viking 360 does indeed have a Facebook Page. (whether or not its "official" I do not know as it only has 23 likes) I don't know if I dare say it on the forums here but if you were to search Xbox 360 Modded Controllers on Google Viking 360 isn't even found on the first page! Evil, Gamermodz, and ControllerChaos are the first 3 listed ALL of which have inferior products compared to Viking.

I know Obo and myself have chatted about this in person once or twice (yes we do indeed live in the same town) we came to the conclusion that Viking is doing something seriously wrong unfortunately. If a company has a superior product that can fill a niche quite effectively theres no reason why they shouldn't be on top of their field. Almost all of them aren't because of how they market themselves. Take Apple for example. Apple is extremely successful not solely because of their product design or anything. They are successful because they bring in customers on WHY they do what they do. For example an of a Apple slogan could very well read, "We BELIEVE in the smart innovation, the users of the next and the newest, the desirers of the sleekest and the slimmest, as well as the connectable applications of products around the world. We also make computers."

"Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. While some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do." - Apple Inc.

How can this be done?
As social media grows even more over 1 Billion people use Facebook and their are over 125 Billion relationship connections out their. Obviously Viking isn't selling T-Shirts that appeal to all but it's a great consumer product for a Christmas gift like anything else but a large Facebook page isn't a bad play. Take Gunnar Optics for example. They make Gaming Glasses for crying out loud. A tinted glass lens to decrease white light glare to cut down on eye fatigue. I've never once used one of their glasses but I know plenty of people who do. They have over 85 thousand likes on their Facebook page where they run regular ads, promotions and the like. Obviously they are a bigger company dishing out endorsements as well as being part of the MLG community. But being a part of the Facebook scene as well as doing Twitter promotions and such are huge.

I'm sure I could go on for hours about this but as I have lost the words to continue as well as losing focus I'll end here. Blame the rant on a speaker for my Marketing course if you don't approve of this.

Cheers
-Titan

 

[MJ23KB24]

I dont think an official Viking facebook page would be bad especially if they had people upload clips of them using there controller on it along with a product line. This would give the people that own the clips more views and such while giving viking wayyyy more revenue do to the people seeing the videos. Best part? Its all free marketing.

 

[odingalt]

I had typewritten a long response, but the forums timed out and deleted my post. Lame :-(

http://www.facebook.com/Viking360.Controller.Mod

Life was definitely easier three years ago, back before there were 40 or 50 different mod shops competing for customer attention. We lost touch with the customers some time around when we released the Macro controller and launched our third website in the Fall of 2010.

Ironically, our youtube video views dropped by about 70% when we launched the new site to accommodate the macro controller. The old and new sites were both Wordpress blog based sites, but Google sure didn't like the structure of the new site for some reason. Never did figure out why. E-commerce is 3 parts traditional marketing and customer engagement, 2 parts sales gimmicks, and 5 parts SEO magic.

We boosted business by getting into PS3 controllers via vikingdigital.com. Unfortunately that site was blacklisted by Google in June this year, cutting our sales by 50%. Doh! Even if you google for "Viking Digital", vikingdigital.com is not a search result...

 

[MJ23KB24]

Thats good that you guys have a facebook page with 1000 plus likes! I never even know that it existed.

That is a bummer that google doenst bring it up. I remember when I was wanting a controller I researched and researched and after awhile I found you guys. Thank god is all I got to say.

 

[BraveTitan]

It's great that we do indeed have an official page up. Odin I made sure I copyed my post plenty of times as I typed it to make sure I didn't time out. Really sucks that VDigital got blacklisted as it is a great looking site. I guess to go into Marketing gimmicks and traditional does Viking have a twitter or any of that? All I can see is that for pretty much every major game release it would probably be in Vikings best interest to push for new customers and even reoccurring sales. The reoccurring sales bit I imagine is covered quite well with the Referral Program discussed earlier. Just getting the company name out spread more and more is obviously the best interest to any continually growing business.

 

[LATIN-REAPER]

Is that 20% of the total my buddy spends or is that 20% off of my total future order that is earned when a friend makes a purchase?

 

[odingalt]

Hi there

It's supposed to work that if your buddy buys a $150 controller, you get $150 x 0.20 = $30 in store credit.

 

[LATIN-REAPER]

Hi Odin,
Thats good to know,since i have 2 referrals out there and 1 of them I know for a fact has purchased the 150.00 ps3 ragnarok...There was another friend of mine who i referred and bought the same controller but that one was before I knew about the referral program...anyway,Thanks for an awesome product and follow-up service.