What should smugmug award the big referrers?

Baldy

First, a confession: onethumb and I made a pact that if we ever got to 92 subscribers/day profitably, and with good customer satisfaction, we'd dye our hair green.

Well... I suppose this constitutes a good photo op for Andy, because I just bought a jar of ELECTRIC LIZARD GREEN MANIC PANIC CREAM HAIR DYE PUNK. It glows under UV...

What thrills us most is the passion and fun of it all with the subscribers we have. Photo contests. Shootouts in Yosemite. Nikolai's Explorer. Great feature suggestions. Families staying close even while separated by continents and war. Pros making their lives easier.

So the question is what to do for people like Jesus Perez, Andy, and Wesley Chan at Google who refer so many customers to us? They already have their subscription fees paid for more than two decades.

Howz about we put together a page of gifts and when your referrals get to certain levels, you get some? Which begs the question of what would be good gifts. Cool smugmug apparel for a few referals, toys like mini iPods for more?

And a car for the person who gets Oprah to mention us?

Ideas welcome as long as they don't break the bank.

Thanks,
Baldy

fish

How about a cash kickback?

GREAPER

I will have to get to work on that Oprah thing...

gus

I dont know but i assume your O/S client numbers are growing also & i think that free subscriptions would be easier than sending prizes.

Out of curiosity...what is your world demographic like ? You can stab me with a screwdriver once you have disclosed it.

Nikolai

Stock options?
And thanks a lot for your referral:-)

Cheers!

wxwax

iPod mini type stuff is always popular. Can't go wrong with consumr electronics, folks love those cutting edge toys.

What's that line in Bull Durham? "Candle sticks make a nice gift."

PerezDesignGroup

I was personally touched when you guys upgraded my account. Nothing like good-ole fashioned recognition. But I'm simple like that.

I think it would be nice if there was a page where members could redeem referrals for merchandise.

i.e.

1-5 referrals=free 8x10 print
6-10=free 16x20 print
11-20=free album
21-30=etc, etc.

Ofcourse, the gifts would have to be more or less proportional to the value of the referral. But it's just an idea.

Photosbychuck

Thanks for all the hard work you and your staff do for the web site.

Memory cards would be a nice gift.

16mb for 50 referals maybe
64mb for 150 referals
128 for 300 referals
256 for over 1000 referals maybe

good luck,
Chuck

PerezDesignGroup wrote:

I was personally touched when you guys upgraded my account. Nothing like good-ole fashioned recognition. But I'm simple like that.

I think it would be nice if there was a page where members could redeem referrals for merchandise.

i.e.

1-5 referrals=free 8x10 print
6-10=free 16x20 print
11-20=free album
21-30=etc, etc.

Ofcourse, the gifts would have to be more or less proportional to the value of the referral. But it's just an idea.

Andy

i hope your ship (ment) comes in fast...

Baldy wrote:

First, a confession: onethumb and I made a pact that if we ever got to 92 subscribers/day profitably, and with good customer satisfaction, we'd dye our hair green.

Well... I suppose this constitutes a good photo op for Andy, because I just bought a jar of ELECTRIC LIZARD GREEN MANIC PANIC CREAM HAIR DYE PUNK. It glows under UV...

i will see you, and onethumb, friday afternoon for our shoot.

can't wait

Nikolai

Hmm, I guess I'm overestimating the whole thing...

Photosbychuck wrote:

Memory cards would be a nice gift.
16mb for 50 referals maybe
64mb for 150 referals
128 for 300 referals
256 for over 1000 referals maybe

Memory cards (as any other CE:-) is a nice gift idea , but...
You cannot be serious about 16Mb, can you?
It would hold ONE "raw" shot - or two, if you're lucky:-)

My daughters use 256Mb CFs (in their 3-4 MP compact cams) only because I happen to have a few already (and I am cheap:-). But I - personally - would not even think about bying anything less than 1 gig nowadays..

Besides... Come think of it, 1,000 referrals would bring you - pinky next to the mouth:-) - t e n t h o u s a n d d o l l a r s ! ... :-)
I would think a person with this amount of "spare change" can shell out a couple of hundreds and get himself (at least one) nice 2Gb CF Ultra II x80:-) rather than relying on "a free 256Mb".

Which bring an interesting question: can "referral money" be withdrawn as a regular ones? I currently don't have too much of them, so they would still come handy in paying for the account for the future years, but for the guys like Andy it would make total sense to use them now rather than waiting "two decades", during which time they will most certainly accumulate more...:-)

As it has already been said - cash is always a great gift:-) Even if it can only be used to pay for smugmug-related services, but simply beyond the subscription, e.g. for the prints, or whatever future services smugmug can render...

Cheers!

onethumb

Just to give you guys an idea of what levels I was thinking, in addition to your free years, (Baldy and I haven't talked this specific, so these are just ballparks):

16 = 1GB flash card
50 = iPod Mini
80 = 40GB iPod
320 = Canon 20D
1600 = Canon 1DS Mark II
5000 = nice new car
40000 = new Ferrari
Oprah/Jay Leno = cars, company ownership, firstborn children

There'd be plenty of other stuff in there too, including smugmug shwag, other geek photog toys, etc. That's just a quick guess.

I think we'd like to have special yearly prizes too for whoever brought in the most in a given year, whoever had the most creative method of referring people, and a prize for the person who brought the most in without actually getting referral bonuses (like Jesus' mention in the travel mag. I think he wins for 2004).

Thoughts?

Don

Seamus

onethumb wrote:

320 = Canon 20D


Don

'Gus!!! problem solved

Steve Cavigliano

Great ideas, OT and Baldy

Since these people have really helped make your sites a success, it's only fitting that you recognize and reward them. Not that everyone/every company would. So I applaud you guys you're showing lots of class here

I'm sure most of the "referrers" didn't plan on being compensated for referring people. Which is even more of a reason to reward them, IMHO. Whatever you guys come up with will probably be fair. Stock is always good, so are camera/photo goodies. The Ferrari was really a nice thought :lol

I was turned on to this place (and to a Smugmug Pro acct), by one of your main referrers. Many of the folks I run into, are here because of his referrals. I've thanked him, but it would be nice if you guys took care of him too


Let's see 320 referrals = a 20D So I'd need about 1200 referrals for a 400mm F2.8L

Again, good thinking guys,
Steve

marlinspike

I think 2 referrals should get something big. Definitley, 2 should get something big. Not that I have 2 referrals or anything:D
But seriously, have you guys run the numbers? I would think those referral levels would get a lot of people a lot of nice things = less money for smugmug. I mean, giving away subscription time is really giving away nothing to you, but getting a lot for us.

Nikolai

I say

onethumb wrote:

Just to give you guys an idea of what levels I was thinking, in addition to your free years, (Baldy and I haven't talked this specific, so these are just ballparks):

16 = 1GB flash card
50 = iPod Mini
80 = 40GB iPod
320 = Canon 20D
1600 = Canon 1DS Mark II
5000 = nice new car
40000 = new Ferrari
Oprah/Jay Leno = cars, company ownership, firstborn children

There'd be plenty of other stuff in there too, including smugmug shwag, other geek photog toys, etc. That's just a quick guess.

I think we'd like to have special yearly prizes too for whoever brought in the most in a given year, whoever had the most creative method of referring people, and a prize for the person who brought the most in without actually getting referral bonuses (like Jesus' mention in the travel mag. I think he wins for 2004).

Thoughts?

Don

I think you guys already have a decent idea what a "fair" prize award would be. We all here love "toys", gagets, camera accessories, extra memory, etc. You also know your ballpark, your budget and can estimate the vallue of the "referrer". And you also know that probably nobody here does referrals for the sake of it - they all "just happen".
I guess, I'm saying - whatever you guys come out with will be gratefully accepted

Cheers!

DavidTO

onethumb wrote:

Just to give you guys an idea of what levels I was thinking, in addition to your free years, (Baldy and I haven't talked this specific, so these are just ballparks):

16 = 1GB flash card
50 = iPod Mini
80 = 40GB iPod
320 = Canon 20D
1600 = Canon 1DS Mark II
5000 = nice new car
40000 = new Ferrari
Oprah/Jay Leno = cars, company ownership, firstborn children

There'd be plenty of other stuff in there too, including smugmug shwag, other geek photog toys, etc. That's just a quick guess.

It's no secret that I'm a major Mac/Apple/iPod guy, but don't forget the Epson P-1000. Looks to be pretty cool for us photogs.

lynnesite

I like the idea of rewarding referrals that don't use the referral codes. It's a crapshoot whether someone referred chooses to do that! I just exhaustively went through a smugmug-raison d'etre with my pro equine photog group in response to the solicitation that printroom sent out to many of our members recently. The original poster wanted to know about other services and after my first big reply, stated that she'd put the printroom thingy up there just because she wanted to know more about smugmug and knew I'd respond. :-) Anyway, it's had 134 views and who knows what will happen, I haven't mentioned the referral setup because it would seem like soliciting.

Oh, and FWIW, the need for printing a licensing statement on the back of the photos along with an image number is keeping some of these pros away.

Lynne

wxwax

onethumb wrote:

Just to give you guys an idea of what levels I was thinking, in addition to your free years, (Baldy and I haven't talked this specific, so these are just ballparks):

16 = 1GB flash card
50 = iPod Mini
80 = 40GB iPod
320 = Canon 20D
1600 = Canon 1DS Mark II
5000 = nice new car
40000 = new Ferrari
Oprah/Jay Leno = cars, company ownership, firstborn children

There'd be plenty of other stuff in there too, including smugmug shwag, other geek photog toys, etc. That's just a quick guess.

I think we'd like to have special yearly prizes too for whoever brought in the most in a given year, whoever had the most creative method of referring people, and a prize for the person who brought the most in without actually getting referral bonuses (like Jesus' mention in the travel mag. I think he wins for 2004).

Thoughts?

Don

*sigh* I wish I was more sociable and knew more photogs!

Your list looks very generous. You guys are a class act.

DavidTO

wxwax wrote:

Your list looks very generous. You guys are a class act.

I'll second that.

patch29

What about software? PS upgrades or full version, even those that have it may want a second copy for another machine. Even other photo programs would be helpful. There are a lot of programs that run with PS or independently that many people would like to have, but don't want to pay full fare for, iview, extensis products, C1, Nik, other Adobe products, etc. It would give you a good range of values also. These also all promote more photography and give you options for those that may already have an ipod or shoot with other than Canon cameras.

It would also seem that your over 50 referrals might be a smaller number, you could simply do a customized award. Once you have done a few list what they received for x # of referrals, making your big referrers feeling very important and knowing that you are very appreciative.

marlinspike

I can't imagine getting Jay Leno to mention it, but I bet smugmug is the kind of thing Oprah might recommend (my mom watches, Oprah's always giving away free stuff. I wouldn't be surprised if she gave a free year of smugmug to everyone). You think if I send an e-mail every day to Oprah she'd eventually recommend it? I bet if you all said you'd give 1 year free membership to everybody in the audience she'd recommend it. If you try that, can I get something for the idea? I wouldn't even take your children. Not even a Ferrari. All I would ask is to have what I call The Plan put into place for my car (frame up restoration, along with some major modifications to quadruple the power...and yes, the plan is fully thought out, I just need to come up with about 55 grand).
Richard