Comments on: Interivew with Sandeep Murthy at Cleartrip.com http://ileher.com/2007/08/24/interivew-with-sandeep-murthy-at-cleartripcom/ Catching the Internet wave in India Sat, 22 Nov 2008 07:47:08 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.4 by: Gaurav Kotak http://ileher.com/2007/08/24/interivew-with-sandeep-murthy-at-cleartripcom/#comment-28810 Wed, 29 Aug 2007 08:35:11 +0000 http://ileher.com/2007/08/24/interivew-with-sandeep-murthy-at-cleartripcom/#comment-28810 Rajiv, Let me take a stab at your question since I had spoke with the guys at Cleartrip. Basically what Sandeep was talking about is that it is expensive to acquire users in this space since you have to tap in traditional media and competition is driving up prices. But since these users are a demographic that spend reasonably money online (ticket purchases) it is feasible to have a positive ROI over there lifetime (or perhaps even a single transaction) via the transaction fees. Vivek, You're right; typically in transactional sites the metric used is either cost per transaction or cost per user that has at least one transaction. Then further analysis is done to calculate life time value of users that transact at least once. As you can see Cleartrip monitors this closely by tracking the repeat usage. Login metrics are useful as well but more so if there is a correlation between signup and future transactions or if there is revenue generated by ads or co-registration etc. Rajiv,

Let me take a stab at your question since I had spoke with the guys at Cleartrip. Basically what Sandeep was talking about is that it is expensive to acquire users in this space since you have to tap in traditional media and competition is driving up prices. But since these users are a demographic that spend reasonably money online (ticket purchases) it is feasible to have a positive ROI over there lifetime (or perhaps even a single transaction) via the transaction fees.

Vivek,

You’re right; typically in transactional sites the metric used is either cost per transaction or cost per user that has at least one transaction. Then further analysis is done to calculate life time value of users that transact at least once. As you can see Cleartrip monitors this closely by tracking the repeat usage. Login metrics are useful as well but more so if there is a correlation between signup and future transactions or if there is revenue generated by ads or co-registration etc.

]]> by: Vivek Garg http://ileher.com/2007/08/24/interivew-with-sandeep-murthy-at-cleartripcom/#comment-28439 Mon, 27 Aug 2007 01:41:05 +0000 http://ileher.com/2007/08/24/interivew-with-sandeep-murthy-at-cleartripcom/#comment-28439 How does one define acquisition cost in such non-subscription models (clearly not SAC)? Is it cost per transaction? Or cost per user login being created? I think later is only meaningful if user data is used to generate value in terms of targeted offerings/ads. How does one define acquisition cost in such non-subscription models (clearly not SAC)? Is it cost per transaction? Or cost per user login being created? I think later is only meaningful if user data is used to generate value in terms of targeted offerings/ads.

]]> by: Rajiv http://ileher.com/2007/08/24/interivew-with-sandeep-murthy-at-cleartripcom/#comment-28410 Sun, 26 Aug 2007 20:35:53 +0000 http://ileher.com/2007/08/24/interivew-with-sandeep-murthy-at-cleartripcom/#comment-28410 Interesting .. I read both ixigo and cleartrip's interview, and used both sites. Not only do they have different approaches, but I also find huge price difference on them most of the time (ixigo cheaper) what does sandeep mean when he says "Cost of acquisition is not cheap in this business. However the demographic is fairly niche so can have positive returns." how does a fairly niche demographic ensure positive returns ? Interesting .. I read both ixigo and cleartrip’s interview, and used both sites.

Not only do they have different approaches, but I also find huge price difference on them most of the time (ixigo cheaper)

what does sandeep mean when he says “Cost of acquisition is not cheap in this business. However the demographic is fairly niche so can have positive returns.”

how does a fairly niche demographic ensure positive returns ?

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