1 The Last Chance Millionaire The online experience

2 Identifying the stakeholders  The author  The publisher  Existing customer base  Potential customer base

3 Setting the expectations  For the author –Building the brand –Promotion of current and future offerings –Building long term relationships  For the publisher –Sourcing additional information about customers (existing and potential) –Direct revenues (from existing customers thru up-selling or potential customers thru new sales) –Indirect revenues – (thru paid referrals and advertising) –Building long term relationships

4 Setting the expectations  For the customer –Information – about new offerings –Information - about related issues –Edutainment – drawing on the book’s content and aiding comprehension OR enveloping the book –Information – about the book(*)

5 Setting the expectations  For the existing customer –Sense of achievement – (“My idea won!”) –Self actualization (“I learnt something new today!) –Social interaction (“I met someone just like myself today”) –Affiliation – a sense of community membership –Reward – for returning to the site –Reassurance – reducing dissatisfaction with choices already made – typically by interacting with others

6 Feasibility and Assumptions  Technological feasibility (e.g. some of the features may require specialized software)  Operational feasibility (e.g. offline support)

7 Some critical information attributes that the customer will expect  The information must be recent  The information must be authentic  The information must be unbiased/ democratic

8 Critical information that the customer may expect  Taxation – federal and state rates, capital gains tax rates  Mutual Funds rates and performance  Side funds  New and impending legislation (e.g. TAFRA and DAFRA)  Mortgage rates and mortgage packages – for example – first/senior, fixed rate, adjustable rate

9 More on critical information  Housing rates  Qualified and non-qualified retirement plans  Credit ratings  Insurance offers  Depository Interest Rates  Timeshares(*)

10 Harnessing the full power of the web to make it happen (*)  Collaborative  Democratic  Media-rich  Timely/up-to-date  Reusable(**) without loss of quality

11 Some possibilities  Rich Media additives to the book –Quizzes to create interest in the book –  “take this quiz to find out whether you are a diver, thriver or striver” –Key book ideas as a teaser or refresher  List common misconceptions – and give a short explanation of the same –Multimedia interpretations of key ideas of the book  Home asset vs. cash asset (page 143) – could be shown thru an animation  Universal life policy (page 276) – could be shown thru an animation  “the lift-thrust-drag troika illustrated thru an aero plane animation” –Information  About events such as seminars or conferences in your area

12 Some possibilities  Comprehension aids –Online calculators for mortgage –A SLR classifier – classify an investment into risk category A,B or C depending on numerical data about its risk, liquidity and rate of return (*) –Risk classifier – how risk averse are you? – based on a questionnaire, the respondent is classified into a category

13 Some possibilities  Scenarios – allow the customer to trace his path thru different decisions and let him see where he reaches – with appropriate feedback and warnings as he proceeds  Audio and video clips of author’s lectures

14 Some possibilities – of the new wave kind  RSS feeds (*)  Pod casts  Discussion forums –Customers can start discussion threads and respond to each others requests/ideas  Weekly mailers (or monthly) / Newsletters – this could include information about allied offerings or tours

15 Some possibilities  Blogs –Customers can maintain their own ideas and progress – others can rate the same so that a blog is classified as ‘premium’ or ‘basic’ –These blogs may include video or audio –Author’s ‘star’ ratings – for exceptional blogs  Wikis –The customers can share ideas and update them.

16 What is the publisher’s takeaway?  Customers – even existing ones – will need to sign up for select features (*)  This will allow the creation of an information base about the customer community  In addition, each customer will have to provide ‘x’ (say, three) names and ids of potential customers (possibilities for permission marketing)  Such ‘premium’ customers may also order a copy of the book for a friend at a substantial discount  There is also the “brand build up” angle for the author – the site then becomes a platform for retirement planning, not just a source of services and information

17 The Last Chance Millionaire – the online experience  It’s the experience that counts