There’s been plenty activity over last whiles about THS Trailblazer program, that we believe is a sales-motivated effort to involve globetrotting influencers in return for some form of benefits in efforts to acquire new customers.
And there’s a sales-motivated referral program by which THS members get in-kind reward for acquiring new customers.
So what about a new program, “Regulars”, “Advocates” or similar?
This could complement existing acquire-new-customer programs by encouraging retain-customers (and frankly lower operating costs). It could also aid fielding of some onboarding new-customer questions, given THS PE-motivated high growth.
By way of example, say “Regular” members of THS Forum received free membership, and other benefits as per Trailblazer program, as a token gesture of appreciation for their voluntary time. Last time we looked there were fewer than 100 “regular” Forum members versus “230k happy members” (THS homepage). PR release from last funding round estimated THS valuation of US$100m. Either way, pennies rather than pounds in scheme of things.
Perhaps there’s other programs that seek a fair trade between THS and its community, just like the fair trade between Pet Parent and housesitter.
I love your thinking, but free membership is very easy to get. So I think an incentive of different kind would be best, because if you love THS, just refer 6 people who sign up and you’ve got a whole year free.
We only joined THS just over 2 years ago, and we’re sitting with 76 months free (Sep 2030), all of which are people away from THS who ask us to sit for them when were busy, and/or random conversations with dog owners while out dog walking, who randomly chat about holidays.
When I say ‘we’ it’s the royal we, all 76 free months have been gained from me alone .
That scheme would be very hard to police
I count myself as a regular contributor to the forum but I float in and out depending on what’s being discussed and if I find the topics interesting. There has been times I haven’t connected for weeks as it got very silly here, in my opinion. The nature of this forum, and most others, is if you have something to say you participate. If you don’t you stay silent. It’s not worth repeating what others have already said. Does a like or other emoji count as participating? Will someone who likes 100 answers/topics in a day and then disappears count as a regular?
Others may hear about the free membership offer, contribute for a few weeks, get their free membership and disappear.
This idea, if implemented, could blow up a lot of controversy.
A better one would be giving a discount on membership for length of membership.
Five years …. 5%
Ten years……10%
Etc
@GotYourBack I just wanted to comment on the 230k happy members which was listed in the 2024 Impact Report and also on THS homepage. My reading is that that’s the number of pets not human members and that THS has not revealed exactly how many human members it actually has.
It’s an interesting idea you’ve raised but perhaps difficult to follow through. I like the idea that @ElsieDownie raised of a discount based on length of membership.
@HappyDeb, wow that’s amazing. You’re quire the salesperson and conversationalist. We thought we were doing well at 8 months free. You are quite welcomed to give people our referral code instead . I have no idea on typical referral rate but rather suspect that you are wonderfully atypical.
Understand comment. Guess I was tossing-pebble of concept of stakeholder incentive for something other than acquire-new-customers.
@ElsieDownie, great feedback.
Alas I am not a detail-orientated person. And I’d happily leave the nuances of eligibility definitions to those more familiar with matters. Simple is often good.
Rather thread was conceptual, to incentivize something other than acquire-new-customers.
Discount based on length of membership seems a sensible idea, though I’d set yearly hurdles at lower levels .
Adding to your long-tenure customer concept then perhaps a further idea would be lifetime membership option.
My initial instinct was drawn to regular contributors as they’re heros . Not going to name names. But we have learned a huge amount from some members of the THS Forum - thank you! - and this greatly aided our introduction to, and optimization of, the THS housesitting experience. And I see their timely, informative and positive comments to many enquiries on THS Forum. Somewhere in there is significant value-add to THS.
I’m actually neither, I’m quite introverted in real-life, and I’m rubbish at small talk, but I love our pet sitting life, it’s briliant, it’s changed the way we live, and I think that enthusiasm is contagious and intriguing to others, I just wish I’d known about THS when we had pets
As someone who is a 5-star sitter on every sit, and gets tons of referrals, I vehemently dislike the “trailblazer” program. It encourages a non-pet-focused type of sitter. They want “influencers” not people who are here to care for pets. Can we just not do the “girls with hats and boho dresses sitting on their van looking out at the ocean” vibe here? Perhaps they can instead reward sitters for having 5-star reviews. The UGC marketing is really waning because people are tired of the same exact demographic in every social media post, every ad.
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. I have no idea on typical referral rate but rather suspect that you are wonderfully atypical.
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. Not going to name names. But we have learned a huge amount from some members of the THS Forum - thank you! - and this greatly aided our introduction to, and optimization of, the THS housesitting experience. And I see their timely, informative and positive comments to many enquiries on THS Forum. Somewhere in there is significant value-add to THS.
your passion for pet sitting is clearly paying off in more ways than one!