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Nivoda | Supplier Onboarding

Nivoda is a B2B online marketplace for diamond manufacturers and suppliers based out of India to sell diamonds globally online. It addresses the most common pain point of

1. Frequent communications with the customers and the back and forth negotiations
2. On time payments in local currency - so no huge wire transfer fee.
3. Opens up your inventory to a global user base thereby increasing the chance of selling.

Okay, so as a supplier, I'm convinced that there's this one platform that will let me sell more without any headaches, but how will you enable this? I don't have the time to respond to you every 5 minutes over a call to give you updates on the specific SKU that you're asking.

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Setting the stage

Once a user is onboarded we require the users to complete an integration of their system with ours so we can keep getting the updated file every couple of hours. This will ensure we can list the right goods on the platform. However, the user will have to ensure they keep updating this from time to time.

You might think this might be a pain point. -- Yes? -- No, they maintain the inventory in software / Excel sheets to keep track of it and the onboarding process requires we integrate into it so that as soon as they make the updates we can receive them.

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ICP's

So let's meet our ICPs here, Jignesh and Abhishek, both are diamond suppliers based out of India.

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Jignesh

Jignesh is a trader and holds a proprietorship organisation, he typically has 3 to 5 people on his team which includes finance, ops and sales. His aspiration is to sell globally but does not have the capital or the resources to manage teams across timezones, open up offices in different locations and find customers across the world.

What excites him the most about Nivoda, is he opens up his inventory to the global audience, can get a bit more margins as its a consumer sale and not a trade sale, and also doesn't have to worry about the customer's payments or authenticity. You will mostly see him answering calls, and emails or responding to enquiries on WhatsApp messages or attending meetings in his trade circle. He manages his inventory from an Excel sheet which stays on his laptop

Abhishek

Abhishek on the other hand is the owner of a decent manufacturing capacity of diamonds. He has connections globally and owns a Pvt. Ltd organisation with enough people on his team across operations, finance, sales and marketing. He also owns multiple offices in India and he has also invested in inventory management software which lets him manage his operations efficiently right from the factory in Surat to the sales office in Mumbai. He aspires to be onboarded on to Nivoda as they can diversify their sales globally and can capture a larger share of wallets in the industry. With their strengths in manufacturing, he leverages data and demand and supply signals to manufacture the right goods at the right price and put them up in front of customers. Nivoda here acts as a symbiotic partner taking care of all the last-mile operations and payments ensuring they can free up and focus more of their operational resources on manufacturing.

JTBD

We understood from the above description of the ICPs why they aspire to be on the Nivoda platform. Let's break this up as per the Jobs to be done framework.

For that to happen it's crucial the user is able to set up his integrations upload the "Right" inventory at the "right price" online and experience the goodness of getting a sale right from their chairs.

Users hire Nivoda to sell diamonds globally and get paid on time.

Define AHA moment

The aha moment for any user who signs up on the platform is when they get their first sale. The journey however to this path is not an easy one and requires the users to put in effort to ensure they inch one step closer to their desired goal.

In the onboarding teardown we have looked at the current signup process and suggested improvements to simplify it to ensure there are micro-Aha moments in the users journey to make this a delightful one.

Let's look at the onboarding process in the next section ⬇️

Onboarding Teardown

Onboarding _ Nivoda.pdf

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Activation metric

We have observed our users to be more retained if they have gotten their sale in the first 30 days of uploading the file on the platform. To achieve this activation metric, various input levers need to be in place to make sure the retention of the users is high.

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These input metrics are as follows

1. Stock integration with our platform
2. Accurate stock details with all the product information and media
3. Competitive pricing
4. Feeds Integration

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Input levers 2 and 3 are in the users' control and 1 and 4 is something we can control from our end by ensuring the onboarding is smooth and the user does not lose interest. We can also influence levers 2 and 3 by providing better insights but that would follow after level 1 of integration is complete.

Why do users retain?

It's a dopamine hit! 🧨 Imagine you upload a file on a platform and the next day morning your email says - "Order Confirmed" you just sold a diamond while you were asleep. Money flying from abroad 🤑.

This however doesn't come without any effort. There is a small amount of effort required in maintaining the stock and inventory with the updated prices to ensure you keep hearing the "Ka-ching!" and the biggest drop-off point in this process is the inventory maintenance.

Data also reveals that if the users keep getting sales, they are happy to take this effort however if the sales go dry we see the number of users retaining on the platform also reduce. Earlier this quarter by driving sales we were able to resurrect 35% of the churned users back on to the platform just by engaging with them on the sales.

Activation Metric 1: ​

Activation Metric 2: ​

Activation Metric 3: ​

Other Metrics to Track​

Transcript from a User Interview Call

Here's the transcript of the conversation with the onboarding manager in our organisation.

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Thats all folks! 💪 🚀

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