Acquisition project | Amplify.ai

Company/ Business Understanding:
Amplify.ai is a conversational marketing start-up conceptualized and born in Silicon Valley, eventually spreading its wings to India and some European countries.

India has always been a land of experimentation and scale for Amplify, having worked with content-heavy clients like MyGov, Publishers, Political parties, and others. Apart from these Amplify India works with industries like Automotive, BFSI, E-commerce, CPG, Entertainment, etc.

All the successful experiments done in India are replicated in the US, only at a much higher cost/ revenue. This makes India a strategic market for Amplify.ai.

Product Understanding:

Amplify.ai is well equipped to create all kinds of chatbots across the web but the specialization lies in social chatbots i.e. Messenger, IGDM, WhatsApp, and Google Business Messages.

Amplify.ai is also a registered and preferred partner of Meta for Messaging services I.e., when Meta promotes messaging services to its clients, they recommend Amplify as a go-to partner in most cases.

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Jobs To Be Done (JTBD) Framework:​

Market and Use Case Understanding:

Typically chatbots can be used to automate any conversational scenario but they have been used only to automate support queries and FAQs.

Today, brands are evolving and exploring chatbots for the following use cases and more:

• Lead Generation
• Automated assisted shopping
• App downloads
• Gamification
• Native commerce
• Personalization and innovation

Etc.

Chatbot as an industry is growing at 23.3% CAGR globally - here​

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User Understanding:

Two departments in any company require custom chatbot services -

1. Support or Customer Success
2. Marketing

Other departments like HR and Sales might need chatbots for internal training purposes, but that is not the primary market.

Amongst the two departments mentioned the first one tends to deploy the chatbot on the website, landing page, and/ or App, which requires a lot of technical due diligence which is where Tech teams get involved.

However, the Marketing department uses a chatbot for a variety of use cases as mentioned above, and they prefer deploying the bots on social handles, where their audiences are. So marketers from the D2C companies and agency account managers who interact with these marketers are the ideal people to interact with

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ICP Understanding:

As established above, Amplify.ai's core value proposition is to create engaging social chatbots that align perfectly with the marketing department's objectives.

Here's what ICPs look like -

Common insights:

1. All the ICPs are constantly looking out for innovation in their approach
2. Anything to do with AI excites them as it's a new buzzword
3. Large clients consider digital agencies as consultants and want them to be aware of the proposition
4. Agencies on the other hand are meeting multiple AI vendors daily, and it has become overwhelming for them
5. Only tech does not solve the problems of the ICPs, they need a fully crafted custom solution to consider any innovation (alterations may happen but the vendor is expected to bring ideas and use cases to the table)

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ICP Prioritization Framework:

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Finally, based on the metrics, here are 2 ICPs that we would focus on:

Amar - Marketing Head

Akbar - Marketing Manager

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However, Sita and Gita can become my partners in the process, and they will be tackled differently.

Industry prioritization based on primary data, secondary research, and use cases:

CPG/ FMCG, Automobile, BFSI, E-commerce

Realistic obtainable market within these industries:

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As discussed earlier, conversational marketing could be used by any b2c facing company which will expand the TAM exponentially (as indicated in the secondary data) but from the prioritization perspective we have narrowed down the market to specific industries and one region.

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Competitor Landscape:

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The market is cluttered with small and big players.

Amplify.ai SWOT Analysis

Strengths:

1. Meta preferred partner status
2. Beta program invitation - Early access to all beta features on IG and FBM
3. Creative thinking - All companies mentioned above act like product or SaaS companies wherein Amplify acts like a solution consultant
4. Fosused approach - We don't make any and every kind of chatbot
5. Quick turnaround - Amplify.ai is the fastest in the market from the execution perspective

Weakness:

1. Limited size team - Less than 25 people in India
2. Zero marketing spends
3. Limited offerings - Only social bots
4. Limited use cases - Focus on only marketing use cases

Opportunities:

1. Establish thought leadership in the social chatbot space
2. Leverage Meta and Partner relations
3. Adopt and update new tech quickly - others may lag due to the operational scale
4. Dissatisfied users of competition

Threats:

1. Cluttered market
2. Blockers in the business - Internal and external stakeholders, soonement team, Finance team

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Core Value Proposition and Pitch:

4 key components will define the core value prop for Amplify -

Meta preferred + Social First + Bottomline impact + First mover advantage

However, the pitch and the use cases will change for each industry.

For example:

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Current Channel Mix To Reach ICPs:​

1. Linkedin Outreach - Sales driven
2. Meta referrals
3. Partner model - Digital media agencies

There's no media spend happening currently, nor is it expected soon.

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Whitespace Understanding:

Considering 'zero-cost' marketing as a focus, here are a few areas to explore:

Partner Model -

Currently, the sales and marketing team is only in touch with the media agencies from the partner relation perspective. However, there are a few additional opportunities:

1. Engaging with creative agencies - Creative agencies are the ones who work on the master idea and chalk out the execution legs. Partnering with them and engaging at the right time will give Amplify.ai an edge and creative flexibility. Also, a seamless integration with the core idea will enhance the campaign impact drastically.
2. Immersive tech companies - Companies providing services such as AR/VR, Generative video AI, Gamification, etc. are operating in silos right now. Crafting an integrated pitch with them will open new doors of possibilities.

Content Marketing -

1. LinkedIn - Use of LinkedIn to distribute educational content, success stories, and case studies
2. Email Marketing - Maintain a community of past clients, potential clients, and agency connects; keep them up to date about the latest developments with email marketing

Events and Awards -

Participating in industry events and awards to make new connections. Help clients win a few marketing awards to make some noise and ride on that.

Referral Design -

Let's understand the process flow once to identify opportunities for referrals -

Highlighted in purple are the referral opportunities.

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Channel Prioritization Framework:

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Experiment:

1. Partner with Creative Agencies - Releasing a partner program for creative agencies, collaborating deeper with them to ensure better creative impact.

Two partnership models: Commission and Transfer price

2. Referral Design - The wow moment is highlighted above in the map.

Platform currency: A. Comment moderation dashboard access B. Access to an in-house influencer marketing tool

Program:

With each referral - Get one month of free access to the 'comment moderation' dashboard. A valuable tool from a social sentiment analysis perspective.

With every 5 referrals - Get a 3-month access to the influencer analytics tool

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Expected Outcome:​

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Total Revenue Potential (12 months) -

Creative Agency Outreach: 12.48 Cr

Referral Design: 0.51 Cr

Total Potential: ~13 Cr

Project Summary:

After understanding the company, product, and market, we applied the ICP prioritization framework to determine the top 2 ICPs and influencers in the decision. We also evaluated the competitor landscape and identified the industry-wise marketing pitch.

In the second phase, we understood that Amplify.ai does not spend on marketing and media, so we evaluated the organic channels they use to generate business currently. That led us to the white space for experimentation. After identifying 4 unutilized/underutilized channels, we applied a channel prioritization framework and selected the top two.

In the last phase, we used primary data in combination with some assumptions to determine the total potential revenue impact of the experiment.

Potential Questions:​

1. What is the core differentiator of Amplify.ai?

The chatbot tech has been around for a while and all the major players have similar technology. However, the revenue composition of all companies is different I.e. Verloop's major revenue comes from the website bot and Gupshup's major revenue comes from the WhatsApp services. Moreover, all the competitors focus on the utility and support use cases as the revenue potential is higher there, and the business can be on auto-pilot mode beyond a point for a particular client. Keeping this in mind, Amplify has strategically positioned itself as a marketing solution consultant in the chatbot space. This positioning has helped Amplify create a niche for itself, and they are now experts in the social chatbot domain. That becomes the core differentiator for Amplify.ai. Plus the beta features (on Meta platforms) and Meta partnership are the bonus.

2. Can't competitors copy what Amplify is doing?

Yes and no. Yes, because it's not rocket science. No, because this is a small market with significantly higher efforts and relatively lower revenue.

3. Why did we consider agencies while defining the ICPs?

That's because in many cases, agencies scout for partners like Amplify on behalf of their clients. Also, in many cases, agencies bear the cost of development and then pass that on to the client. i.e. Agencies become the clients on paper even if the end product is for someone else.

4. Why did we select only 4 industries and 1 market?

This is based on a first-hand understanding of the company. Amplify works with a lean team, and always struggling with bandwidth issues. The industries selected are based on potential, adoption curve, and currently available case studies. The same goes for the market.

5. Why did we not focus on USPs like Meta preferred partner or Beta feature availability in the directional pitch?

We are trying to address only what is in the pitch. However, why and how shall be covered as the meeting progresses. Here's the pitch breakdown:

What we do: we help you solve the most pressing issue in your industry

Why us: We are Meta partners plus we have some beta features that no one in the market can offer

How will we do it: We use creative storytelling, again something that no one in the industry is doing better than us

6. Why is there no media spend at all?

Hmm.. Maybe the current marketing team could not justify the CAC to LTV ratio, and now there's a stigma.

7. How will users discover the referral program?

Amplify is in the business of tech product + service. This includes interacting with the clients frequently and getting their feedback. In this model, the referral will happen with the help of humans (the CS or Sales team), over a call and/or email. Eventually, a referral section can be added to the Amplify analytics dashboard.

8. How to maintain transparency in the referral program?

Since Amplify is in the b2b space, and the ticket size is fairly high, we can reward users just to refer, irrespective of the referee using our services, because eventually, they will. Plus getting a foot in the door is more important than the immediate outcome in this industry.

9. Where did the 30% referral and 20% conversion rate come from?

It's an assumption based on the current happiness levels of Amplify clients. ~30% of clients are satisfied and interested in discussing future projects. The current conversion rate is already above 10%, and referred clients are expected to react better, hence 20% there.

10. Is there an estimation of the number of creative agencies in India, their clients, and their revenue?

There is no readymade and trustworthy data available that indicates these numbers. However, the Big 5 agency groups themselves own many creative agencies, and the number is growing. Another interesting fact about the market is that smaller agencies are getting bigger clients for creative social.

Happy to address if there are any additional questions. Thank you.

Aniruddha Joshi