Tesla Referral Program REDESIGN - Post Your Suggestions to Help Tesla Sell More Cars

[Reeler]

Elon Musk has thumbed his nose at the traditional manufacturer-dealer car model to sell directly to consumers. Many states (encouraged by lobbying from the Auto Dealers Association) are trying to make this business model illegal. By going directly to the influencer community, we can become the local "salesforce" for Tesla through referral programs. Frankly, it is a brilliant way to use local voters/taxpayers against the lobbying might of the entrenched car dealers. A referral program was done by Elon in the PayPal days to break through the banking regulation that was making it impossible for PayPal to succeed too.

Below are the v.2 and v.1 of the 2015 referral programs done respectively in the fourth and third quarters of last year. Some have criticized the design of the programs and/or Tesla's interpretation of the prizes. Please chime in with your comments on how to make any new referral program the best way to drive word-of-mouth sales to keep Tesla on track to transform the car industry as we know it.

There is a mirror thread going on the Official Tesla Forum: https://my.teslamotors.com/forum/fo...ions-help-tesla-sell-more-cars#comment-805810

 

[AnalysiZ]

3 Simple suggestions:

Make it a real prize: 1 Referral = 1 ticket; 5 =2; 10=3; 25=4; 50=5
And so on... and in the end from these tickets a winner is drawn. So EVERYBODY has a chance untill the end, but the ones that are more successful have a better chance of winning...
This will also reduce the advertisement campaigns in my opinion, as there is no guarantee for success...

And...Change the code every new campaign.
If codes do still circulate on the internet, for example because of advertisements, they will not automatically roll forward into the next round.
The percentage of actual "direct" sales using a referral will i.m.o. be higher.
This will also avoid confusion in which referral should be in a certain period.

The third one... well, I'll explain that one later if somebody from Tesla really wants to know:wink:

 

[1208]

Remove the limit of being a Tesla owner. Allow anyone even those without a Tesla car to refer. Obviously they will need a TeslaMotors.com profile/account.

 

[Reeler]

Remove the limit of being a Tesla owner. Allow anyone even those without a Tesla car to refer. Obviously they will need a TeslaMotors.com profile/account.

I think that will draw out every SEO firm on earth and make it likely no owners will actually win. I think that would make the program less sincere and result in spam e-mail, etc.

- - - Updated - - -

3 Simple suggestions:

Make it a real prize: 1 Referral = 1 ticket; 5 =2; 10=3; 25=4; 50=5
And so on... and in the end from these tickets a winner is drawn. So EVERYBODY has a chance untill the end, but the ones that are more successful have a better chance of winning...
This will also reduce the advertisement campaigns in my opinion, as there is no guarantee for success...

And...Change the code every new campaign.
If codes do still circulate on the internet, for example because of advertisements, they will not automatically roll forward into the next round.
The percentage of actual "direct" sales using a referral will i.m.o. be higher.
This will also avoid confusion in which referral should be in a certain period.

I like both of these suggestions. Have a raffle according to the number of referrals. On the second point, the VA/OH referrers who were so favored in the first round did well in the second round because of all those old no-longer-accurate threads.

 

[HankLloydRight]

There is a mirror thread going on the Official Tesla Forum: https://my.teslamotors.com/forum/fo...ions-help-tesla-sell-more-cars#comment-805810

I'm getting an 'access denied' error for that link. I'm logged into my mytesla account.

- - - Updated - - -


Whatever the prizes are, it would be great to see a breakdown of referrals:

You have 8 Referrals:
2 Orders Placed
3 Orders Deposit Made
1 Order Confirmed
2 Orders Delivered

I would also like to see the return of real rewards for referrals. Not dollars per sale, per se, so there's no VA/OH problem, but something like:

5+ Referrals: ChadEMo Adapter
10+ Referrals: HPWC or UMC
15+ Referrals: Powerwall

 

[Patrick W]

Ok, first attempt to post this appears to have not made it so trying again.

Take two:

I've managed 5 referrals so obviously I've taken advantage of the program.

But considering Tesla seems to have no problem selling all the cars they can make (and then some) I've oft wondered why they bother with a referral program.

 

[HankLloydRight]

But considering Tesla seems to have no problem selling all the cars they can make (and then some) I've oft wondered why they bother with a referral program.

Originally Elon said it costs them $2000 to sell each car in costs at the stores/galleries.. so if they could sell the same number of cars and not have people go into the stores, it saves them $2000, so they're returning that amount to the buyers/referrers as incentives. In phase 2, that dropped to $1000 per car. Also, the $2000 they give away actually costs them much less than $2000 in real cash, so they're still saving money over marketing cars in the stores.

 

[Reeler]

Also, the $2000 they give away actually costs them much less than $2000 in real cash, so they're still saving money over marketing cars in the stores.

Indeed. The $25K off a Model X probably still made them profit. Also, referral credits were only usable in the v.1 program to buy a Model S, which is what I did, but they probably still made a profit off it.

 

[HankLloydRight]

Indeed. The $25K off a Model X probably still made them profit. Also, referral credits were only usable in the v.1 program to buy a Model S, which is what I did, but they probably still made a profit off it.

Not just Model S, but accessories and service visits, which also cost them much less than retail price.

 

[Reeler]

Here are some of my suggestions:

1. The same folks are winning the new cars so limit it to one car per year to give others an incentive. You could still incentivize the best sellers with gear, powerwalls, car upgrades, etc. The raffle idea isn't bad either if VA/OH are okay with that.

2. Bring back the influencer incentive and make it available to anything Tesla sells: gear, car upgrades, service plans, extended warranties, Model X/S/3 cars, etc.

3a. Take tax implications into account so that the prizes are tax friendly as one winner of the trade for a new Model S in the v.1 program was going to turn it down because the tax bill assessed on the full price of the new car as income was more than just trading his car in for a new one. Apparently, Tesla corrected the issue after he called them out on the official Tesla forum (and then deleted the thread out of embarrassment).

3b. Make the incentive a discount on MSRP on cars up to the point at which Tesla would take a loss on the car. This will make the tax implications of a prize far easier to deal with. For example, every referral equals 1% more off a new car up to a cap of 30%. If discounting off MSRP is taxed, anyone who ever bought a car from an auto dealer has a problem. In the v.1 program, Tesla is requiring sales tax be paid on the entire MSRP of the Founders Model X, not just the discounted price actually paid.

4. More transparency on the referrals. Some complained that Tesla was screening or vetting referrals so if they are make that criteria known.

5. There should be a dashboard showing the forum ID of each person who you referred and the status of that referral ripening. I saw my counter going up and down in a crazy fashion that looked very weird.

- - - Updated - - -

But considering Tesla seems to have no problem selling all the cars they can make (and then some) I've oft wondered why they bother with a referral program.

Tesla can make more cars or soon will be able to as they scale up production. Also, the referral salesforce can do things in States where Tesla has little presence or where it might be illegal for Tesla to do the same. It is an end-run around that protectionism orchestrated by the Auto Dealer Association.

 

[jlewisthe3rd]

Tesla needs to go back to the v1.0 of the Referral program, that was the most beneficial and incentivized plan they had. It allowed anyone who referred to get SOMETHING. The v2.0 was horrible because if you didn't get at least 5 referrals your referrals were of absolutely NO benefit to you. They need to bring back the credits and then they can make the major milestones whatever they want...Man looking back on v1.0 to have won a Free Model X, Powerwall, 2 tickets to an event, AND $10K+ in credits!?!? That made all the hard work worth it and made even someone with 1 referral able to upgrade and add value to their car or get a free Annual Service, win-win all around.

 

[1208]

Is there a way then for a person without a tesla to win a tesla from the referral program if its too dodgy for non owners to refer?

 

[bonnie]

Is there a way then for a person without a tesla to win a tesla from the referral program if its too dodgy for non owners to refer?

Probably not. From the beginning, Elon has said this was a way to reward owner loyalty and recognize how owners have evangelized on behalf of the company.

 

[Majerus]

Tesla needs to go back to the v1.0 of the Referral program, that was the most beneficial and incentivized plan they had. It allowed anyone who referred to get SOMETHING. The v2.0 was horrible because if you didn't get at least 5 referrals your referrals were of absolutely NO benefit to you. They need to bring back the credits and then they can make the major milestones whatever they want...Man looking back on v1.0 to have won a Free Model X, Powerwall, 2 tickets to an event, AND $10K+ in credits!?!? That made all the hard work worth it and made even someone with 1 referral able to upgrade and add value to their car or get a free Annual Service, win-win all around.

Agree with this as someone who referred one person in the V2 version.

 

[Reeler]

Is there a way then for a person without a tesla to win a tesla from the referral program if its too dodgy for non owners to refer?

I think opening it to the general public would draw in professional marketing firms who know nothing of EVs and would possibly turn-off potential customers.

 

[fiksegts]

plenty of that going on with the last round.....

I think opening it to the general public would draw in professional marketing firms who know nothing of EVs and would possibly turn-off potential customers.

 

[Reeler]

Tesla needs to go back to the v1.0 of the Referral program, that was the most beneficial and incentivized plan they had. It allowed anyone who referred to get SOMETHING. The v2.0 was horrible because if you didn't get at least 5 referrals your referrals were of absolutely NO benefit to you. They need to bring back the credits and then they can make the major milestones whatever they want...Man looking back on v1.0 to have won a Free Model X, Powerwall, 2 tickets to an event, AND $10K+ in credits!?!? That made all the hard work worth it and made even someone with 1 referral able to upgrade and add value to their car or get a free Annual Service, win-win all around.

I agree that there was little incentive unless you were in the running for the new car. I dropped out of v.2 once it became clear that I had no chance of winning.

 

[Reeler]

Looks like the referral program was either a failure or just a ploy to meet their production goal of 50K units. Tesla barely made that production goal so perhaps that was only the reason for the program. Fun while it lasted.

All told, I got $17K in store credit, 2 PowerWalls, discounted Model X FbR, 4 Gigafactory opening tix, and 2 Model 3 unveiling tix. Not a bad bounty in this influencer's opinion.