Farmers’ Friend

Bhaumik ShahAwaaz.De

Viral Voice Messaging for Small Farmers in India

Khedut Saathi

Awaaz De offers interactive voice messaging services designed to connect organizations with large communities

Awaaz.De

Neil Patel

CEO

Ph.D. Stanford (CS/HCI)

Tapan Parikh

Chief Scientist

Professor UC Berkeley (I-School)

Founders

• In 2010 Awaaz.De launched “Avaaj Otalo", a mobile-based agri extension line

• A formal impact evaluation by Harvard and IFMR showed positive empirical results: farmers receiving AO's sample voice messages were adopting more sustainable practices

Background

• How could an agri service grow or even go viral?

• How to make content more fun and engaging, not just informative?

• How to leverage existing farmer networks by letting farmers share?

Questions

• A mobile voice service for small farmers in India to receive and share sustainable agriculture practices over low-end phones

• Any farmer can subscribe / unsubscribe to service by leaving a missed call on a local number (+91 3091 8091) and pressing 9

• It leverages what farmers already have: low-end mobiles and personal social networks

• After the episode, farmers can record their questions and comments

• They can hear the episode archive or subscribe any time by leaving a missed call to the KS number

Khedut Saathi (Farmers’ Friend)

Unique Feature - Forward To Friend

•A unique feature of KS is forward-2-friend (F2F). After hearing an episode, a farmer can enter up to 5 phone numbers to forward the episode to

• Leads to viral growth

KS callSubscriber

F2F

F2F

10,000+ farmers subscribed in less than six months with minimal publicity. Call volume is growing daily.

Subscribers

Total Forwards

2524

Unique farmers with at least one forward

1032 (Farmers love sharing!)

Pick up rate for outbound calls

70.36%

Listen rate for outbound calls

38% of calls are listen for more than 50% content

60% calls which are cut before 50% of content played are followed by an inbound call

Data Analysis (October ‘13 to Feb ‘14)

• Agriculture Knowledge

• Experience

• Poem

• Song

• Drama

What do farmers share?

Sustainability

• Sponsored Content

• Voice Advertisements

• Freemium model where farmers pay for certain add on services such as one to one consultation with agriculture expert

Thank You

https://www.facebook.com/KhedutSaathi