Back To 1995

   Chapter 78 The Originator

   For a new product, whether the function is powerful or not is only one aspect, the key is to be stable, so that users can use it with confidence, and there will be no problems such as lost mail, stuck, garbled characters, etc., so that users can use it.

   Song Yang looked at the Hotmail e-mail in front of him. The last time he came here, there were some changes in appearance, and functions such as calendar and mail search were added, but overall it was still an improvement from the last version.

  Different from Double-click Company, Hotmail e-mail is completely oriented towards mass users. It is an Internet product like Netscape and Yahoo. Only users and traffic can prove the achievements of Hotmail e-mail!

  In the small conference room of the Hotmail project department, Song Yang, Greck, Erin, Wesley and other executives of the original Double Click Company gathered here.

  Although the signs are different, in fact, the executives on both sides of Double-click and Hotmail are basically the same group of people.

   To put it nicely, this is called nostalgia. To put it badly, it is a lack of talents. Apart from these few people, there is also Ryan who is far away in New York. Song Yang has no one available.

In the conference room, except for Wesley, who was excited, thinking about the birth of Hotmail and the feat of sweeping the mailbox market, Greg and Erin both looked calm. Their expectations for Hotmail were not to be honest. too high.

  This project is also led by Song Yang, but no one has ever tried to make a profit with free mailboxes, so it is natural to be a little worried.

Compared with Double-click, which made money from digital advertisements from the beginning, Hotmail e-mail is under the banner of free. No one can tell what it will become, let alone trying to win over users. Take a look at Netscape , Yahoo, AOL, etc., in order to attract new users, you can know how difficult it is to spend the advertising fee!

   "Are you sure you can open the public beta and open registration on time?"

As soon as    came up, Song Yang first asked Wesley, whether it was possible to launch on time was the key, otherwise it would be a waste of time to let the propaganda spread and see nothing.

  Wesley gritted his teeth, "No problem, Hotmail can be online first, and then update the version to improve the functions and loopholes!"

This is because the development is not good, and the update will make up for it, but the people who play this set are not the Hotmail e-mail family, or the same sentence, as the world's first web mailbox, you can use Hotmail e-mail on any computer in the world. E-mail, no longer need to send e-mails in the home or company through a specially installed computer client as before.

  Hotmail e-mail is the only one among all the e-mail products in the world that can do this. This is a seller's market. Users have no choice but to obediently enter the Hotmail e-mail tray.

   "From now on, we will fully promote the Hotmail e-mail box. We will make Hotmail e-mail box the largest e-mail box in America in the shortest time!" Song Yang said to the crowd.

The voice of    fell, and Irene was the first to speak, "How much money do we need to invest in promotion, the server cost of Hotmail e-mail is very high, if it is promoted on a large scale, more servers need to be leased."

   This time, Greg did not have trouble with Erin, but agreed with Erin. The funds for the Hotmail e-mail project were mainly five million dollars from Wang An's company.

It may seem like a lot, but development costs, labor costs, leased servers, and purchasing patents and technologies from other companies, basically two-fifths of the funds have been burned. There is definitely no problem with stable development, but if you burn money to promote it, it is estimated that it will not last for a month.

   "Promotion doesn't have to cost too much money!"

   Hearing that Irene and Greg were both concerned about the promotion funds, Song Yang thought about it for a while, and said, ready to let Hotmail play tricks this time.

Greck, Erin, and Wesley all looked at Song Yang with puzzled expressions on their faces. They didn't know what Song Yang meant. Not to mention that the Internet industry was burning money for advertising, and they didn't watch those cars, TVs, luxury goods, etc. Products are also advertised desperately.

   "Now the users of the Internet, all over the world, it is impossible for us to put advertisements in every part of the world!

   Instead of trying our best to find those people, it is better for users to find people themselves! "

Song Yang first looked at Wesley, "Can you give Hotmail e-mail, every email you send, attach a link and add a sentence, "This email is from Hotmail, and now you can get your Hotmail free email address." ", go directly to the Hotmail email page through this link?"

   This sentence and link seem inconspicuous and useless, but for users who have not been exposed to Internet routines and have not been beaten by the Internet industry, they will never doubt this link.

This is the primary method of viral marketing. As long as there is a user who uses Hotmail e-mail, whoever receives the e-mail from this user can receive the e-mail with that link, and let the user send the email to friends and relatives for Hotmail. publicity!

  Wesley hesitated for a moment. Attaching a link at the end of the user's email may be suspected of playing a privacy edge, but this thing is not easy to identify. Even if the lawsuit is brought to the federal court, the lawsuit will not necessarily lose.

   It is still a reckless era, and the speed of development of the Internet far exceeds the speed of the formulation of federal laws.

Just like e-mail, in the world including America, there is no official statement on whether the identification of e-mail, the use of e-mail to send documents, contracts, notification documents, etc., has legal effect, let alone these side effects. It's over.

   "Technically no problem!"

  Wesley gritted his teeth and said to Song Yang, the big deal is that he will be caught and sued in federal court, but it is just a passing game, and at most it will be a fine. It is basically impossible to count on this to imprison him!

Song Yang nodded to Wesley, and then said to Irene and the others, "Except for the link at the end of the email, Hotmail has implemented an invitation system this time, that is, it does not directly open registration to users. Users who have successfully registered Hotmail e-mail have five invitations, and can invite others to register for Hotmail e-mail, and by the end of the year, this invitation system will be adopted!"

On the surface, it does not seem to be open to the public. In fact, it is not the Hotmail e-mail that decides how many invitation codes to put in. But to say that the routine is the routine, not the depth. This kind of behavior has never appeared on the Internet now, and it can definitely attract a lot of people, and the more you can't get it, the more riotous you are...

   At this moment, Greg really felt that he was not keeping up with the times. The two propaganda methods Song Yang mentioned completely subverted his imagination.

   But looking at Irene and Wesley, who were also confused, Greg suddenly felt that it was not only himself, but the two of them were no better.

After a while, Irene finally fully understood Song Yang's routine. Behind the thick glasses, she could not help but look at Song Yang's face with a strange look. Originally, Irene felt that Song Yang might have a talent for the Internet. But Erin now has to admit that there may really be geniuses in the world.

Whether it is a link attached to the email or the so-called invitation system, it is a control of human nature. In the business school of the University of Houston, Irene, who has learned countless routines, has to admit that this brand-new routine for human nature, Maybe it will really create a miracle. If Hotmail e-mail is successful, then these two publicity methods will also enter the classic case of MBA.

   Looking at Song Yang who was explaining to the crowd there, an inexplicable look appeared in Irene's eyes, and it was not until she heard her name that Irene suddenly came back to her senses.

   Song Yang didn't know what was going on with Irene, who was staring straight at him. Irene was always calm before, let alone brought up things about God.

   "Eileen, go talk to all the partners of Double Click Company, and use Hotmail for all business transactions in the future!"

Irene who was mentioned by Song Yang lowered her head and hurriedly ran out. After she left the small conference room, Irene felt that her face was hot and her heartbeat was more violent than usual. She turned back to the conference room. After taking a look, Irene didn't dare to wait any longer and ran away in a hurry.

Although routine marketing has to be adopted, the resources that should be used naturally still have to be used. For example, those customers of Double Click Company, whether they are advertising companies or Internet companies, can become the first batch of users of Hotmail e-mail, and use them to get America's mailbox. business market.

  If Hotmail e-mail can develop this time, then Hotmail can be regarded as the originator of routine marketing account!

After the    meeting, everyone started to get busy immediately. Song Yang also called Chotus and told him that Hotmail would be launched soon, and Wang An's company would also cooperate with the promotion.

   then called the two trumpeters, Kevin Kelly of Wired Magazine, and Professor Tristan, respectively, to let them become the first beta users of Hotmail, and then started touting Hotmail!

Because of the routine, Hotmail did not promote it in the media on the day it was launched, but this does not mean that Hotmail's publicity is weak. On the contrary, almost on the same day, practitioners in the Internet industry in America directly Indirect or direct contact with it!

   (end of this chapter)