Referral Program to Acquire New Players!

💡 SIP: Ideas All Ideas
1

Overview
To accelerate The Sandbox’s community-driven growth, we propose the introduction of a “referral program” that leverages the power of the community to attract new players. This program is a strategic campaign focused on the future launch of the mobile version, and is a more affordable and effective marketing method than traditional advertising. It aims not only to increase player numbers, but also to attract future LAND and NFT buyers and creators.

Proposal Details
This program involves existing players (referrers) inviting their friends to The Sandbox via social media. When the referred new players (referees) achieve specific conditions, both parties are rewarded with $SAND tokens.

Return on Investment (ROI)
* A lean, pay-for-performance model: Traditional advertising reaches an unspecified number of people, resulting in unnecessary costs. However, this proposal is highly cost-effective because it is a “pay-for-performance” model that only pays rewards when referees achieve specific in-game actions.

* Clarifying your target: Friends introduced by existing players are likely to be genuinely interested in the game and the Metaverse. This allows us to efficiently acquire high-quality new players that would be difficult to acquire through traditional advertising.

* Synergy with the mobile version: The release of a mobile version is a great opportunity to reach a wider user base. This referral program can be a powerful tool for existing players to actively attract new users in time for the launch, multiplying the effectiveness of the launch campaign.

* Existing success stories: In the Web3 gaming world, games like Axie Infinity and STEPN dramatically expanded their user bases through referral programs. We believe this approach is a perfect fit for The Sandbox, which has content beloved by its users.

Benefits
* Trusted word-of-mouth effect: Referrals from trusted acquaintances provide new players with a sense of security, more so than advertising. This trust increases player retention.

* Community Activation and Ambassadorship: Individual players can become influencers and actively promote The Sandbox, especially at the time of the mobile release, which will increase the vitality of the entire community.
Items for Discussion (Community Opinions Wanted)
To flesh out this proposal, I would like to discuss the following details with the community.

* Reward Conditions and Amount:
I propose that 1 SAND be awarded to both the referrer and the referee once the new player (referee) completes two key actions: KYC (Know Your Customer) verification and the successful completion of a specific quest in an Alpha Season. Requiring both KYC and an in-game action will effectively prevent the creation of fraudulent accounts and ensure we acquire genuine, engaged players.

* Target KPIs and Budget:
My target KPIs are to increase the number of new registrations by 2,000 per month in the initial phase, with a cost per acquisition (CPA) of 10 SAND or less per user. These figures are merely my hypotheses, and I welcome your constructive feedback. We would also like to discuss how much of the DAO Treasury budget should be allocated to achieve these goals.

* Anti-fraud Measures:
In addition to the KYC and in-game action requirements, how should we implement technical measures to prevent bots and fraud (e.g., advanced CAPTCHA, behavioral analysis, wallet history verification, etc.)?

* Program Duration:
Should this program be temporary or permanent?

We look forward to receiving your constructive opinions and feedback.

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Thanks for this idea, @XiaoLong !

Thoughts from the community?!
@Delegates @domainallocators

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Although the reference program system is something that needs to be done, it is a system that is very open to abuse unless it is done very carefully.

I can say this as someone who has witnessed many times that uncles, aunts, grandmothers and even the man in the grave have been registered for the prize.

I’m in favor of it. It should have been done already. But as I said, it may not have been included in the plans at all because it is very open to abuse. I can understand that too.

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Referral programs have a long history in marketing, with mixed results. To determine if one would be effective for a platform like Sandbox, we should research statistics from similar games. If you’d like to pursue this, I’m open to the idea but have no personal preference.

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I guess we should start slowly. That’s a good idea. !

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6

Thank you,@theKuntaMC

I would like to further this discussion.

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7

Thanks for your reply.

We also think there are ways to prevent abuse.

The simplest approach would be to require users to go through the current KYC system and cap it at 10 SAND.

Let’s say you need 1 SAND to go through KYC, 1 SAND to complete a quest, etc., for a total of 10 SAND.

If we use the existing system, there may not be any cost for a new system.

We’d like to discuss this further.

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8

Thank you.

It’s important to attract new players.

Some of them will become creators, land owners, or join the DAO in the future.

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9

Thank you,

we hope many people will come here.

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10

Have you conducted research or gathered data on the success of customer referral programs in games similar to sandbox.game?

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11

Yes, I’ve done that.
The results were good.
What did your research say?

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Would you be willing to share your research, along with any relevant citations?

13

As others have pointed out, the cost could be high and there’s real potential for abuse if not carefully designed.
Perhaps can add a series of tasks after KYC, like requiring users to play a certain number of experiences or earn EP before qualifying to filter out referral abuse.

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14

Thanks for your reply.

These days, AI can give you an answer in seconds.

Would the same result be achieved in a sandbox or other projects?

The answer I got was good one.

Let’s move forward with the discussion assuming a reward program is useful.

Time and energy are limited.

15

Thank you for your reply.

If the reward is too high, we would be happy to discuss lowering the price (1sand to 0.5sand etc.).

We believe that setting a reward cap to prevent abuse is a low-tech solution that can be implemented with minimal cost.

We would also be happy to discuss high-tech solutions with you all.

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A referral program is low-cost and does not require advanced technical skills.

It is effective in acquiring new and casual users.

Some of these new users will become creators, land owners, and join the DAO.

17

Well that feels too low to me. I’m okay with a higher reward, as long as it’s not easily abused.
But honestly, I think referral programs should come from the Sandbox team, they’re the one who know how many players they want to onboard and growth they’re aiming for.

For the DAO, I’d lean more toward creator-focused initiatives. Like inviting artist friends to join a contest or game jam, earning extra rewards if they win. That feels more authentic, smaller in scale, and easier to verify. But that’s probably a separate discussion.

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Thank you for your reply.

We would like to decide the fee amount through discussion.

Setting a cap will make it harder for the program to be abused.

We would also like to consider introducing high-tech methods to the referral program to prevent abuse.

We also believe that the referral program should come from the team.

However, they haven’t come up with that idea. So we would like to encourage them to do so from the DAO.

We analyzed that the team’s speed was not fast enough.

This is reflected in the land and sand prices.

We would like to discuss and move forward with the referral program.

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19

I agree. examples of tasks

Complete the KYC steps and Share Us on Twitter: 1 Sand

Play 5 experiences: 1 Sand

Leave a comment on 3 experiences: 1 Sand

Play 10 experiences: 2 Sand

Play for 5 hours: 5 Sand ETC.

This way, people who come through referrals won’t be able to get the reward without putting in a little effort. This way, potential losses can be minimized.

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20

Your idea is great.

It has anti-bot measures in place.

The amount of sand paid is appropriate.

Many new players will join as the metaverse bubble arrives.

We want to make this idea a reality before the mobile version of the sandbox launches.

Let’s make our referral program a reality.

1 Like