

Ask HN: any white-label/SaaS virtual-currency/"MyPoints" services out there? - dualogy

Example: MailChimp has some sort of "credit" system and many major sites are rolling their own.<p>Especially for the long tail of start-ups, this isn't always feasible but would be Really Valuable to have -- certainly for a feasible monthly fee. This is because smaller players depend a lot more on user contributions to grow the value of their offerings for the customer base as a whole.<p>Translated my Shareware into your language? That will make you 500 X. Signed up for our newsletter? That's 50. Following on Twitter or "Fanned" on Facebook? Another 50.<p>At the same time it would be awesome for the solution to translate these points back into value for those who have it. X points then get you another n months of "free" premium support, n additional users for your license or a discount of n for your license upgrade --- or whatever value is being exchanged.<p>Of course, ultimately it would be even better if these "points programs" (which would be like Ning networks -- everyone can roll their own or join an existing program) could allow for inter-currency trade. If you lost interest in the benefits <i>my</i> company can offer for your points, maybe you can trade them in with another provider who is willing to participate.<p>I know that originally money is the ultimate currency for exchanging value, services or goods. At the same time there's this psychological resistance about money. For the recipient, it immediately brings external motivation into something you were about to do anyway for intrinsic reasons, and you have to start doing calculations and get out of the "flow of doing something worthwhile just for its own sake" -- whereas, if you just get "brownie points" those are simply nice to have around and enjoy their value at a later point, without being all economical about it. For the other party, they wouldn't pay money for newsletter signups or social followers but they know that ultimately these do have monetary value for them, they just don't and can't know the exact figures. So that's why even though I acknowledge the "supremacy of real money" for most serious transactions, I see a great need for and great value in this.<p>Virtual currencies and brownie-point credit systems have proven their case, and now what we need is a white label / Ning-like "roll your own" provider.<p><i>Do you know</i> of any startup or other entity working in that space, or existing services providing a sub-set of the above requirements?<p>Apart from monthly recurring income, I see revenue potentials for everything else you can do with virtual currencies. Just like PayPal, you can "keep a cut" of every "transaction", and then later hopefully somehow convert it even back into real money, or at least cash in on some of the stuff the brownie points get you in your own system.<p>Why don't I do it myself? I ran into this need while working on something else -- and I don't intend to abandon it, or cut down on my time investments for that at the moment. If I started developing this myself, I might get caught in just a similar situation with another need then coming up. Ideally I want to learn about existing solutions -- or about anyone doing this -- or about anyone having read this who is fired up enough about the idea to get started on building a prototype for this  ;)<p>Thanks for listening...
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apsurd
i just took on a contract job to build a "reward points" system for an event
dating service. The business is handled mainly by an email list. Events are
planned and promoted via the list. Company makes money on ticket sales. The
owner wanted a way to reward members for attending events, and referring
friends. Great idea that is sure to pay off I think. So this concept
definitely has relevance.

I want to say that I think initially the scope should be very very small.
Instead of trying to develop an alternate currency and exchange marketplace,
why not just laser in on a _"dead-simple"_ api type service that tracked user
accounts, methods of reward, products available for purchase, and a shopping
cart system that allowed members to exchange earned points for products
available. +1 for the automatic fulfillment of digital goods. Course this all
off just thought exploration but I think the simpler the better since a lot
more "low tech" businesses could benefit from this as opposed to code-ninjas
that would just want to roll their own in the proverbial weekend anyway.

In a nutshell: Don't underestimate how many businesses rely on the simplicity
of an email list to run their business. Add rewards system as an integration
to mailchimp, campaignmonitor, icontact, hell constant contact and you've got
something worth testing at least.

I'm on board if anyone wants to talk about it.

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jasonlbaptiste
We need to talk ASAP. j@cloudomatic.com (Normally I'd email, but there isn't a
direct one in your profile).

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dualogy
Just dropped you a line!

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bdpatrick
BigDoor Media offers exactly this type of solution. www.bigdoor.com.

