Business Model that seized the App store, totally! Did you hear the loudest knock on the other side of the digital door? Well, this knock has raised questions in the minds of millions as they have been encountering this ONE THING every time they’re scrolling down their social media feeds. If you are on Facebook or Snapchat, then chances are that you might have come across Sarahah posts, which has kind of gone viral. Sarahah is currently the most downloaded App on the App Store in 30 countries and the counting is on. It has earned as big a number as over 50 lakhs downloads within just a few months of its launch. This mysterious app signifies ”genuineness” in Arabic. You must be pondering what the heck is Sarahah? Has it been interpreted correctly or otherwise? How much secrecy and straightforwardness is woven into it? Let us present before you the business model that has built it. 1) Anonymity code Yes, literally the messages on Sarahah are like a code-flow that no one can decipher where it came from but it is very much understood whatever it conveys. The concept is as lovable as having the super-power of being invisible and gushing anything to anybody. People just love anonymity and why? Because… This just keeps coming back, to hear things for real, as the desire for anonymous communication is also a desire for demanding authenticity. Moreover, isn’t it cool to say whatever you want without being held responsible? 2) Social media element The role of a catalyst is played by the social media in this scenario. What is noteworthy is something as simple as adding a share-on-social-media feature which helped the fire burn everywhere. So, sharing the Sarahah link on Facebook, Instagram and other platforms have multiplied its user-base. The app added features that has allowed users to connect their Sarahah account to their Snapchat, allowing other people to message directly through Snapchat and receive the messages via Sarahah. Some ended up posting them on their Snap stories for their friends to see. 3) Curiosity There is curiosity is and so there is a human BEING. Curiosity has made people go bonkers all over, like curiosity to trying the new App, curiosity to know what others have written about you without fear of being known and curiosity to experience this freedom of sending any message or feedback to anybody you want. It works flawless for human psychology! Doesn’t it? 4) Easy-to-use Nothing has been as much easy to use on App Store as much as this App. Just write, send and that’s it! It is honestly giving some major App- goals (in terms user-friendliness, utilities, minimalism etc) to the existing and future Apps. The Cost and cons of Sarahah 1) Dishonesty in disguise If Sarahah wanted to be a platform for honesty first (which is told by its Arabic word), why is the whole idea of being dishonest about who you are as a sender? Even setting it aside, why hiding the identity is the only way of getting the feedback? 2) Cyber-plus-Mental-bullying A feedback can be totally wrong and can still hit a vulnerable person right up to hurting him/her to the limits inexplicable, sometimes. An outright abuse of any type and degree can occur in anyone’s so-called-feedback –fetching machine, Sarahah. 3) Narcissism Sarahah was not developed to become a bland youth-craze, of self-love OR self-hate due to anonymous comments. Rather it had the intention of passing “constructive comments“for any official purposes designed especially to be used by the lower-rung employees (voicing out concerns from there is difficult, mostly!) Point is: If Narcissism is a sin then I am sure that it is a Narcissism-infested App. A joke on Sarahah that terrified the users: Some serious fears were instilled in the users when rumours had spread about the revelation of the senders’ identities. Fortunately, it was just a rumour and hence was proved false after clarification by the Sarahah team. Road ahead for Sarahah? How is Sarahah monetizing its business currently? Apart from advertisement, there is no profitable business model yet. Penetration and scalability seem to be the founder’s prime objectives. Our take: We believe strongly that brands can implement either this App or its functionality in their business for throwing a wise ball in the consumer’s court for getting candid feedback. This feedback, in turn, can prove to be an effective tool for brands to improve and stand out stronger. Snapchat can be linked to this new social network for native embedding of the messages. Hence, Snapchat Marketing can be take a startling turn through Sarahah, if they are used in sync strategically. Sarahah application can be just a flash in the pan or continue to be the smashing hit in the anonymous messaging domain. However, there are no existing Apps currently in this domain although there were such applications in the past. What about using it as a tool for testimonials? After all, testimonial from clients acts as the stamp on a business’s services/products. Chances are this might turn into a heaven of testimonial-culture! Are you overwhelmed enough by now? If not, we will bring more overwhelming things to rock your marketing plate! Until then, we request you to give us your feedback, for the above all-about-Sarahah portrayal, in a very much Sararahah-way. Happy Sarahah-ing! Hitesh Kothari Has played some key Digital Marketing roles when at IBM-Australia and New Zealand, Infosys, Sonata Software. Also worked with the world's best Digital marketer, Neil Patel as Internet marketing consultant helping startups to billion $ companies with their Digital Marketing. Has worked on 100+ marketing campaigns and a few of them are IBM Australian Open, SAPPHIRE, Oracle Open World, etc. He's currently leading Marketo Labz and giving digital marketing strategies to various companies and individuals alike.