Why tho? Freebie heads.

[Midnoot]

From an economical standpoint, why does lelOOtka drop freebies heads each christmas that every single account in SL and their 5 freshly created alts will have ,unconditionally,? I still don't understand it. Is it to get everyone wearing lelutka and when the stuff isn't free anymore, new people see that head and be like? WHERE COPY? * buys the head which used to be free"? Surely it's something i'm not getting.

I'd think that they're losing out on money because of the sheer volume of people who make an alt JUST to use those free heads as a way to make a gold standard avatar, then they never buy another head again. LOL.... The numbers are insanely high.

[steeljane42]

1. Helps to build even larger ecosystem, although at this point it's not really needed as EvoX UV took over years ago.

2. Helps to create brand loyality. I've definitely seen a lot of people swapping from their free heads to not free ones later.

3. They are nice. Unlike certain other creator that liked to put useless gesture "gifts" for their "loyal customers" once a year and never did any big sales, when said creator was on the very top of the mesh heads market.

And you shouldn't really see it as them losing money, more like an investment. Not all their heads reach Avalon, Ceylon or Eon levels of popularity, more niche and specific ones still get sold by a few thousands through the years (according to stats collecting bots), but I'm sure it's mitigated by my point 2 above. And all those new or forgotten alts that people bring up to grab those heads... they wouldn't buy anything anyway, so no loss there.

They could easily stop after the 2nd giveaway (2021), because it was already obvious that they have won the market over, but their brand is still growing and no one got even close to them since then, so I suppose they are happy with their strategy.

Edited January 23 by steeljane42
typos

[Blaise Glendevon]

I'm not reading this post in this formatting. Sorry to this man.

[Persephone Emerald]

In marketing terms, I think it's called a loss leader. The hype for 2 weeks each year gets thousands of people into the store, many of whom wouldn't have gone there otherwise. It also creates good will toward the brand, and makes some of those who got a free mesh head be more inclined to buy one later. Then so many people have the free heads (often the first mesh head they've had), that skin makers want to sell skins to fit them. We don't want to all look exactly the same after all. Thus it creates a big market for EvoX skins, which in turn creates a big market for more EvoX heads.

[Stephanie Misfit]

1 hour ago, Midnoot said:

From an economical standpoint, why does lelOOtka drop freebies heads each christmas that every single account in SL and their 5 freshly created alts will have ,unconditionally,? I still don't understand it. Is it to get everyone wearing lelutka and when the stuff isn't free anymore, new people see that head and be like? WHERE COPY? * buys the head which used to be free"? Surely it's something i'm not getting.

I'd think that they're losing out on money because of the sheer volume of people who make an alt JUST to use those free heads as a way to make a gold standard avatar, then they never buy another head again. LOL.... The numbers are insanely high.

I can't read that, what were you thinking with that formattting?

[Midnoot]

2 minutes ago, Stephanie Misfit said:

I can't read that, what were you thinking with that formattting?

22 minutes ago, Blaise Glendevon said:

I'm not reading this post in this formatting. Sorry to this man.

[JUSTUS Palianta]

If you just select it with your mouse, you can read it.

[Zalificent Corvinus]

1 hour ago, Midnoot said:

I'd think that they're losing out on money

No not really.

First Rule of Virtual Marketing, you have ZERO per unit production costs.

Imagine I'm a mesh head manufacturer, and in 2019 I make a Madnut Head (tm), I spent a thousand L$ on uploading the mesh, and some textures, and some animations,  I sell it for L$4000 a copy and I sell 2000 of them, have I lost money on it? No.

By 2024, the MadNut head isn't selling that well, people are buying newer faces off me, so for xxxmas 24, I do a 2 week giveaway, and 50,000 people grab a copy, if JUST 1 % of those 50,000 then says ""hmmm that official lollipop, and the official ice cream cone, and the official bubble gum, over there on the other side of the store will look cool with my FREE mesh head, and they buy one of those things for L$400, that's 500 times L$400, that's L$200,000, or about $800 USD.

If JUST 1 % of those 50,000 people come back on Black Friday 2025 to buy a different head for L$2000 because they were impressed by the quality of the freebie, that's L$1,000,000 or about $4000 USD.

If JUST 1 % of those 50,000 people buy a head at FULL price for the same reasons, that's another $8000 USD

Tell me I'm losing money.

 

[Midnoot]

2 minutes ago, Zalificent Corvinus said:

No not really.

First Rule of Virtual Marketing, you have ZERO per unit production costs.

Imagine I'm a mesh head manufacturer, and in 2019 I make a Madnut Head (tm), I spent a thousand L$ on uploading the mesh, and some textures, and some animations,  I sell it for L$4000 a copy and I sell 2000 of them, have I lost money on it? No.

By 2024, the MadNut head isn't selling that well, people are buying newer faces off me, so for xxxmas 24, I do a 2 week giveaway, and 50,000 people grab a copy, if JUST 1 % of those 50,000 then says ""hmmm that official lollipop, and the official ice cream cone, and the official bubble gum, over there on the other side of the store will look cool with my FREE mesh head, and they buy one of those things for L$400, that's 500 times L$400, that's L$200,000, or about $800 USD.

If JUST 1 % of those 50,000 people come back on Black Friday 2025 to buy a different head for L$2000 because they were impressed by the quality of the freebie, that's L$1,000,000 or about $4000 USD.

If JUST 1 % of those 50,000 people buy a head at FULL price for the same reasons, that's another $8000 USD

Tell me I'm losing money.

 

That makes sense in terms of virtual goods VS real life goods. No real inventory loss or shipping costs, etc. I'm thinking more along the lines of psychological warfare. Many times people will become impulsive, give in and drop that 5000$L to get the best heads in SL so they can look seksy. Alot of the time they won't wait until christmas to get a free one either... But if they were present during the event, they get that free, golden Lelutka head,  then never buy another one again because they've achieved maximum seksyness. No more pressure to buy a 5000L head..... AAand since such a MASSIVE amount of people were given the heads for free, they've been alleviated of that impulse that could have brought in 5000L.

[Zalificent Corvinus]

1 minute ago, Midnoot said:

That makes sense in terms of virtual goods VS real life goods. No real inventory loss or shipping costs, etc. I'm thinking more along the lines of psychological warfare. Many times people will become impulsive, give in and drop that 5000$L to get the best heads in SL so they can look seksy. Alot of the time they won't wait until christmas to get a free one either... But if they were present during the event, they get that free, golden Lelutka head,  then never buy another one again because they've achieved maximum seksyness. No more pressure to buy a 5000L head..... AAand since such a MASSIVE amount of people were given the heads for free, they've been alleviated of that impulse that could have brought in 5000L.

It's 4000, not 5000, and many Lelutka Head owners have more than 1, I have 5, and I'm thinking of adding a 6th. probably in the next 50% off Black Friday sale, if I do. That whole "but you have a whatever now, so you won't shop any more" is a MALE concept, most of the time.

"I don't need to shop, I have two T-shirts, a pair of jeans and a pair of trainers, and 47 kinds of AR-15 assault rifle"

Female Avatars are "Ohhh! Shoooooooeeeeeessssssss" every weekend in the under L$100 sales. That's also who most stores in SL cater to female avi's and not male.

Guys have this "build a look once and stay like that till the Grid shuts down" approach.

 

But yeah, that RL vs SL manufacturing difference.

Once you recover the manufacturing costs in the first few sales, all the hundreds or thousands of others are ZERO per unit production costs, so all you have to cover is the fixed costs for the business, rent on the store building, customer support staff, etc., and many of the staff will work for, free products.

 

It's probably the biggest mistakes people asking "how can they make money" commit, along with "but they rent a $22 a month 4096 parcel for just $16 , how does that work".

 

[Midnoot]

32 minutes ago, Zalificent Corvinus said:

It's 4000, not 5000, and many Lelutka Head owners have more than 1, I have 5, and I'm thinking of adding a 6th. probably in the next 50% off Black Friday sale, if I do. That whole "but you have a whatever now, so you won't shop any more" is a MALE concept, most of the time.

"I don't need to shop, I have two T-shirts, a pair of jeans and a pair of trainers, and 47 kinds of AR-15 assault rifle"

Female Avatars are "Ohhh! Shoooooooeeeeeessssssss" every weekend in the under L$100 sales. That's also who most stores in SL cater to female avi's and not male.

Guys have this "build a look once and stay like that till the Grid shuts down" approach.

 

But yeah, that RL vs SL manufacturing difference.

Once you recover the manufacturing costs in the first few sales, all the hundreds or thousands of others are ZERO per unit production costs, so all you have to cover is the fixed costs for the business, rent on the store building, customer support staff, etc., and many of the staff will work for, free products.

 

It's probably the biggest mistakes people asking "how can they make money" commit, along with "but they rent a $22 a month 4096 parcel for just $16 , how does that work".

 

I'm male and I have like 6 Lelutka heads as well. Came from Catwa where I had like 3, had a few genus also. When I said impulsive, I meant some people are REALLY impulsive...  o`o.... I don't mean if I buy 1 head, I never feel the need for another. Couldn't be farther from the truth on that one lol. In fact, I've got too many. I can't stop interchanging and experimenting with them and it's GLORIOUS >:C...

You may not have observed the crazed alt-o-rama phenomenon which goes on  in SL where people make alts each week, then they feel obligated to dress those alts up in order to integrate with the rest of us. In this process, they often re-purchase heads from Lelutka like crazy. Don't ask me how these people are spending so much money to do this over and over, but they are. The free gift heads are allowing them to do their bizarre ritual for free.  If  it alleviates the pressures of the alt-addicts and allows them to have a gold standard Lelutka head which can be molded into many shapes, customized in  MANY ways, it's certainly preventing some sales I'd think. It may be a drop in the bucket compared to the profit  that they rake in through your mentioned examples though.

Edited January 23 by Midnoot

[Blaise Glendevon]

1 hour ago, JUSTUS Palianta said:

If you just select it with your mouse, you can read it.

I'm on my phone. No.

[UnilWay SpiritWeaver]

Rando on teh interwebz: Why they give away free stuff? It makes no sense.. <--- What, you can't read that? Not my problem.

Lelutka: Anyone else notice how 103% of people in SL now use one of our products, and 200% of them are not using the free ones?

Random street level drug dealer: Hey, you stole my business model. Somebody get my lawyer.

 

 

Edited January 23 by UnilWay SpiritWeaver

[Persephone Emerald]

I don't spend much in SL, but I'll grab free stuff like crazy. The thing is, sometimes when I'm grabbing free stuff I also decide to buy something. If I hadn't gone into the store for the freebies, I wouldn't have bought anything there, so offering freebies works.

I have 4 avatars who each have free mesh heads, but I've also bought 2 Lelutka heads and one Akeruka one because I wanted those particular heads too. ( I'm counting $L 1 heads as freebies, btw, but if enough people pay $L, that adds up to real money for the creator too.) 

Now, using the drug dealer analogy Unilway used above, your first sample is free, but after you get a taste for it, you'll pay for more.

[Janet Voxel]

…yet about six or seven times there’s a thread in the avatar section with someone asking where can they get a free head

 

just in January and February alone 

[Midnoot]

I actually didn't even realize the format was underlined and almost transparent . Just now logged in from my phone. It looked normal on my pc . Still wasn't too hard to read tho . °`°

[Alwin Alcott]

6 hours ago, Midnoot said:

From an economical standpoint

Go to the store a few times a week on different times, repeat that for a few months , for statistic checking, and you'll have your answer.
Do the same with the former head leader ..

Your answer will be clear, you'll see buying clients on the one region, and can drop a bomb on the other without harming anyone.

And about so many walking around looking the same? That's just because they don't edit shapes, somebody who wants to stand out and want their personal touch on it, will start with editing shape, and go to their own favorite skinmaker, as you can see in the threads about the heads, hundreds or even thousends of different looks are possible made with the same heads.
My army wears nearly all Lel now, some Logan, others Quin, some Kris, but also Alain, Eon, Devon, Paxton.
Free head leads to bought head often.

Edited January 23 by Alwin Alcott

[Midnoot]

1 hour ago, Alwin Alcott said:

Go to the store a few times a week on different times, repeat that for a few months , for statistic checking, and you'll have your answer.
Do the same with the former head leader ..

Your answer will be clear, you'll see buying clients on the one region, and can drop a bomb on the other without harming anyone.

And about so many walking around looking the same? That's just because they don't edit shapes, somebody who wants to stand out and want their personal touch on it, will start with editing shape, and go to their own favorite skinmaker, as you can see in the threads about the heads, hundreds or even thousends of different looks are possible made with the same heads.
My army wears nearly all Lel now, some Logan, others Quin, some Kris, but also Alain, Eon, Devon, Paxton.
Free head leads to bought head often.

lololol.

But yeah. You're probably right

[BilliJo Aldrin]

I got my head for free the day I signed up, I still love it 😂

[InnerCity Elf]

A not unimportant point, I think, is also that people who start with (a free) L head, will be hesitant to buy another brand, once they are ready to splurge. "Learning" a new HUD and stuff is daunting. If you your family's go-to tech person, you'll know what I mean. The same or at least most similar UI gets more precious, the older the users get. The more people you get to start with your brand (even for free), the more future (paying) customers you'll have.

[rasterscan]

Was it worth the click n drag ? No. I want those three seconds of my real life back.

[Theresa Tennyson]

7 hours ago, Midnoot said:

Fail.

[Love Zhaoying]

The OP looks OK in dark mode, just unnecessarily Bold. I looked in "normal" mode and eek.

[Love Zhaoying]

8 hours ago, Midnoot said:

I actually didn't even realize the format was underlined and almost transparent . Just now logged in from my phone. It looked normal on my pc . Still wasn't too hard to read tho . °`°

Try looking at it in Theme "Linden Lab - Second Life (Default)".  It is OK in Theme "Dark Mode".

[Rowan Amore]

Always hit the "Paste as plain text instead" that pops up when you copy/paste.

From an economical standpoint, why does lelOOtka drop freebies heads each christmas that every single account in SL and their 5 freshly created alts will have ,unconditionally,? I still don't understand it. Is it to get everyone wearing lelutka and when the stuff isn't free anymore, new people see that head and be like? WHERE COPY? * buys the head which used to be free"? Surely it's something i'm not getting.

I'd think that they're losing out on money because of the sheer volume of people who make an alt JUST to use those free heads as a way to make a gold standard avatar, then they never buy another head again. LOL.... The numbers are insanely high.