Question for founders & marketing folks: Can brands still rely on the same tactics and strategies that worked in the past, or do changing times demand new strategies?
Here’s the context: Our AUM share is growing (people with more money trust us), but our demat share is shrinking (fewer new accounts). The people with money are sticking with us, but many others aren’t opening accounts with us Most likely, the newer and younger, and people from tier 2 and 3 towns, are probably investing elsewhere.
The challenge is that once people pick a platform, they rarely switch. And we have constraints that our competitors don’t:
We won’t advertise.
We won’t offer account-opening incentives.
Broking is cyclical by nature
So, how do you grow when you can’t play the traditional acquisition game? The obvious answer may be “content,” and we have significantly improved on it, but it’s hard to measure the impact.
I really think Zerodha should stick to its core ideology—even during this phase.
The traders who actually bring long-term value to the platform are with Zerodha because of its simplicity and values. Many young users might get attracted to flashy ads or features from other apps, but in most cases, they don’t add much real value to the company (I might be wrong).
I’ve spoken to people both online and offline, and it’s clear that they stay with Zerodha because they trust the brand, even if other platforms offer more features.
So instead of changing the approach, maybe it’s time to make Zerodha’s strengths reach more people, especially in Tier 2 and 3 towns. A few suggestions:
Work with regional finance educators (not flashy finfluencers), who speak in local languages and already have people’s trust. This will help Zerodha connect with newer users without doing ads.
Gamify learning, not investing – Make learning fun, but keep investing serious. For example, let people subscribe to Varsity modules via WhatsApp and get one short topic each day. After they complete a module, reward them with a certificate, a greeting message, or maybe free AMC for a month. This will motivate people to learn more and feel rewarded.
Build Zerodha communities city-by-city, where people can connect online or even meet in person. This builds word-of-mouth trust and gives a sense of belonging.
Make TradingQnA more active by posting interesting discussion topics every week—things like “What’s your biggest investing mistake?” or “One tip you’d give to a beginner.” It’ll bring more engagement and learning.
Also, one thing that many users (including me) feel:
It’s a bit sad that many people want to stay with Zerodha, but leave only because it lacks certain features or delivers updates very slowly. Often, when someone from the Zerodha team says, “this is coming soon,” it ends up taking 6 months to a year. Maybe it’s time to focus on delivering essential, modern features faster, while still keeping the platform simple and clutter-free.
Lastly, Zerodha’s content is pure gold. Varsity is better than many of the paid courses sold by finfluencers, but very few people know about it. If you just focus on spreading that content better, it could bring in thousands of serious learners.
Zerodha doesn’t need to play the gimmick game. Just make your strengths more visible, more accessible, and more engaging
From Zerodha’s business model, we learn that patience is the key to success in the market. No matter how much the market moves against us, maintaining patience and discipline is crucial. The market will always have its ups and downs, but it is those who stay calm and focused, will ultimately succeed.
(1) Atlast in a business profit matters, that already zerodha has the highest among competition. So there is not much concern.
(2) Ethical, no misguidance, no cross selling like insurance, FDs in same broking app,simplicity( boring but worth it), focussed on empowerment of clients. What else can make a genuine client stick?
(3) One thing I think is lagging is essential features roll outs.Its slow.That should be improved.
Every client has their own preferences. Account opening is as easy as booking a train ticket in IRCTC application. So only the client preference and brain muscles can help stick to the platforms.
Some suggestions:
Ramp up rollouts etc
Dont Cross sell FDs, insurances etc
Promote Algo APIs once clear on regulations and guidebooks + robust algo trading bridge platforms
Provide automated portfolio advisory( No stock or MF suggestions) : AI can do this.
Improve fast withdrawal and innovate liquid asset investment style( More Savings can channelize here)
Transparency in platform & charges. It exists always , but still has room for improvements always.
If you get investors, they will want returns on investment. And if our focus becomes ROI, then I feel our core philosophy will get compromised, i.e no one having a revenue target, no advertising, etc.
Broking is very cyclical in nature, and if we were listed, we would be a very volatile stock. We are trying to build other verticals to hedge this broking risk. So maybe when that happens, and broking is maybe 1/4th or 1/3rd, maybe we can look at this. The only reason I am saying that we will look at this is because it is hypocritical for a broker not wanting to list.
Since retention is working for you, I’d look towards how I can pull more money from existing investors. One way of doing it would be to provide research to the top 10 percentile of the customers. So the bottom 90 would want to pump more to be in the top 10.
Hmm… How is this even relevant to the actual question? And why, as a trader, should I care about any of this?
A better line of questioning would be:
Am I pushing a technologically mediocre product under the guise of “simplicity”?
Is my obsession with quarterly “green inking” (and the social credit that comes with it) driving short-sighted cost-cutting that could backfire in the long run?
@nithin I’ve been a zerodha customer since 2015. Here are my thoughts.
There is the structural macro issue of emigration of India’s educated youth who could have been potential stock market investors in India. Their income level would he much higher than the national average and thus would have been more likely to have money left over to invest.
Although the RBI declared inflation is 2.1%, anyone living in a tier 1 city would likely not agree. The inflation they are experiencing is close to 10-12% annually. Wage growth has not kept pace with this 10-12% figure in tier 1 cities.
There has been significant migration from tier2,3 cities to tier 1 cities for employment. In tier 1 cities, the rent takes up a significant chunk of the person’s post tax salary, sometimes as high as 40-50%. The increase in STCG tax from 15 to 20% is very significant in the making a person think twice whether to even put money in the market or not. After covid, people’s mindset around saving money has changed. Instant gratification is gaining preference and delayed gratification is taking a backseat. This is evident when one visits any tourist spot in india or even abroad. Many more young people are spending a significant portion of their income on discretionary expenses compared to 10 years ago. This is especially true for those born after 2000.
My gut feeling is that more people are evaluating investing in other countries’ stock markets and they are buying in the international funds through mutual funds in soa format. NRI’s would also prefer investing through soa mutual funds as it is less complicated than opening a demat account and investing in demat mutual funds. NRI’s investing in India are preferring real estate instead of stock markets. So even though new demat accounts are being opened by your competitors, I don’t think they will be very profitable for the brokers. To provide any useful suggestion, more granular data would be required.
Questions for Nithin: Based on the data you have between 2015-2020, were the clients you were acquiring already investing above average ticket size with zerodha or did they start small and increased over time?
@nithin ,
Let’s begin with an actionable item. In Malayalam, there’s a proverb: “പലതുള്ളി പെരുവെള്ളം” — meaning “many drops make a great flood.”
Let’s start adding those drops this year, one at a time.
I’m contributing my part — I referred a friend to Zerodha. He completed the payment, but his demat account hasn’t been assigned yet.
I referred a friend to Zerodha and recently met him. He mentioned that he completed the payment on 28th April 2023, but his account is still not opened.
He’s currently using Angel One. Can you please check what happened with this application?
Here’s the (now private) discussion thread: https://tradingqna.com/t/zerodha-account-opening/170768
This is the right time to activate his Zerodha account — and ideally, also refund the payment, since account opening is currently free.
You may want to find a way to connect to yough while they are in college. Word of mouth is a big thing in India coz we like ’ Chai pe charcha’. Students will get early insights, start SIP, helping ZERODHA in the process
To target Tier 2 and Tier 3 towns, Zerodha should consider removing the AMC as a starting point. Additionally, the customer care team needs to focus on customer retention. For instance, when I had an issue with my ELSS mutual funds and inquired about reopening my closed Zerodha account, the customer care team did not bother to respond or guide me on how to rejoin. This reflects an attitude of indifference towards acquiring or retaining customers.[Ticket #20250630669791]
Saurabh Mukherjea has done some research and laid out his findings in a podcast recently. Here is a brief 9 min video which is a snapshot of the full podcast. Can explain the reason for some of the trends observed above. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Gm-XZNyEww
We need more details , like Sign up reducing across all other top brokers or just zerodha , because after new FNO rules , lots of trader quit trading and less promotions in youtube , less Profit screenshots in social media, All these are required for user to get started.
Btw I have SAAS for traders , I see increasing trend among the users asking to support “D#@9” broker … maybe do market research on what they do.
@nithin I have been using Zerodha for many years and truly appreciate the platform. I understand that a large part of Zerodha’s growth has been driven by word of mouth, which worked very well in the past. However, I feel that this organic momentum is fading, especially among the newer generation.
Today, most Gen Z users are being captured by platforms like Groww, largely due to aggressive marketing during the COVID era. The name “Groww” is now deeply ingrained in their minds. When younger people show interest in the markets, their first instinct is to open an account with Groww simply because it’s the name they’ve heard most often—and because their friends are already on it.
In fact, I personally advised my younger siblings to open an account with Zerodha, but they still chose Groww for exactly that reason: familiarity and peer influence. The desire to stick with what their friends are using outweighs research or recommendations.
Suggestions to Attract New Sign-
Offer Full-Fledged Paper Trading for Beginners
A proper paper trading feature can be a great entry point for new users who are hesitant to trade with real money. I’m aware that SEBI has imposed restrictions on sharing live data with paper trading platforms—but since Zerodha is a registered broker, does the same rule apply to you? If not, this could be a major differentiator for attracting new users.
Actively Promote Varsity
Varsity is one of the best free resources to learn about the markets, but surprisingly, many users are not aware of its existence—even after opening an account with Zerodha. I’ve personally met several Zerodha users who had no idea Varsity existed until they stumbled upon it on their own.
If Varsity were promoted more strategically—especially outside of the platform and to potential users—it could be a game changer. This would not only educate the market but also position Zerodha as the platform for serious, informed traders and investors.
Most likely, the newer and younger, and people from tier 2 and 3 towns, are probably investing elsewhere.
How is this even relevant to the actual question? And why, as a trader, should I care about any of this?