Customer Centricity is the Key: Simply Jain Case Study
On October 2014, Fatema Mahableshwarwala & Khushali Shah started a YouTube channel named Simply Jain, which is dedicated to Jain recipes strictly restricting the use of vegetables grown underground in their cuisines.
Initially when they started off, other cookery channels such as Tarla Dalal, Sanjeev Kapoor, Rajshri Food shared few Jain dishes but did not have a niche space created especially for Jain users. The creators Fatema & Khushali grabbed the opportunity to explore this niche space, with an aim to create and represent Jain culture on a bigger platform. Noticing the plethora of innovative cuisines created for Jains, multiple viewers started engaging organically with the food channel. Simplistic way of showcasing recipes that is eventually replicated at the viewer’s end with similar ease, eventually grabbed more eyeballs.
6 years later, a YouTube channel initiated in a rather playful manner, now has a robust community of more than 60K YouTube subscribers from across the globe with more than 300 recipes curated on their platform. YouTube featured the channel on ‘Creator On Rise’ which shows across on the trending has led to increase in the number of views by 7.5 times.
From digitally spreading awareness through social media presence to raising awareness via word of mouth, Simply Jain has come a long way to satiate the needs of its viewers and create a sustainable brand positioning in the market.
Elevating and Disseminating the Jain Food concept
Since its inception, Simply Jain has put up constant efforts to not only promote the Jain community but also create a platform solely dedicated to their culture and flavours. This eventually caught eyes of the audience. In due course, the engagement with the community on social media platforms enhanced up-to 8 times. People came forward and started to promote and appreciate Simply Jain’s content themselves over different platforms.
Simply Jain’s Tasting Session X Meet and Greet
To establish a better relation with the audience, it was important to win them over by providing them a closer experience of the ‘whats and hows’ of Simply Jain’s operations. Hence, Simply Jain conducted a tasting session to get an actual review from their audience. They invited over a group of 10 randomly selected people from their viewer base and cooked food for them. They recorded people’s reactions while tasting the food in order to attain an unbiased review and understand their experience better.
This session helped built assurance among the patrons regarding the authenticity of the recipes. The invitees acted as the brand ambassadors and helped expand the fanbase through word of mouth.
Thinking Global
With its roots descending from ancient India; India has the largest Jain population making the country the primary segment for Simply Jain. Outside India, the highest engagement of audience comes from America.
In order to retain their American viewers, Simply Jain conducted a research about their demographic, cultural requirements along with their general preferences of food. They noticed that in December, people have a month long vacation which they generally prefer to spend with their family and pursue hobbies like cooking. Targeting their American audience, Simply Jain introduced a ‘December with Desserts’ on their platform. Recipes were not only easier to cook but also could be made with easily available ingredients. They also considered American festivals such as Halloween, Christmas, thanksgiving and New Year.
Moreover, noticing the average retention time amongst its fan base they initiated the concept of ‘5-minute recipes’ to engage with their audience for a longer average duration time. Recipes curated were hassle free; the 5-Minutes video recipes witnessed a viewer inclination amongst the young women and professionals as well.
Moreover, the percentage of the video watched by the audience per view also increased from 36.2% to 44.7% which is the increased retention time observed from Simply Jain’s audience.
Brand Collaborations
Since Simply Jain’s target groups, positioning, demographics and the kind of patrons that it caters to is more or less the same, the brands aiming to collaborate with them have a clearer image in mind about who the audience is. Alignment of the brand with Simply Jain’s theme and with their customers is the most important factor since they are proven to be loyal to their viewers. The platform has so far collaborated with brands such as Snackible, Sattviko, Shahji Ghee, Atom Scales, Realm Spices, Rising Café & diner and with Times Food, which belongs to the Times of India. Chef Khushali Shah has also been featured on Femina and Simply Jain bagged 28th position amongst the Top 50 Indian YouTube channels in the country last year.
Focus on Different Seasons, Festivals and Palates
As per the Jain culture, even though there is strictly no use of any onion, garlic, potatoes, ginger or any other root vegetables, the platform ensures to take care of the consumers taste buds by providing them with a plethora of Indian and International cuisines in ‘Jain Style’. From a variety of summer specials such as drinks, coolers, ice creams to the first time experimented dessert specials, immunity booster recipes amidst the pandemic, they are ensuring to provide a multicuisine variety of food & drinks options to their audience.
During Chaumasa, with more restrictions on the ingredients to be used in Jain food, Simply Jain serves well to their audience by providing versatile recipes adhering to the norms & now Jain community eagerly waits for the same every year. Special delicacies are during the auspicious occasions of Paryushan, celebrated during August or September and the Chaumasa (Chaturmas), four months from July to October.
By covering most of the multi-cuisines such as Indian, Mexican, Chinese, Pan Asian, Burmese, Vietnamese, European, Lebanese, Chinese, Thai to Italian recipes, Simply Jain is making sure their audience is glued to their platform for a lifetime.
Conclusion: Simply Jain’s User Centric Approach
In order to reach the moon in this aggressively competing environment, it is vital to adhere to the ideology of consumer being the king. Customer loyalty solely depends on how one positions themselves by creating a niche & show their responsiveness to the changing consumer needs while remaining true to the audience.
In Simply Jain’s case it is observed from many of the examples of responsiveness towards their audience engagement, focus on the requirements of user and tailoring their strategies as per their consumer needs, has helped them to reach the level they have reached today.
