Chapter 56 Promotion Rebates

After calling Song Yun and Rizhao into his office, Zhao Zejun stood up and closed the office door behind them.

Song Yun and Rizhao exchanged bewildered glances, completely in the dark. While closing the door during a meeting was standard practice—after all, it wouldn't do for three executives to hold a conversation that the entire company could overhear—Zhao Zejun’s expression carried a heavy sense of gravity, practically radiating the atmosphere of a secret summit.

Rizhao looked at Song Yun. Having worked under Zhao Zejun for a longer time, Song Yun felt fewer reservations and lowered his voice to ask, "Boss Zhao, has something gone wrong?"

"Not at all. Have a seat, you two," Zhao Zejun said, waving his hand to indicate the sofa. "You’ve heard of SARS, right?"

Most of Song Yun’s daily work was conducted online, so he had long since seen information regarding SARS circulating on the internet. Although Rizhao spent slightly less time online, his frequent business trips across various regions to interact with all sorts of people meant his information channels were no less extensive than Song Yun’s. They both answered simultaneously, "We've heard of it."

"The internet is saying that quite a few cases have already appeared in the coastal regions," Song Yun added.

Zhao Zejun hummed in acknowledgment and said, "I specifically looked up some information online. SARS is extremely contagious and very difficult to treat."

"Oh, I see. No wonder the company started distributing Banlangen, and the cleaning staff have been spraying disinfectant every day," Song Yun said, suddenly enlightened.

"When I came back from the coastal areas during the Chinese New Year, you could see pedestrians wearing masks everywhere. I heard that in a few cities, the price of Banlangen has already started to rise," Rizhao nodded. "Boss Zhao shows great foresight. With so many people in the company, we should indeed take preventive measures in advance."

Both men were merely playing along with Zhao Zejun’s thread of conversation, yet inwardly they were completely baffled. Bringing up SARS out of the blue—what did Zeyue have to do with SARS? Zeyue wasn't a medical institution. At best, it should simply focus on personal prevention and daily office disinfection to avoid infection. There was hardly any need to summon the two of them and lock the door for a secret conference.

Zhao Zejun smiled and said, "There's no need to be overly nervous. After all, modern medical technology is well-developed, so a widespread plague reminiscent of the medieval Black Death is unlikely. Reasonable precautions will suffice. Internally we should be prepared, but externally we should remain calm to avoid causing panic among the staff."

Pausing for a moment, he looked squarely at Rizhao and asked, "Coming back from your business trip in the coastal region, do you think there is any possibility that this epidemic might spread inland?"

Rizhao pondered for a moment. "It's hard to say, but from chatting with the locals in the coastal areas, there is a widespread sense of anxiety. Many people hardly dare to venture outside anymore. The local government has also taken measures; I heard that anyone with a fever who goes to the hospital is immediately quarantined, regardless of whether it's SARS or not."

Glancing at Song Yun, Rizhao turned back to Zhao Zejun and said, "Boss Zhao, I think we still need to provide for a rainy day. Regardless of whether it's likely or not, taking precautions can never be wrong."

Zhao Zejun nodded. With this, the potential widespread propagation of SARS was no longer merely a miraculous prophecy by Zhao Zejun alone, but rather the result of a collective consensus reached by Zeyue’s top management after synthesizing the actual situation in the coastal regions.

Guided to this point by Zhao Zejun, Rizhao was the first to grasp the implication. He asked with a puzzled expression, "Boss Zhao, the preparation work you mentioned isn't just about the health precautions for the company's staff, is it? SARS is highly contagious. Once a large-scale epidemic breaks out, ordinary people will certainly reduce how often they go out and stay at home as much as possible. By then..."

"By then, even more people will go online to pass the time, and reading web novels is one of the best ways to pass the time!" Song Yun chimed in immediately, slapping his thigh. "That's right! This is a golden opportunity for our company to expand!"

"Precisely. Not only web novels, but many internet-based industries will benefit from this, and we must seize this opportunity," Zhao Zejun said.

Once the realization dawned on him, Rizhao suddenly let out a wry, helpless laugh. Logically speaking, having just returned from the coastal epidemic zone, his instincts should have been sharper; yet if not for Zhao Zejun’s reminder, he would never have connected the two matters.

"It's an irresistible trend of the times. Even if we do nothing, the website's traffic will grow because of it."

Zhao Zejun waved his hand, steering the conversation back to the main point. "Rizhao, for the next phase, focus your primary energy on publicity. When necessary, we can spend money on physical advertisements. Of course, the most important aspect remains online promotion. As for peripheral businesses like publishing, temporarily relegate them to secondary priority. Once Zeyue grows larger, peripheral businesses will actively seek us out. In addition, we can run some promotional campaigns, such as rebate events with Zeyue Coins to attract readers..."

"Understood. What should be the maximum discount rate?" Rizhao paused and said, "If the rebate is too small, it won't be very attractive; if it's too large, the website will have to subsidize it out of pocket. Personally, I think keeping it around 10% to 15% would yield the best results—meaning for every 100 Zeyue Coins recharged, we rebate ten to fifteen Zeyue Coins."

"Hmm," Zhao Zejun murmured, though he neither confirmed nor denied it, withholding a definitive rebate standard. Instead, he said, "Relying purely on rebates can entice readers to top up more, and recharge rebates are indeed one viable strategy. However, what I have in mind is also adding a referral rebate."

Realization dawned on Rizhao: Zhao Zejun’s subtext was that the 'promotional campaign' he had just mentioned did not refer to recharge rebates—at least, not primarily.

This Godfather figure had yet another new scheme up his sleeve.

"A referral rebate? Could you elaborate on that, Boss Zhao?" Rizhao asked cooperatively.

"Song Yun, have your technical team develop a referral link feature. Every registered user will be assigned a unique referral link pointing to our Zeyue homepage. People surfing the web can click this link to enter Zeyue."

Zhao Zejun was applying the promotional points system, which would later become extremely common, to their marketing strategy.

As long as someone clicked the referral link to enter Zeyue Chinese Network and registered an account, the reader who posted the link would receive a certain amount of Zeyue Coins as a reward. If the referred person not only registered an account but also topped up their balance, the link sharer would receive even greater rewards proportional to the other party's top-up amount.

Rizhao’s eyes lit up. "This method is brilliant! It's much more attractive than a simple recharge rebate! Netizens who spend a lot of time online surely belong to Q-groups, online forums, or similar places they frequent. By casually dropping a link without spending a single cent, they can get a certain return. If someone promotes diligently, the rebated Zeyue Coins might even be enough for them to read copyrighted books for free. Furthermore, if SARS really spreads inland, netizens idling at home will have time to spare; if they spend a few hours every day doing promotions, they might even turn a neat little profit."

"It essentially leverages the internet's high-speed, mesh-like information propagation capability, allowing all of Zeyue's current users to help us with publicity. Word spreads from ten to a hundred people. Given Zeyue's current reader base, once this campaign rolls out, the effect will be astonishing—completely comparable to spending a fortune on mainstream television advertisements," Song Yun remarked.

"Precisely my meaning. Since we are in the internet economy, we must naturally capitalize on internet advantages."

Zhao Zejun nodded. "As for the exact rebate amount, we’ll temporarily set it at twenty Zeyue Coins—about twenty cents—for every registered user brought in. If the referred user tops up their account, we rebate 5% of their recharge amount. Song Yun, coordinate with the team and get this functional module developed as soon as possible... Well, Rizhao, do you have any questions?"

Noticing Rizhao’s brows furrowing fleetingly, Zhao Zejun paused his words and turned his attention to him.