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Nithin Kamath explained that Zerodha’s philosophy since day 1 has been “don’t do unto others what you don’t want done unto you.”
The policy to avoid bombardment of notification to customers may hurt short-term business but fosters long-term trust with users, according to its co-founder Nithin Kamath. Responding to a user’s X post praising Zerodha as “the only broker that never pushes you to trade in any form whatsoever” using alerts or calls, Kamatha talked in detail about this stance.
Kamath reshared the post on Instagram, explaining how the core of Zerodha’s philosophy since day 1 is “don’t do unto others what you don’t want done unto you”. He highlighted that Zerodha sends notifications only when they are important and avoids pushing users to make trades. He stated that, though this move “hurts the business” initially, it leads to users trusting the platform. As Kamath explains, not “triggering users to trade” helps to foster long-term customer appreciation as they are not enticed to make transactions that aren’t necessary.
The accompanying caption read, “K calls this “user disengagement” and explains it better than I can.”
Reacting to the post, a user wrote, “Build a product so good that you don’t have to remind your customer that you exist.”
Another person highlighted, “I believe when you oversaturate your own content and marketing online, you also end up diluting and devaluing your own brand. Quality over quantity.”
However, not everyone was on board with Kamath. A user commented, “If ethics and that “don’t do unto others yada yada yada” philosophy was at the core of your philosophy you would display the portfolio XIRR / CAGR at the centre of your Ul along with the portfolio & P&L summary. But I guess that would be bad for business to show the clients their real performance, better to let them stay in the delusion of absolute returns I guess. Big fan of the work you have done but have repeatedly shared this feedback to display the XIRR & CAGR in the portfolio & P&L summary section. It should be easily accessible and highlighted in bold.”
However, this is not the first time has publicly expressed dislike for over-dose of unwanted calls and notifications. In a post on X (formerly known as Twitter), Kamath revealed that he turned his mobile in silent mode to avoid “annoying calls, notifications, and emails.”
My phone has become unusable due to telemarketing and is always silent. Guess what goes around comes around.
I spent four years at a call center, making unsolicited calls to people in the US. I guess Karma has a way of biting back.
Kamath reflected on the early stage of his employment with a call center where he was being assigned to make calls to clients in the US—unwanted calls to say the least —and now it tops his list of annoyances. “Guess what goes around comes around,” he quipped, adding, “Karma has a way of biting back.”