Byju's to stop field sales to avoid mis-selling amid rising criticism over sales tactics

Byju's said that families with an income of less than Rs 25,000 per month would qualify for Byju's Education For All programme (Source: ShutterStock)

Byju's, one of India's most-valued edtech platforms, will not be sending its sales executives to potential customers' homes to pitch their courses to avoid mis-selling amid rising criticism over the edtech giant's aggressive sales strategies.

The company would be switching to remote sales entirely, which would have a centralised tech-driven audit process to ensure accurate customer identification, and clearer communication to customers, the company said in a statement on Jan 16. It further claimed that its sales would now be triple-checked.

Byju's said that its new sales strategy would entail a four-tier process, which would start by educating an incoming lead about the company's product portfolio and its new refund policy over a live Zoom session that would be now recorded for future audit.

Byju's said it would be introducing multiple checks to verify customers’ intent and consent to purchase. In the first step, the interested customers would have to give their consent after reading the terms and conditions on the customer consent screen on a custom mobile app. The order verification team then would revalidate the consent and double-check if the customer agrees to make the purchase. The customer would again give their consent on the app upon which the sale would be closed.

Byju's said it facilitates connecting parents or guardians of students, who require financial support, with third-party banks or financial institutions, if requested. The financing options, if acceptable to the parents, are concluded between the parent and the third-party banks and financial institutions, and the approvals are done by these institutions as per the mandated guidelines, Byju's claimed.

“The emergence of the post-pandemic world required us to give a fresh look at how we engage with our customers in the initial stages of a potentially lifelong relationship. Byju's is fully committed to a transparent sales mechanism, and our tech-driven, four-tier approach enhances communication and precludes potential rare mis-selling,” said Mrinal Mohit, CEO, Byju's.

The change in sales strategy for Byju's, follows the company's meetings with the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) in December, where the company was asked by the child rights' body to make necessary changes to its sales tactics amid complaints of mis-selling and over-selling.

The NCPCR summons followed a media report by news publication Context (part of the Thomson Reuters Group), which revealed details about Byju’s sales tactics, its toxic work culture, and how it allegedly dupes poor families into buying its courses.

On December 23, Moneycontrol reported that a founding member of Byju’s appeared before the NCPCR on behalf of Byju Raveendran and agreed to change its refund policy, while also guaranteeing that Byju’s would stop selling its courses to families with a monthly income of less than Rs 25,000.

Byju's officially acknowledged the development in its statement on January 16.

More importantly, the change in Byju's sales strategy has come at a time when the company has set itself an ambitious revenue target of $2 billion for FY23 (2022-23) while looking to achieve company-level profitability. Industry observers believe that the revenue target Byju’s has set itself will be a task, given the recent changes it has had to make to its sales practices and refund policies, Moneycontrol reported.

Byju's said that families with an income of less than Rs 25,000 per month would qualify for Byju's Education For All (EFA) programme, where they would receive access to Byju's content for their child’s grade level free of cost.

There are more than 55 lakh children from underserved families who have been provided free learning content along with a free digital tablet from Byju's under EFA, the company claimed. Byju's said it has a stated goal of expanding EFA to at least 1 crore children by 2025.