Tag: Contagious: Social Currency

Virality

The mere fact that something isn’t readily available can make people value it more…

Chris Labs

And tell others to capitalize on the social currency of knowing about it or having it. A great example from McDonald’s: In 1979, McDonald’s introduced Chicken McNuggets. They were a huge hit and every franchise across the country wanted them. But at the time McDonald’s didn’t have an adequate system to meet the demand. So Executive Chef Rene Arend was tasked with devising another new product to give to the unlucky franchises that couldn’t get enough chicken. Arend came up with a pork sandwich called the McRib. […] But then the sales numbers came in, Unfortunately, they were much lower … Continue reading The mere fact that something isn’t readily available can make people value it more…

Virality

Should you pay people, or give them an incentive to share the word or refer a friend?

Chris Labs

People are happy to talk about companies and products they like, and millions of people do it for free every day, without prompting. BU as soon as you offer to pay people to refer other customers, any interest they had in doing it for free will disappear. Customers’ decisions to share or not will no longer be based on how much they like a product or service. Instead, the quality and quantity of buzz will be proportional to the money they receive. -Contagious, p.59 Continue reading Should you pay people, or give them an incentive to share the word or refer a friend?

Virality

Deciding the winner by popular vote encourages word of mouth

Chris Labs

Word of mouth can also come from the voting process. It encourages contestants to drum up support. But in telling people to vote for them, contestants also spread awareness about the product, brand or initiative sponsoring the contest. So next time you are wondering between two options, make a public vote where contestants deeply root for one option or the other. -Contagious, p.51 Continue reading Deciding the winner by popular vote encourages word of mouth

Learnings

Effective status systems are easy to understand, even by people who aren’t familiar with the domain

Chris Labs

Credit card struggle with this issue. Gold cards used to be restricted to people who spent heavily and had a stellar credit history. Nowadays, is platinum better or worse than sapphire? This bewildering mix of colors, minerals, and exclusive words creates a chaos of consumer confusion such that people don’t know how well they are doing – much less how they compare with anyone else. Contrast that with medals given out at the Olympics or your local track meet. If entrants told you they won silver, you know exactly how well they did. Even someone who knows almost nothing about … Continue reading Effective status systems are easy to understand, even by people who aren’t familiar with the domain

Learnings

People don’t just care about how they are doing, they care about their performance in relation to others

Chris Labs

Getting to board a plane a few minutes early is a nice perk of achieving Premier status. But part of what makes this a nice perk is that you get to board before everyone else. Because levels work on two, well, levels. They tell us where we are at any time in absolute terms. But they also make clear where we stand relative to everyone else. -Contagious, p.47 Continue reading People don’t just care about how they are doing, they care about their performance in relation to others

Virality

Talking about remarkable things provides social currency

Chris Labs

Remarkable things are defined as unusual, extraordinary, or worthy of notice or attention. Something can be remarkable because it is novel, surprinsing, extreme, or just plain interesting. But the most important aspect of remarkable things is that they are worthy of remark. Worthy of mention. Learning that a ball of glass will bounce higher than a ball of rubber is just so noteworthy that you have to mention it. -Contagious, p.39 Continue reading Talking about remarkable things provides social currency