Tag: Contagious

Learnings

The psychology of deals – Importance of reference points

Chris Labs

Kahneman received the Nobel [prize] for his work with Amos Tversky on what they called “prospect theory”. […] One of the main tenets of prospect theory is that people don’t evaluate things in absolute terms. They evaluate them relative to a comparison standard, or “reference point”. Reference points help explain the barbecue grill scenarios we discussed a few pages ago. People use the price they expect to pay for something as their reference point. So the grill seemed like a better deal when it was marked down from $350 to $250 rather than when it was discounted from $255 to … Continue reading The psychology of deals – Importance of reference points

Virality

People share practically valuable information to help others

Chris Labs

Sharing something useful with others is a quick and easy way to help them out. Even if we’re not in the same place. Parents can send their kids helpful advice even if they are hundreds of miles away. Passing along useful things also strengthens social bonds. If we know our friends are into cooking, sending them a new recipe we found brings us closer together. -Contagious, p.158 Continue reading People share practically valuable information to help others

Virality

If you want to prevent a behavior, make that behavior private…

Chris Labs

Take the music industry. It thought it could stop illegal downloads by showing people how big the problem is. So the industry association’s website sternly warns people that “only 36 percent of music acquired by U.S. consumers . . . was paid for” and that in the past few years “approximately 30 billion songs were illegally downloaded.” But I’m not sure that message had the desired effect. If anything, it may have the opposite effect. Less than half of people are paying for their music? Wow. Seems like you’d have to be an idiot to pay for it then, right? … Continue reading If you want to prevent a behavior, make that behavior private…

Virality

Make products that advertise themselves

Chris Labs

Every time people use the product or service they also transmit social proof or passive approval because usage is observable. Many companies apply this idea through prominent branding. Abercrombie & Fitch, Nike, and Burberry all garnish their products with brand names or distinctive logos and patterns. But large logos aren’t the only way products can advertise themselves. Take Apple’s decision to make iPod headphones white. When Apple first introduced the iPod, there was lots of competition in the digital music player space. […] But because most devices came with black headphones, Apple’s white headphone cords stood out. -Contagious, p.142 Continue reading Make products that advertise themselves

Virality

Kindling the fire with High-arousal Emotions

Chris Labs

Those high-arousal emotions will dirve people to action. On the positive side, excite people or inspire them by showing them how they can make a difference. On the negative side, make people mad, not sad. Simply adding more arousal to a story or ad can have a big impact on people’s willingness to share it. More anger or more humor led to more sharing. -Contagious, p.116 Continue reading Kindling the fire with High-arousal Emotions

Virality

A good trigger based on frequency and strength of association

Chris Labs

What makes for an effective trigger? Triggers can help products and ideas catch on, but some stimuli are better triggers than others. As we discussed, one key factor is how frequently the stimulus occurs. Hot chocolate would also have fitted very well with Kitkat, and the sweet beverage might have complemented the chocolate bar’s favor better than coffee. But coffee is a more effective trigger because people think about and see it much more frequently. Frequency, however, must also be balanced with the strength of the link. The more things a given cue is associated with, the weaker any given … Continue reading A good trigger based on frequency and strength of association

Virality

Competitors can even be used as a trigger

Chris Labs

How can public health organizations compete against the marketing strength of better-funded rivals like cigarette companies? One way to combat this inequality is to transform a weakness into a strength: by making a rival’s message act as a trigger for your own. A famous antismoking campaign, for example, spoofed Marlboro’s iconic ads by captioning a picture of one Marlboro cowboy talking to another with the words: “Bob, I’ve got emphysema.” So whenever people see a Marlboro ad, it triggers them to think about the antismoking message. Researchers call this strategy the poison parasite because it slyly injects “poinson” (your message) … Continue reading Competitors can even be used as a trigger

Virality

Using trigger words to your advantage

Chris Labs

Most conversations can be described as small talk. These conversations are less about finding interesting things to say to make us look good than they are about filling conversation space. So what do we talk about? Whatever is top of mind if a good place to start. We talk about topics that are usually going on in the surrounding environment. We saw the bulldozers on our drive in, so construction is on our mind. Boring daily activities happen more often than a trip to Disney. These everyday activities make those products (ziplock, moisturizer, etc.) more top of mind and, as … Continue reading Using trigger words to your advantage

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?