Tag: Psychology

Learnings, Virality

7 human hijacks – From the marketing legend, Craig Clemens

Chris Labs

In this post, Craig talks about 7 ways that famous advertisers and copywriters have changed the world with advertising campaign and have sold millions of units of their products. Make it about them Make it about the potential user. This is a thing that a lot of companies mess up is that they only talk about them, but they don’t talk why it’s going to be exciting for the user. Shaan jumps in and refers to this thing: Super Mario Marketing. Make it an event (nothing attracts a crowd like a crowd). Back in the days, elevators were not really … Continue reading 7 human hijacks – From the marketing legend, Craig Clemens

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…

Learnings

Diminishing Sensitivity

Chris Labs

Imagine you are looking to buy a new clock radio. At the store where you expect to buy it, you find that the price is $35. A clerk informs you that the same item is available at another branch of the same store for only $25. The store is a twenty-minute drive away and the clerk assures you that they have what you want there. What would you do? Would you buy the clock radio at the first store or drive to the second store? If you’re like most people, you’re probably willing to go to the other store. After … Continue reading Diminishing Sensitivity

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

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…

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

Learnings

Why do people talk so much about their own attitudes and experiences?

Chris Labs

It’s more than just vanity (excessive pride in or admiration of one’s own appearance or achievements); we’re actually wired to find it pleasurable. Harvard neuroscientists Jason Mitchell and Diana Tamir found that disclosing information about the self is intrinsically rewarding. In one study, Mitchell and Tamir hooked subjects up to brain scanners and asked them to share either their own opinions and attitudes (“I like snowboarding”) or the opinions and attitudes of another person (“He likes puppies”). They found that sharing personal opinions activated the same brain circuits that respond to rewards like food and money. -Contagious, p.33 Continue reading Why do people talk so much about their own attitudes and experiences?

Learnings

You should let your employees modulate their own space the way they want

Chris Labs

In 2010, a study was conducted to see why environment was the best for the employees. Which environment would lead to the most productivity and happiness. They tested 4 layouts: One was stripped down: bare desk, swivel chair, pencil, paper, nothing else. The second layout was softened with pot plants and almost abstract floral images. Workers enjoyed this layout (2nd) more than the minimalist one and got more and better work done there. The third and fourth layouts were superficially similar, yet produced dramatically different outcomes. In each, workers were invited to use the same plants and pictures to decorate … Continue reading You should let your employees modulate their own space the way they want