Regarding the bug described at the bottom: new rule. If I try to push code to production between the hours of 10 PM and 10 AM, the server will ask "Two of the last five times you did this, you ended up writing apologies about it. What are you doing that is so important you're risking that being three instead of sleeping and then pushing this tomorrow when you're in a state to understand what you're doing?"
That's one application of the Five Whys I'd like to see get more use. At work everyone's more interested in the next bug or feature instead of in how the last one got there. The irony being, of course, that what they're going to get is exactly that--the next bug.
How many "we did this because you were too dang tired" have you seen?
I think dropbox style Double-Sided incentive would be great for web-host solution. The market is already very saturated with hosting services providing very competitive prices, if a new player wanted to enter this market (esp. VPS which I am interested in), they could use this kind of incentives:
- $20 for 300mb(memory) instances
- For each people you recommend both of you will get 50mb more memory for their VPS instance.
- Caps on 1gb
- valid for one year.
Since hosting solutions are long term investment, most people don't jump around hosting services that often; if you can retrain even 50% of those customers as a long term customer is a win! You probably have to incur a short term loss, but your hosting will probably explode like wild-fire.
In my opinion, the way dropbox did it was not good. My bank gives both you and referrer some gadget when you are referred. Makes sense because I know what a gadget is.
Dropbox gives you 250 extra mb. Yeah, but I (the person being referred) never heard of dropbox and would not have known if there was less or more MB.
I believe dropbox worked because the person who was referring made more mb. I believe that though intended as a double-sided incentive, it was actually a single sided incentive that worked.
Most people can't tell the difference between a GB and a GHz, but if there is one thing the computer industry taught them, it's that a bigger number is always better. Specially when their techie relative/friend/coworker says so.
Dropbox gives you 250 extra mb. Yeah, but I (the person being referred) never heard
of dropbox and would not have known if there was less or more MB.
Unless Dropbox is smart and shows you the benefit of signing up with this special referral gives you a one-time chance to get more free space than usual. That increases urgency and therefore conversion rates.
It's still not permission marketing. I'm trying to think of a way to turn this around so that it mirrors real world experience more accurately. For example, what if I could "ask" my social network for a recommendation, instead of having it pushed onto me?
For example, what if I could "ask" my social network for a recommendation, instead of having it pushed onto me?
Which scenario sounds better to you:
1) Cindy Smith at George Washington Middle School wants a freebie. She sends an email to her colleagues asking them to sign up. Some do, she gets her freebie. Several colleagues who were not interested in Bingo Card Creator get emailed.
2) Cindy Smith at George Washington Middle School wants a freebie. She sends an email to her colleagues asking if any of them are current users of Bingo Card Creator. No one is. Cindy Smith gets disappointed. No one else signs up. Several colleagues who were not interested in Bingo Card Creator get emailed.
Permission marketing is good when the potential customers know they have a problem and solutions exist. patio11 can correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the biggest hurdle in his customer acquisition pipeline is creating awareness. Teachers don't go online and ask "What is the best software to create bingo cards?" because they don't even know this kind of software exists; but if one colleague sends them an email saying there is this nice site where they can print a handful of bingo cards and save a day of work, now they are probably not only aware, but also interested.
This was exactly the thought I had while reading Patrick's post. What if the sign-up page on the website has a link saying "Ask my friends (on FB, twitter, whatever) if they can refer me."
When people look for jobs, this happens often. Someone you know well works somewhere and you ask him/her to refer you. This makes it much more palatable, I believe even more than the double-sided incentive.
Of course, the downside being only people who end up on the webpage will do this. The double-sided incentive actively seeks to find more customers.
