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(c) 2006 Word of Mouth Marketing Association.
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Viral Psychology 101
12 Secrets Of Successful Word-Of-Mouth
Programs
Jim Calhoun, CEO
PopularMedia, Inc.
www.popularmedia.com

WOM 102
Creating Messages that Travel: Ideas,
Items and Actions People Want to Share
Slide 3

WOM 102
Creating Messages that Travel: Ideas,
Items and Actions People Want to Share
Slide 4

WOM 102
Creating Messages that Travel: Ideas,
Items and Actions People Want to Share
• Create programs that people want to share
• Make the sharing process easy and fun
• Make people feel good about sharing
Slide 5

The secret to
STARTING THE CONVERSATION
Ask people to tell their friends about you
Slide 6

Motivation & Self Image
1. Motivate on a personal and social
level
Two factors determine whether I’ll tell my friends:
• Do I like your offer, product, service, or content?
• Will telling my friends make me look good – or bad?
Slide 7

Motivation & Self Image
1. Motivate on a personal and social
level
Benefit to me
•
Benefit to my friends
•
Novelty and utility
•
Additional social benefits
•
Slide 8

Cognitive Load Management
2. Choose the right time to pop the
question
Don’t interrupt someone when they’re trying to
remember something or they’re focused on a
task:
• Making a purchase
• Comparing products or offers
• Trying to get help
• Reading an article
• Watching a video
• Starting a download
Slide 9

Cognitive Load Management
2. Choose the right time to pop the
question
Map your process and look for ideal times, then
make telling friends an integral part of the
process:
• Post-registration
• Post-purchase
• After creating a wish list
• At the end of an article or video
• During downtime while files are downloading
Slide 10

Automaticity
3. Make it so easy that I can do it without
thinking
Model your word of mouth tools on familiar tasks
and interfaces:
E-mail forms should match standard interfaces
•
First name, last name optional
•
Slide 11

The secret to
MAKING IT VIRAL
Invite your audience to tell more than just one friend
Slide 12

Anchoring
4. Never say “tell a friend”
When coming up with a number or amount, we
look for a reference as a starting point, then shift
up or down from there
• Suggested donations
• Length of comments based on size of text box
Slide 13

Anchoring
4. Never say “tell a friend”
Provide a high anchor point when prompting for
referrals
• “Tell your friends” – not “tell a friend”
• Multiple address fields
• Suggest telling five or 10 friends
• Experiment with exclusivity: “you only get five
invitations”
• Test and measure this KPI to manage it up
Slide 14

Aided Recall
5. Provide tools that access contact lists
Recall is harder than recognition
• 347 people in my address book
• I remember 40 of them
• Of those, I can think of four who like “X”
• Show me my list of all 347 contacts, and I’ll find ~35
who like “X”
Slide 15

Aided Recall
5. Provide tools that access contact lists
Provide tools that integrate with existing e-mail
•
address books
Infrequent contacts can be great WOM targets
•
Respect friend’s privacy
•
• Where possible, you should prevent users from sending
messages to those who don’t want to receive them
Slide 16

The secret to
KEEPING WOM SPREADING
How do you motivate a friend of a friend of a friend?
Slide 17

Social Obligation
6. Accountability = Obligation
When someone sends us a personal message,
the social contract obligates us to respond to it or
pass it along to others, even if we’re not
personally interested.
• Virus warnings
• Product warnings
• Chain letters
• E-mail petitions
Slide 18

Social Obligation
6. Accountability = Obligation
Make the receiver accountable to the sender
• Personalize messages
• Require response: Accept or Decline an invitation
• Give both parties feedback when one acts
• Prompt people to remind friends who haven’t acted
Slide 19

Reciprocity
7. Start by doing something nice
Delight me, entertain me, compliment me, or give
me a gift, and I will go out of my way to do
something nice for you in return.
• Can be tangible or an experience
• A token gesture is enough
• Should come before the pass-along request
• No strings attached
Slide 20

Reciprocity
7. Start by doing something nice
Make your message into a gift that the
participants can give to all their friends
• Coupon codes for discounts, samples, freebies
• Invitations to my personal network
• E-cards and “thinking of you” messages
• Amusing or poignant content
Slide 21

The secret to
KEEPING IT POSITIVE AND ON-BRAND
Help people feel the brand love
Slide 22

Social Modeling
8. Set a positive example
We figure out how to act by observing those
around us. Online, we look for “evidence” of other
peoples’ actions. If we see evidence that others
are sharing content or positive WOM, we’ll tend to
do the same.
Slide 23

Social Modeling
8. Set a positive example
Model the behavior you want people to take
Provide a sample message
•
Use mapping tools to show how far a message
•
has spread
Highlight “most shared” or “most viral” content
•
Show comments or testimonials
•
Slide 24

Consistency
9. Get people to play along
Think you act the way you do because of what
you believe? Actually, it’s often the other way
around. We tend to shift our attitudes to match
our behavior, regardless of why we did something
in the first place.
• Works best when there’s no incentive or payoff
• Escalate requests gradually
Slide 25

Consistency
9. Start by doing something nice
Start by asking for a simple act of brand
advocacy. Even if people initially do it just to play
along or be nice, the act will actually increase
their brand commitment and set the stage for
larger actions in the future.
• Sign a petition
• Forward a message
• “Why I love… in 25 words or less” contests
Slide 26

The secret to
NURTURING YOUR NETWORK
Make sure it’s a rewarding experience
Slide 27

Conditioning
10. Use positive reinforcement
We do things that are rewarding, and avoid things
that have negative consequences.
• Tangible: prizes, incentives, samples
• Experiential: fun content, happy song
• Emotional: feel-good moment, connectedness, gratitude
Slide 28

Conditioning
10. Use positive reinforcement
Emotional rewards are the best way to inspire
viral WOM. Find ways to give people a warm,
fuzzy, feel-good moment every time they share
your message.
• Personal thank-you
• Good feeling from helping friends
• Public recognition
• Unexpected tangible rewards
Slide 29

Consistency
9. Start by doing something nice
Delight me, entertain me, compliment me, or give
me a gift, and I will go out of my way to do
something nice for you in return.
• Can be tangible or an experience
• A token gesture is enough
• Should come before the pass-along request
• No strings attached
Slide 30

Consistency
9. Start by doing something nice
Make your message into a gift that the participants
can give to all their friends
• Coupon codes for discounts, samples, freebies
• Invitations to my personal network
• E-cards and “thinking of you” messages
• Amusing or poignant content
Slide 31