Home > Work > Contagious: Why Things Catch On
41 " Our desire to share helpful things is so powerful that it can make even false ideas succeed. Sometimes the drive to help takes a wrong turn. "
― Jonah Berger , Contagious: Why Things Catch On
42 " The mere fact that something isn't readily available can make people value it more and tell others to capitalize on the social currency of knowing about it or having it. "
43 " A word-of-mouth conversation by a new customer leads to an almost $200 increase in restaurant sales. "
44 " A simple way to figure out which discount frame seems larger is by using something called the Rule of 100. If the product’s price is less than $100, the Rule of 100 says that percentage discounts will seem larger. For a $30 T-shirt or a $15 entrée, even a $3 discount is still a relatively small number. But percentagewise (10 percent or 20 percent), that same discount looks much bigger. "
45 " Harnessing the power of word of mouth, online or offline, requires understand why people talk and why some things get talked about and shared more than others. The psychology of sharing. The science of social transmission. "
46 " Emphasize what’s remarkable about a product or idea and people will talk. "
47 " So be careful the next time you step off the treadmill, barely avoid a car accident, or experience a turbulent plane ride. Because you’ve been aroused by these experiences, you may overshare information with others in the aftermath. "
48 " If the product’s price is less than $100, the Rule of 100 says that percentage discounts will seem larger. For a $30 T-shirt or a $15 entrée, even a $3 discount is still a relatively small number. But percentagewise (10 percent or 20 percent), that same discount looks much bigger. "
49 " Often we’re not even trying to exaggerate; we just can’t recall all the details of the story. Our memories aren’t perfect records of what happened. They’re more like dinosaur skeletons patched together by archeologists. We have the main chunks, but some of the pieces are missing, so we fill them in as best we can. We make an educated guess. But in the process, stories often become more extreme or entertaining, particularly when people tell them in front of a group. We don’t just guess randomly, we fill in numbers or information to make us look good rather than inept. The fish doubles in size. The baby didn’t wake just twice during the night—that wouldn’t be remarkable enough—she woke seven times and required skillful parenting each time to soothe her back to sleep. "
50 " People share more than 16,000 words per day and every hour there are more than 100 million conversations about brands. "
51 " Putting something on sale can make it seem like a good deal. But if a product is always on sale people start to adjust their expectations. "
52 " A simple way to figure out which discount frame seems larger is by using something called the Rule of 100. If the product's price is less than $100, the Rule of 100 says that percentage discount will seem larger. For a $30 t-shirt of a $15 entree, even a $3 discount is a relatively small number. But percentagewise (10 percent or 20 percent), that same discount looks much bigger. "
53 " Word of mouth, then, is a prime tool for making a good impression—as potent as that new car or Prada handbag. Think of "
54 " We all want to be liked. The desire for social approval is a fundamental human motivation. "
55 " Give people a way to make themselves look good while promoting their products and ideas along the way. There are three ways to do that: (1) find inner remarkability; (2) leverage game mechanics; and (3) make people feel like insiders. INNER "
56 " Making something more observable makes it easier to imitate. Thus a key factor in driving products to catch on is public visibility. If something is built to show, it’s built to grow. "
57 " Back in mid-1997, the candy company Mars noticed an unexpected uptick in sales of its Mars bar. ... What had happened? NASA had happened. Specifically, NASA's Pathfinder mission. ... Pathfinder's destination? Mars. "
58 " So we need to make our products and ideas more public. We need to design products and initiatives that advertise themselves and create behavioral residue that sticks around even after people have bought the product or espoused the idea. "
59 " Designing messages that make people anxious or disgusted (high arousal) rather than sad (low arousal) will boost transmission. Negative emotions, when used correctly, can be a powerful driver of discussion. "
60 " A significantly higher percentage of the people who voted in schools were in favor of increasing funding for schools. The fact that they were in a school when they voted triggered more school-friendly behavior. "