November 2008 Archives

The formula for success - literally. In ad-supported sites, the total number of page views determines the ad inventory you have to sell and thus, the revenue potential of your site. The formula for page views (put in a way you can memorize) is people X checking X clicking. Put more fully, the number of unique visitors each month X the number of times they visit per month X the number of pages they view per visit - equals the number of pages you serve each month.

Checking and clicking matter more than people. Here's the secret of the formula above: increasing checking and clicking increases your page views far more than adding users. For example, in January 2008, MySpace had 59M users who visited on average 11 times each month and viewed 43 pages per visit. Adding 1 more user increased their total page views by 473. That ain't much. But adding 1 more visit by all of their members would increase their page views by 2.5 billion! And if their members viewed just 1 more page each time they visited, it would increase their page views by 650 million - which is more than Facebook, Classmates, Evite and LinkedIn combined!

The simple, powerful psychological way to increase checking and clicking. Psychologists like B.F. Skinner have known since the 1930s how to increase checking and clicking. Because the web didn't exist yet, Skinner applied his lessons to things like slot-machines and fishing. But the application to websites is even clearer. Let me translate the phrasing he might use into language you'll like better:

Skinner would say"Bolster behavior against extinction with a variable interval reinforcement schedule." You read that as: People will repeatedly visit your site if there is an unpredictable amount of time before cool content appears. For example, we don't know how long it will be before a new email arrives, before someone posts a new comment on our Facebook profile, before there's a new bid on our Ebay item, before our movie is available on Netflix, or before breaking news appears on CNN.com. This simple fact makes us check these sites repeatedly. And it makes us continue to check even after longer and longer periods with nothing new. That's the nature of frequency. If your site doesn't already have a feature that operates on a "variable interval" schedule, build one.

Skinner would say "Increase the rate of behavior with a variable ratio reinforcement schedule." You read that as: People will view more pages if there is an unpredictable number of clicks before cool content appears. For example, we don't know how many YouTube videos we will need to watch before we see a really funny one, or how many old friends' profiles we need to read on Facebook until will get some juicy gossip, or how many times we need to play Scrabulous on Facebook until we win, or how many people we need to rate on HotOrNot before we see someone really attractive. So we click on. That's stickiness. Again, if your site doesn't already have a "variable ratio" feature, build one.

In a nutshell... Make no mistake, getting someone to give you their email address is a commercial transaction subject to all the same psychology as getting their credit card. Only a small minority arrive at your site already wanting to register; the vast majority need persuading. That should answer the question you've been asking yourself: is it better to ask for an email address on the landing page, or should I woo them a bit even though I loose a few people with each additional click? Even with the attrition, you'll get the most email addresses if you woo them a bit using escalating commitment.

Email addresses are the currency in the attention economy. I've watched publishers take registration too lightly, approaching it with an "if I build it they will come" attitude. Think about it: if having thousands of email addresses is worth a lot to your business, then who is paying? The users are. They are keenly aware that they they must open themselves up to demands on their attention (i.e. email newsletters) in exchange for your services. And in a world with way, way too much media, this is a dear price to pay. That's why many savvy users have multiple email addresses to give away, some of which they never check, and they will give you a fake address if you let them.

Give them something big of course, but also get them to give you something small. One client I worked with had a "landing funnel" where it took about 5 pages to show unregistered users their goods, which was finding old friends. They noticed that on each page people dropped off. So they built a variation that asked for the email address on the first page, reasoning that they could avoid this attrition. The new variation bombed terribly - it ultimately garnered far fewer addresses than the old funnel despite the attrition. They asked me to interview people and find out why.

The study revealed a known psychological principle - escalating commitment: if you can get people to give you something small, they are more likely to give you something big later. The smallest thing people can give you on a website is a click. If you can get that, try to get non-identifying information next, like a search term, or a favorite genre of music, or the city or state of interest to them. At that point you must show them the value of your site so they know what they are "buying" with their email address. And because they've engaged with you, that is, given you a few clicks already, they are more likely to complete the registration than they would be if they hadn't. Psychologist Robert Cialdini called this the "foot in the door" technique.

What is the value of a large number of registered users if they emails are fake and given by people who are only checking you out, not becoming true "members"?The old way was to get as many registered users as you could and then boast about this to investors and the media. But most designers now realize that if you ask for emails early in the funnel, all you get is crap data from people who aren't that into you. The new thinking is get a smaller number of more valid addresses from more dedicated users, and focus on return visits (frequency) as much as your number of registered users (reach). At the very least, save your database for members who matter.

1. Place no ads on your landing page.

2. Don't tell them the value of your site with text and screenshots. Instead, show them in exchange for a few clicks.

3. Show them the goods within 4-5 clicks.

4. Create a clear reason to register in your architecture, and make sure they know that reason at the time of registration.

5. Resist the temptation to ask for an email up front and later ask for DOB, zip, sex, and other info you want. Get them to escalate their commitment to you with a few clicks, and the people who are truly interested in your services will give you all of this info at once.