I was in a meeting with a startup today, and a concept i call "Site Animation" came up that i've been thinking about a few times over the past year. it's related to the Activation stage of the 5-step AARRR! Startup Metrics for Pirates model i've spoken about previously.
the basic idea is this...
startups spend a lot of time (or should) trying to figure out how to get users to take the FIRST step along the path to becoming a regular user. HOWEVER, frequently it's a challenge to communicate the basic concepts of the site, and get people to understand what you want them to do (or conversely, it's hard for startups to figure out what users are LIKELY to do, and how that connects with their primary features).
Q: what if you created aPLAY button that automated the action you want the user to take, and just act like the user hit PLAY after 3-5 seconds if they don't do anything?
I'm not sure i have the user experience figured out here just yet... it's sort of halfway between 1) playing a short screencast, and 2) animating the mouse cursor on behalf of the user to just click on something. i'm sure many folks might find this pretty annoying... but on the other hand, if 1/3 - 2/3 of your traffic is "bouncing" when it gets to your site, why not try something outlandish to see if you can engage with them before they leave?
a very simple example of this is when i visit YouTube, and they just start playing the video automatically for me. on the other hand, a NEGATIVE example of this is when i hear background music on a website kick in automatically... occasionally i like it, but most times i hate it and/or it's too loud. then again, maybe that's ok if i'm not target audience. from a purely goal-focused perspective, there's not much harm in asking girls out on a date who were going to shoot you down anyway, right? (ok sorry, that example might not "PLAY" well with some readers, but you get the picture.. ;)
interested to hear people's reactions to this... also what ideas you have for cool PLAY button scenarios.
a few questions:
Q1: is a PLAY button better/worse than having a 30-second screencast about your site? (see Jing + Screencast.com)
Q2: would creating a PLAY button get in the way of learning about how to improve your default CTA? might it even DECREASE user activation in some scenarios?
Q3: aren't there better things for me to be doing at 3:40am, like sleeping?
(note: in any case, re: Q2 above, creating a PLAY button should NOT take the place of testing landing pages / modifying Calls To Action (CTAs) so that you can improve upon current user activation... still i wonder if you might convert an extra 2-10% of audience by taking the next step on their behalf.)
so let's hear it... What Would Your PLAY Button Do?
yo folks: haven't tried this before, but wtf:i'm selling my car... on my blog! (+ craigslist too).
for only $21,500simoleons, you can drive home in a Silver 2005 Acura TL 3.2 Sedan 4D (automatic, black leather, *great* navigation system, awesome stereo, power everything, dual air bags, etc etc).
only 31,500 miles, very good condition, no accidents, one owner, still under warranty. CARFAX report is here.
in short it's a great car, but we have 2 kids and 2 other cars (minivan + mini SUV) so time to give it up. besides, i know a startup who needs the cash ;)
more info on Craiglist, or call Dave @ 650.743.4738 (email if u know me).
ps - if you mention you saw this on my blog, i'll take $500 off and you can have it for $21,000 flat. cuz i know all you hosers on the internets are nice peeps.
all Love aside tho, we're just beginning theSecondAge of Aquarius.
here are 3 Important Signs to recognize on your way to Enlightenment:
Sign #1:
Facebook Connect isn't Single Sign-on, it's Social Sign-on.
Facebook Connect is barely arrived, but it's going to change how people think about the usefulness of social networks, and will have a substantial increase on their value in the marketplace. the FB Connect integrations demo'd yesterday by Digg, SixApart, & CitySearch (wtf? how much did they pay to bump Yelp off stage?) were impressive and very smooth. I believe most people who saw those demos now recognize the potential for using Facebook as a single sign-on option on many consumer websites. (note: i'm not downplaying the significance of competing alternatives MySpace Data Availability, Google Friend Connect, or even OpenID [tho Dickisn't sure]; they're also relevant. currently Facebook Connect appears to be the lead horse in the race... but watch closely).
while the topic has been much discussed over the past few months (years even), it seems only a few people really understand the implications of
using a social network as single sign-on service. historically, Microsoft tried to create Passport (aka Hailstorm)
as a broad use single sign-on for other non-Microsoft services, but
failed rather miserably... in my opinion, as much due to poor UI
design as lack of 3rd-party incentive. the strategy had merit, but the
tactics & implementation sucked. after a blue-streak chair-throwing incident, Marc Lucovsky is now at Google trying one more time.
these days there *are* functional multi-service sign-ons available from Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, & others, but they haven't been widely adopted by many third parties (yet). OpenID has potential as well, but i don't see it getting traction without major vendor support... and i don't mean just lip service, but also coordinated developer evangelism communication as well.
now the Grand Game is Again Afoot, only this time not just at Microsoft, Google, & Yahoo, but also Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn & other social networks. Why? Because while major platform services have ~200M-500M account logins, the primary social networks are also approaching critical mass in #s of users (critical = >100M, roughly speaking). More importantly social networks don't just have lots of user profile data, they also have functional Friend Lists (with pictures); their users are now socialized and familiar with invitation behavior, and this enables easy viral distribution of content & applications. thus, it's not Single Sign-on, it'sSocial Sign-on.
Sign #2:
Facebook Payments is Coming... Ready for Social Commerce?
The shoe that *didn't* drop yesterday at F8 was of course Facebook Payments. It's a poorly-kept secret Facebook is working hard on their own payment system, and many of us were hoping they would launch it at F8, but alas that rumor was squashed earlier in the week. Rightly so, payment infrastructure (and fraud prevention that goes along with it) is not something you shove out the door without a lot of testing, if it's not quite ready for primetime, i'd just as soon they wait a bit longer. i'd still expect they will ship before end of the year, but i won't hold my breath.
In any case, once they DO ship it's likely there will be considerable interest by the developer community to integrate payments into a number of apps, in the hopes someone will figure out how to make money. if that scales up, then there is tremendous value in combining an integrated payment service with several hundred million user logins -- each with a hundred or so friends they can share / refer / inform about their favorite new clothes, music, or other commercial goods & services. want to get a discount on that new iPhone? invite a friend to buy one too, and hey maybe you both get 20% off. in other words, this isn't just another e-commerce payment system, it's about Making E-Commerce Viral.
Yeah, i know group buying has been tried before, but this time you've got an audience of millions already used to social networks, news feeds, online shopping, & lifestyle transparency... now they're so used to online voyeurism, it's just a matter of time before someone cracks the nut on this one.
Sign #3:
Search Monetization (Future Intent)gives way toSocial Commerce(Past Discovery)
Ok i admit, this one is purely speculative. But it's fun to put on the aluminum foil hat every now & then, and think about how Facebook could beat Google. It certainly won't happen overnight, and Google is already trying to co-opt Facebook's social mojo, but maybe it's not as crazy as you think. Up at Foo Camp a few weeks ago, Danny Sullivan moderated a debate between Tim O'Reilly and Mike Arrington about how & why Microsoft/Yahoo should keep trying to fight Google (or not). While there was a lot of argument on approach, almost no one thought Google could be beaten head-to-head in Search. In fact the big question was whether there was ANY way to make a dent in Google's dominance in Search at all.
well i'm here to tell you: there is a way.
close your eyes for a second, and i will explain. (Let Go Luke... Use the Force!)
Let's think about how most people buy stuff in the real world. Do they do a lot of research? well, sometimes. Do they search around & look for the best price, the best deal? yeah, sometimes they do that too. Do they typically make the decision all by themselves? hmmm no, most people don't just depend on their own efforts... they talk to friends & family, and they rely heavily on word of mouth & opinion. most purchases are social activity: markets are conversations; commerce is communication.
And about all that research... do you really think people LIKE to do that stuff? Aren't a lot of people really just very lazy? wouldn't they cop out on all that search & research if they could just see what other people were doing, and copy their behavior? yeah, that's more like it. i tell ya... most times i ain't the hard-working little pig that builds his house out of bricks. i'm the lazy-ass little pig that just wants to find out what the next guy is doing, do the same damn thing, & get back to watching YouTube and knock back a cold one.
Now let's translate the behavioral observations above into the online world.
What if instead of having to do all the hard work online by myself, i could just see what my friends (or famous celebrities) are doing? What if i could just use my social network & related information services to help me DISCOVER what other people have already bought? Then i could just forget about all that research, and cut to the chase. Imagine if the dominant way to make money on the web changed from using search engines to monetize future intent, and instead transitioned to using news feeds and social networks to monetize discovery & distribution of past transactional behavior?
hmmm... that might create a whole new way for someone to make a Mint out of social networks.
On October 2nd in San Francisco, the first-ever STARTONOMICS conference will take place at the Mission Bay Conference Center; thanks to Debbie Landa & Dealmaker Media for co-producing the event with me.
This past weekend i had the pleasure & privilege of attending O'Reilly Foo Camp (2008), and as usual it was mind-blowing. I'm always amazed at the incredible people you meet at Foo, the wide range of topics discussed, and the general air of insatiable curiosity and intellectual generosity. The event is by invitation only, and ~250 people usually show up. While it's unfortunate not everyone who wants to attend gets invited, at the same time the caliber of people you meet is quite impressive (due to my work on O'Reilly conferences over the years i made the cut, but i'm not sure i really measure up on merit... better keep coming up with events / ideas Tim thinks are interesting ;)
So on Thursday afternoon (after dropping by YouTube Developer day in San Bruno) i picked up Andrew Chen in San Francisco, and we got to chat for a few hours on the drive up to Sebastopol. The conversation with Andrew was a little mini-Foo all by itself, and we talked about all sorts of stuff including social networks, online gaming, advertising & revenue models, the state of venture capital & angel investing, etc.
On Thursday night we joined the rest of the OATV Startup Camp geeks at Stella's for a wonderful dinner, and continue the startup conversations throughout the evening and into the next morning back at O'Reilly. There were several great talks on startups by Tim O'Reilly, Mike Arrington, Mark Fletcher, Marc Hedlund, Ev Williams, Howard Morgan, Esther Dyson, and others.
Foo Camp started late Friday afternoon just as Startup Camp wrapped up, and went thru late Friday night, all day Saturday, and finished up Sunday around noon. A few of the Foo sessions i particularly enjoyed were:
Economics isn't Physics (Bill Janeway)
The Big Search Debate (Tim O'Reilly, Mike Arrington, Danny Sullivan)
There were many other great meetings / hallway discussions, as well as many games of Werewolf, and i also ran another session of Half-Baked Dot Com (winner: MilkMoms Dot Com, an on-demand breast milkdelivery service... don't ask me, ask Thor Muller ).
i'd also bet even money F8 will featured the long-awaited debut of Facebook Payments, whereby Facebook will finally begin addressing the monetization issue that has been dogging them for the past half-year. (btw, interesting listserve here apparently run by Jared Morgenstern... hi Jared ;)
happy 4th of July to everyone, and enjoy the long weekend... second half of 2008 begins Monday. gonna be a very interesting summer, i think.
update #1:Doh! guess Yishan's post is only visible to his facebook friends... okay, so maybe semi-permeable garden, perhaps. for the record, Yishan notes in the comments this is likely a bug, not intentional. might want to fix that.
update #2: so Kottke obviously came across this [now a bit ironic] post, and noted that it's also not viewable. to which, i was going to write a 'yeah, guess it seems a little silly' comment... except that Kottke's blog doesn't appear to accept comments (or am i missing something?) except on this property where nobody ever comments. tho his TOU seems to suggest he did previously, and earlier posts do have comments... if i'm clueless, maybe someone who knows the story there can fill me in. still, i wonder if people who live in semi-permeable blogs should throw stones at invisible smackdowns.
update #2b: thanks to Jon Bell who informed me that occasionally Kottke's posts are comment-enabled... but not that one.
update #3: no question, mr. kottke has a pretty damn huge audience. getting one of my larger traffic days ever from his off-day link to my piddly-ass little piece of shit i call a blog. holy crap.
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Q: what if you created a PLAY button that automated the action you want the user to take, and just act like the user hit PLAY after 3-5 seconds if they don't do anything?
More Startups. More Jobs.
