The document provides an overview of strategies for increasing traction and understanding users. It discusses focusing on behavior to build traction rather than what can be easily copied. Specific strategies covered include understanding how chemicals in the body like endorphins, dopamine, serotonin, and oxytocin can be leveraged. It also discusses action triggers, how small things matter, and provides real life examples.
2. • CEO & Lead Strategist, Hunter &
Bard
• Award Winning Marketing & Branding
Agency
• Previously Professor of Marketing
for Startups at Tel Aviv/ Jaffa
Academic College
• Mentor at: 500 Startups,
• Founding Mentor at: Google Campus
TLV, Microsoft Ventures Accelerator
TLV
• MBA, Kellogg School of Management
Shira Abel
5. “A true unfair advantage
is something that cannot
be easily copied or
bought.”
6. Agenda
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Traction - Why I'm Focusing on Behavior
Why It Works
Action Triggers
It Works Even When We Know
Form Follows Function
Small Things Matter
Real Life Examples
7. TRACTION
You might have traction now, you probably don’t. Here’s how you
understand your customer so you can build it.
9. @shiraabel
Numbers – in General
§ Right now you probably don’t have enough traffic on
your site to test much
§ Product Market Fit = 40% of your customers would be
devastated if your product disappeared tomorrow
§ Watch your churn rate (keep it below 2% if you’re
SaaS – preferably negative churn)
§ 10% MoM growth is what’s expected in most
accelerators in Silicon Valley (depending on product)
10. WHY IT WORKS
THE BASICS – the chemicals in our body are biologically
programmed to react to certain things in a specific way
11. Endorphins
§ Runners high
§ Masks physical pain
§ The root of endurance
§ The reason laughing feels good
§ Games
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12. @shiraabel
Dopamine
§ The good feeling of progress and
accomplishment
§ Crossing things off lists
§ Need to be able to see your goal
(e.g. Corporate Vision)
§ The reason why we become “hooked” on notifications from
our phone
§ Triggered through variable unexpected rewards
§ Highly addictive
13. Serotonin
§ Leadership, pride, status
§ Branding
§ Leader boards
§ Social proof
§ Raises confidence of the winner and the supporters
§ “Mefargen”ß hebrew word
§ Trust + security = confidence = innovation
§ Corporate Culture
14. Oxytocin
§ Love, friendship, mommy-hood
§ Hugging, shaking hands – the touch matters
§ Giving time & energy to help for free (money doesn’t
count – more on that later)
§ Witnessing acts of human generosity releases
oxytocin
§ Brand – Corporate Social Responsibility
15. Norepinephrine
§ Fight or flight response
§ Mobilize brain and body for action
§ Helps us be alert / at attention
§ Increases blood being pumped
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16. Cortisol
§ Stress hormone
§ Impairs cognitive performance
§ Toxic situations destroy our ability to create
§ Paranoid (layoffs does this)
§ High stress environments
§ Inhibits Oxytocin
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17. ACTION TRIGGERS
You can’t force anyone to do something they don’t want to, but if
they do want to – this will help you get them there
18. @shiraabel
T-Shirt Economy
§ Reputation based
§ Incentives are about doing something for the love of it NOT
financial reward
§ Easier to get someone to do something for free than for less
money (e.g. lawyers would rather do pro bono than get paid less
per hour for the same work)
§ Changes the way we perceive the work we do
§ When we already have our basic needs met, we’re more likely to
do something for our own joy
§ This is where the evangelists should be – that’s why not paying
them is a good thing
19. @shiraabel
Financial Economy
§ People judge if something is “worth” their time
§ Become less enthusiastic if the work is not paid
according to expectations
§ Make sure incentives are aligned with goals
§ Proven to be a bad way to build incentives to get
people to work harder
§ Studies have shown that for cognitive work, a larger
reward results in worse results
§ Loss aversion, however, brings better results
§ This will affect the affiliates the most
20. First Choice Brand Effect
“…when the favorite brand
was included… the choice
was made instantly… this…
occurs only for the
respondent’s number one
brand…”
*Decoded, by Phil Barden
47. How You Say Things Matters
Researchers found that placing the following statement
at the end of an ad… caused their trust scores to jump
as much as 33 percent!’
“You can trust us to do the job for you.”
48. Emotions Vs. Logic
§ When numbers are even, e.g. $100 –
we rely on our feelings
§ When numbers are exact, e.g. $17.86
we rely on our logic
§ It affects negotiation as well…
49. § Fear – Insurance
§ Guilt – Mother’s Day
§ Trust – Financial
institutions
§ Value – Matching prices
§ Belonging – Part of our
community
§ Competition – Doing
better than the Jones’s
§ Instant Gratification – I
want it now
§ Leadership – Early
adopter & evangelist
§ Trendsetting – What are
the leaders doing?
§ Time – Save time
Get Emotional
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50. Point being – When is your customer using your product?
What’s their cognitive level?
Cognitive Resources
§ Behavior depends on time of day – we’re more likely to have no patience
at the end of the day, when we’re hungry or tired
§ Place – if we’re being interrupted every 30 seconds, our cognitive
resources will be spent – decision making goes down
§ How much we’ve had to concentrate – again, using up cognitive
resources
We can’t decipher truth from fiction when we’re cognitively spent
Our mood can change simply by putting a pencil between our teeth and
forcing ourselves to smile