Free as a Business Model
I enjoyed this interview with Chris Anderson on his latest book Free: The Future of a Radical Price. For many of us working in the digital world, the ideas in Free aren’t necessarily new, but he does present them in a clear way. I think that “freemium” can be a very effective business model for companies capable of producing worthwhile digital content and should not be ignored in marketing efforts.
Anderson is providing an unabridged audiobook for free; the abridged version is available for purchase.
The Expectation Effect
Not exactly a new theory, but I read an interesting snippet on a phenomenon called the Expectation Effect today. A section in the book Universal Principles of Design states that “when people are aware of a probable or desired outcome, their perceptions and behavior are affected in some way…For example, tell a large group of people that a new product will change their lives, and a significant number of them will find their lives changed. Once a person believes something will happen, the belief alone is sufficient to create that possibility irrespective of the actual performance of the product.”
I see this as a very obvious and simple yet profound thought that has huge implications for both designers and marketers.
For designers, it would seem that if you are trying to sell you design idea to someone, it would be very beneficial for you to seed the recipients thoughts with what exactly the design does before they are allowed to reach their own conclusion. You can set the expectations for them, basically guiding them to reach the conclusion you would like.
For marketers, you should strive to illustrate those probable or desirable outcomes in clear ways for your customers, because if you can instill the belief that your product will make them feel a certain way or allow them to accomplish a certain thing, they will probably find that to be true.
What’s the catch?
Besides the obvious ethical issue in knowlingly making up peoples’ minds for them, the effect is generally temporary. So if the design you’re promoting or the product you are marketing can’t stand on its own two feet after the initial sale, you’ll probably be worse off than when you started!
