I’m always on the lookout for persuasive techniques at play in the real world. I was disappointed at the number of SXSW trade show vendors who were using old-school reciprocation techniques for gathering lead data.
Category: Sins
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery
You know you’ve made it when people want to copy what you do. Or create a pitch-perfect spoof of it. Best Made Company have been featured on this site and in my book for their audacious use of justification marketing to avoid cognitive dissonance. Now, Re-Made company are calling them out.
Let’s get Metaphysical: Steve Jobs on brand marketing
It’s hard to argue convincingly against qualities that can’t be measured. That’s why Apple doesn’t talk about processor speeds, and Nike doesn’t talk about shoes. Instead both companies make reference to metaphysical elements in order to boost their brands.
Feeding Trolls
Finally, psychological insight into something we’ve long suspected! Erin Buckels, Paul Trapnell and Delroy Paulhus surveyed almost 800 people, collecting measures of trolling behavior and psychological make-up. tl;dr = trolls are sadists and do it for the lulz.
World of Warcraft instant level-up: Just add cash.
Blizzard will soon let World of Warcraft gamers pay to instantly gain Level 90 status. This is something I suggest in the Encourage payment as an alternative to achievement pattern. If your game or product revolves around escalating levels of achievement, it’s likely that people with more money than time will want to pay for… Continue reading World of Warcraft instant level-up: Just add cash.
I recently wrote a piece on Amazon’s tech book store blog to promote the book. It turns out that Amazon use many of the design patterns in the book, and mostly for good (or at least commercial) purposes rather than with evil intent.
Breakage is the industry term for the dollar value of unredeemed prepaid items. Breakage can be big business for retailers who offer gift cards. Gift cards are a win-win proposition for retailers. Customers tend to either never redeem gift cards they have been given, redeem only part of the card, or spend an additional 15–40 percent in the process of redeeming the card.
That meant I could draw from Amazon’s own site to create examples for the blog entry. You can read the whole thing here. Do you think I was being too sycophantic?
Scam games designed just for in-app purchases
Justin Davis and Brian Altano at IGN made a video play-through of a game that takes in-app purchases to the extreme. Super Monster Bros by Adventure Time Pocket Free Games, written by Mario Casas, is potentially playable without purchasing extras, but the frequency of the purchase requests, their persistence, and their high prices are all aimed… Continue reading Scam games designed just for in-app purchases
Smartphones so desirable NY State Attorney General gets involved
iPhones and other high-end smartphones are desirable enough, small enough, and sufficiently publicly accessible that they have created a whole category of crimes, now described as “Apple picking.” 11,447 Apple products were stolen in New York City alone in the first three quarters of 2012. I wrote in the pattern “Create desirability to produce envy”… Continue reading Smartphones so desirable NY State Attorney General gets involved
Amazon Coins – new token currency, same old issues
Amazon announced today that it has introduced Amazon Coins, a token-based economy for use in their Kindle Fire app store. Although customers get up to a 10% discount for buying Amazon Coins in bulk, that discount is actually likely to lead to them spending more money, not less, on Amazon’s app store. You must buy Amazon… Continue reading Amazon Coins – new token currency, same old issues
Skylanders and the power of collecting a set
Wired magazine has a humorous article on the power of the Sklyanders franchise. Skylanders is a kid’s computer game with add-on extras. You purchase a real-world figure and place it on a USB reader (sorry, “Portal of Power”) to add the player to your copy of the game. Different players have different skills and powers,… Continue reading Skylanders and the power of collecting a set