27 April 2010
Two Powerful Marketing Tips for Your Web Site or App
Here at Carsonified HQ, we’re big Dropbox fans. They’ve implemented two really effective marketing tactics that I’d like to share with you.
#1 – Add Gaming Mechanics
Dropbox’s first marketing tactic is to add gaming behavior to the interface. The game is simple: complete five steps and you win 250MB extra storage space.
The reason why this is so powerful is because the game encourages you to use Dropbox and the more you use it, the more likely you are to become a paying customer.
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What kind of game can you add to your interface to encourage your visitors to become engaged and attached to your app?
It’s worth noting that step #6 (‘Invite some friends to join Dropbox’) isn’t required for earning your 250MB of extra storage. I believe they’ve done this so that you don’t feel strong armed into telling your friends about Dropbox. If they forced you to do this to win the ‘game’ then there could be bad will generated towards the service.
#2 – Tell a Friend
Dropbox’s second marketing tactic is to award you for telling your friends about the service. On the left sidebar, they have a cute picture of a wrapped present with the words ‘Get Extra Space Free’. Who doesn’t want free storage space?
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When you click the link this screen comes up …
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Essentially, they’re awarding their users for spreading the word about Dropbox by giving them extra storage space. This is a powerful way to do marketing for your web site or app, as it’s a being recommended friend-to-friend. When someone receives an invite to try Dropbox from a friend, they’re much more likely to try the service than if they saw an advertisement on a website somewhere.
Share with us!
If you’ve used any great marketing tactics like this for your site or app, please tell us about it in the comments.
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Frankerson P
# April 27, 2010 - 4:24 pm
Dropbox is doing a great job with this. I need to figure out how to apply this concept to my blog though.
Hasan Luongo
# April 27, 2010 - 7:21 pm
love it, super simple, engages the user and spreads the word – good catch to see recognize those as marketing tactics.
Mas
# April 27, 2010 - 8:29 pm
Enjoyed this Article…
Ronny
# April 27, 2010 - 11:58 pm
Good article! Though a bit short :( I would like more tips like this :D
Ben Sinclair
# April 28, 2010 - 2:59 am
Those are some awesome ideas! I think I might be able to implement them into my software and maybe even my business :)
Ryan Carson
# April 28, 2010 - 4:25 am
Thanks Ben! :)
Michael Troy
# April 28, 2010 - 6:12 am
“#1 – Add Gaming Mechanics.”
This is by far the most powerful way to engage with users. It is also often overlooked and undervalued.
This post is worth the read just for that very first tip.
Ryan Carson
# April 28, 2010 - 3:51 pm
Thanks! Glad you found it useful :)
Abdul Akbar
# April 28, 2010 - 11:33 am
Awesome article. I really enjoyed because I have a plane in mind to use these tactics for my upcoming psd2xhtml and bannerDesign services websites.
Many Thanks,
321webdesigner
Michael Hart
# April 28, 2010 - 2:14 pm
Hmm… I’ll have to think about how to do the gaming one for my portfolio/blog site. BUT… I’ll be adding ‘share’ functionality today! Thanks for the tip.
cooljaz124
# April 28, 2010 - 3:09 pm
What about Gmail and Google waves strategy of INVITATIONS ? Even though the people dont need Google wave will hunt for invites , just for the show off atleast :) Great article.
Ryan Carson
# April 29, 2010 - 4:29 am
Waves of invitations are a great idea. Thanks for bringing that up.
Greg Winiarski
# April 28, 2010 - 4:50 pm
That’s awesome, i am currently working on an app, that will require some configuration upfront, or maybe not that it will require configuration, but users will get more out of it if they do.
I am almost certain that they will hesitate to learn the nuts and bolts about the app, but playing a game is completely different story :) Thanks!
Bannerdesign
# April 28, 2010 - 11:22 pm
Dropbox is King ;)