Take a look at these two pictures.
Restaurant #1
Restaurant #2
Now... where would you rather eat?
Most of us will prefer the first restaurant. But this has nothing to do with the food. Fact is, we don't know anything about the food and it's very possible the food at the second restaurant is better. Since we don't have that information, we'll simply go with the crowd.
We're drawn to crowds. While I'll rarely stop to see a street performer when no one else has stopped, it's a different story when a crowd has formed. Not only will I stop, but I may even go out of my way to see what's going on.
Does this make me some sort of Lemming? Maybe, but no more than other people. No more than your target consumer.
Like a busy restaurant or a skilled street performer, your existing crowd should be working for you. In a recent focus group, one respondent shared this about her experience on Facebook,
Whether we know it or not, the draw of crowds is already working for brands on Facebook. So, why don't more marketers use the allure of crowds when building their email database?
Do me (and your program) a favor. Conduct a simple A/B test on your homepage. The control version should be the current "Sign up for our newsletter" (or whatever copy you have, I hope it's better than that!). The test version should draw attention to the size of your list. Something like, "Join the 54,783 existing subscribers who are already getting our newsletter!" (Again, I know you can do better.)
Dinner's on me for the first person to run this test and tell me how it goes.
Restaurant #1
Restaurant #2
Now... where would you rather eat?
Most of us will prefer the first restaurant. But this has nothing to do with the food. Fact is, we don't know anything about the food and it's very possible the food at the second restaurant is better. Since we don't have that information, we'll simply go with the crowd.
We're drawn to crowds. While I'll rarely stop to see a street performer when no one else has stopped, it's a different story when a crowd has formed. Not only will I stop, but I may even go out of my way to see what's going on.
Does this make me some sort of Lemming? Maybe, but no more than other people. No more than your target consumer.
Like a busy restaurant or a skilled street performer, your existing crowd should be working for you. In a recent focus group, one respondent shared this about her experience on Facebook,
Whether we know it or not, the draw of crowds is already working for brands on Facebook. So, why don't more marketers use the allure of crowds when building their email database?
Do me (and your program) a favor. Conduct a simple A/B test on your homepage. The control version should be the current "Sign up for our newsletter" (or whatever copy you have, I hope it's better than that!). The test version should draw attention to the size of your list. Something like, "Join the 54,783 existing subscribers who are already getting our newsletter!" (Again, I know you can do better.)
Dinner's on me for the first person to run this test and tell me how it goes.
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