Hacking Traction: The Dark Side of Marketing Optimization(gigaom.com)
gigaom.com
Hacking Traction: The Dark Side of Marketing Optimization
http://gigaom.com/2009/06/07/hacking-traction-the-dark-side-of-marketing-optimization/
3 comments
The Hawthorn experiments were run by Elton Mayo.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawthorne_effect
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elton_Mayo
A disruptive venture can be quantified by revenue (at least in hindsight).
A disruptive venture can be quantified by revenue (at least in hindsight).
In hindsight...
"Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life."
http://news.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/jobs-061505.html
"Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life."
http://news.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/jobs-061505.html
"Life must be lived forward but can only be understood backward." Soren Kierkegaard
Well said.
The author is using machine learning and multivariate testing as straw men.
No matter how much multivariate testing you do to optimize your "copy, size, color, font and placement of data fields; the format and text of buttons; the flow of pages", in order to get millions of users to sign up, you still have to a) Get millions of users to your web page b) At least appear to offer something they think may be valuable. Millions of people won't sign up for free TPS reports no matter how well you design your site.
What's more, if the number of "accounts" was the metric everyone used to judge companies, MySpace would be hot hot hot. Active accounts have to be considered and their definition obviously matters.
The author's last argument is the only one that I find to be strong: First spend time building a great product and then focus on optimizing things like font size using multivariate testing. When you build something people want, any traction you get is there to stay.
No matter how much multivariate testing you do to optimize your "copy, size, color, font and placement of data fields; the format and text of buttons; the flow of pages", in order to get millions of users to sign up, you still have to a) Get millions of users to your web page b) At least appear to offer something they think may be valuable. Millions of people won't sign up for free TPS reports no matter how well you design your site.
What's more, if the number of "accounts" was the metric everyone used to judge companies, MySpace would be hot hot hot. Active accounts have to be considered and their definition obviously matters.
The author's last argument is the only one that I find to be strong: First spend time building a great product and then focus on optimizing things like font size using multivariate testing. When you build something people want, any traction you get is there to stay.
Don't you think the article is lacking depth and is based on unfounded assumptions. Moreover, the author doesn't cite any examples.
To me the title of the article seemed interesting, but when I read it, turned out to be very vauge.
To me the title of the article seemed interesting, but when I read it, turned out to be very vauge.
A disruptive venture is going to be disruptive because it cant be quantified, giving rise to "I cant define it but I know it when I see it." Or maybe not. Ask the VC's that passed on Google.