The Art & Science of Virality in Web Applications

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Key Insights

Virality is the ability of an object to self-replicate and is often mixed with marketing and buzz.
Virality in web applications focuses on acquiring new users, getting users to spread the product to other users, and increasing width (not depth) through psychology & web analytics.
To go viral, consider using social graphs, network effects, emails, widgets, and SEO.
A key metric for virality is the viral coefficient, where a value > 1 indicates unbounded growth.
Viral channels eventually decay and one must explore new ones.

#depth #viralstrategy #growthhacking #virality #distribution #viralcoefficient #width #webapplications #startups

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- Virality: Ability of an object to self-replicate
- Think pathological diseases
- Often mixed w…

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Virality in Web Applications
- Single minded focus on acquiring new users
- Get users to spread …

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Putting it differently...
Virality is marketing BUILT INTO the
product… if the product is viral…

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Ways to go Viral
- Social Graph: Facebook, Twitter, IG
- Network Effects: IM, Whatsapp, Telegram
…

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Viral Coefficient – The secret sauce
Viral Coefficient is the number
of additional members ever…

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Viral Coefficient < 1
• grows initially but hits ceiling
Viral Coefficient > 1
• growth unbound…

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Why viral
coefficient > 1
All figures hypothetical
YouTube FaceBook Instagram

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Within an app, channel with highest viral coefficients dominates
Illustrative example for hypothe…

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The Mathematics of Viral Growth
User CTA - invite friends
x = invited
friends
Accept?
Yes
y%…

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Designing a viral loop
Conversion Funnel Distribution Channels

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Viral Loops: Distribution Channels
- Invite a friend
- NewsFeed
- Embeds / widgets
- Notifi…

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- Validate Use Case : Will they use it?
- Test CTA (call to actions) : Will they click it?
- Trac…

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Flow A
Flow B
A new users
B new users
X% user dropoff Y invites sent/user Z% invites accepted
…

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Viral channels NOT EQUALS features
- Viral channels bring new users
- Features keep existing user…

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Viral Channels LifeCycle
-Viral channels eventually decay (saturation, user conditioning)
- When …

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The Art & Science of Virality in Web Applications

1. The Art & Science of Virality

2. Sorry for the all-caps:)

3. What is Virality?

4. - Virality: Ability of an object to self-replicate - Think pathological diseases - Often mixed with WOM, marketing, buzz etc Virality

5. Virality in Web Applications - Single minded focus on acquiring new users - Get users to spread to other users - Increase width (not depth) - Half art / science: Intersection of psychology & web analytics

6. Putting it differently... Virality is marketing BUILT INTO the product… if the product is viral, it will market itself

7. Ways to go Viral - Social Graph: Facebook, Twitter, IG - Network Effects: IM, Whatsapp, Telegram - Emails: LinkedIn - Widgets: YouTube, SlideShare - SEO (backlinks authority): Wikipedia

8. Viral Coefficient – The secret sauce Viral Coefficient is the number of additional members every new member brings

9. Viral Coefficient < 1 • grows initially but hits ceiling Viral Coefficient > 1 • growth unbounded • think perpetual motion machine

10. Why viral coefficient > 1 All figures hypothetical YouTube FaceBook Instagram

11. Within an app, channel with highest viral coefficients dominates Illustrative example for hypothetical video sharing site

12. The Mathematics of Viral Growth User CTA - invite friends x = invited friends Accept? Yes y% = invite accept rate x * y > 1 gives you viral growth!

13. Designing a viral loop Conversion Funnel Distribution Channels

14. Viral Loops: Distribution Channels - Invite a friend - NewsFeed - Embeds / widgets - Notifications - Emails - Profile Actions

15. - Validate Use Case : Will they use it? - Test CTA (call to actions) : Will they click it? - Track CTR (click through rates) - Analytics : Google Analytics, widget metrics, Mixpanel Fine Tuning Viral Channels

16. Flow A Flow B A new users B new users X% user dropoff Y invites sent/user Z% invites accepted - A/B test entire user flows - A/B test calls to action Using metrics: CTAs & click flows

17. Viral channels NOT EQUALS features - Viral channels bring new users - Features keep existing users engaged - Features not necessarily viral

18. Viral Channels LifeCycle -Viral channels eventually decay (saturation, user conditioning) - When channel exhausts, explore new ones

19. The Social Participation Ladder

20. Questions?

@amitranjan

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1 month ago @amitranjan

how is design in startups different than design in large companies?

That's a great question! Here's a breakdown of how design typically differs between startups and large companies:

Startups:

Focus:
- Problem Validation & Finding Product-Market Fit: Design is heavily focused on understanding user needs, validating the core problem the startup is solving, and iterating to achieve product-market fit.
- Speed & Agility: The emphasis is on rapid prototyping, testing, and iteration. Designers need to be able to move quickly and adapt to changing requirements.
- Breadth of Skills: Designers often wear many hats, handling UX, UI, visual design, user research, and even some marketing design. They need to be generalists.
- Early Adoption and Iteration: The focus is on getting something out there that is usable and desirable and learning how it works, not on the best experience out of the gate
Resources:
- Limited Budget: Resources are often scarce, so designers need to be creative and resourceful in finding ways to conduct user research and create effective designs without breaking the bank.
- Small Teams: Design teams are usually small, sometimes even a single designer.
Processes:
- Lean UX: Startups often adopt a lean UX approach, focusing on rapid prototyping and iterative testing to validate design decisions.
- Close Collaboration: Designers work closely with engineers and product managers in a highly collaborative and iterative environment.
- Less Formalized Processes: Startups tend to have less formal design processes and documentation compared to larger companies.
Impact:
- High Impact: Designers have a significant impact on the overall direction of the product and the company.
- Direct User Feedback: Designers often have direct access to users and can quickly incorporate feedback into their designs.
Risk:
- Higher Risk, Higher Reward: Design decisions can have a make-or-break impact on the startup's success.
Tooling:
- Utilizes basic tooling. There is little time to try and adopt more complex tools

Large Companies:

Focus:
- Refining Existing Products & Scalability: Design is often focused on improving existing products, scaling designs across multiple platforms, and ensuring brand consistency.
- Specialization & Depth: Designers tend to specialize in specific areas, such as UX research, interaction design, visual design, or content strategy.
- Mature Products with Wide Adoption: The design goals are to improve the experience, while not taking away from those who have mature habits
Resources:
- Larger Budgets: Large companies typically have more generous budgets for design research, tools, and staffing.
- Larger Teams: Design teams are larger and more structured, with dedicated roles for different design disciplines.
Processes:
- Established Design Systems: Large companies often have well-defined design systems to ensure consistency across all products and platforms.
- Formal Design Processes: Design processes are more formalized and documented, with clear approval workflows and sign-offs.
- Siloed Teams: Teams can become more siloed as a large company grows.
Impact:
- Focused Impact: Designers typically work on specific features or areas of the product, rather than having a broad impact on the overall direction.
- Indirect User Feedback: Designers may rely more on research reports and data analysis than direct user interaction.
Risk:
- Lower Risk, More Measured Changes: Design changes are often introduced gradually and tested thoroughly to minimize disruption to existing users.
Tooling:
- Will use more complex design tools to help with scale and design systems

Here's a table summarizing the key differences:

Feature	Startup	Large Company
Focus	Product-Market Fit, Speed	Scaling, Consistency, Refinement
Skills	Generalist	Specialist
Resources	Limited	Abundant
Team Size	Small	Large
Processes	Lean, Agile, Informal	Formal, Structured
Impact	High, Direct User Feedback	Focused, Indirect User Feedback
Risk	High	Lower
Tooling	Basic	Complex

In essence:

Startups are about finding the right product, while large companies are about optimizing existing products.
Startup design is about exploration and adaptation, while large company design is about execution and consistency.

It's important to note that these are general trends, and there can be exceptions depending on the specific company and industry.

Just now @

- @amitranjan
- 5m
Virality is how the likes of Facebook, YouTube and Instagram became what they are without spending tons of $$ on paid distribution. Achieving it requires a combination of art & science - this deck attempts to uncover this secret sauce!
- @skilleduplife
- 3m
@amitranjan could you please share how you achieved virality for SlideShare please?

Obviously Guy Kawasaki and other Silicon Valley superstars backing you was a major initial success factor - outsiders view.

Launching through Techcrunch may have also helped.

What was the pivotal activity in the early stages? Or was it a result of many efforts?

Thanks.

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The Art & Science of Virality in Web Applications

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The Art & Science of Virality in Web Applications

how is design in startups different than design in large companies?

@amitranjan

@skilleduplife

The Art & Science of Virality in Web Applications

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