The Art & Science of Virality in Web Applications

The Art & Science of Virality in Web Applications

@amitranjan
@amitranjan
37 Followers
3 months ago 249

Achieving organic virality is the holy grail of growth hacking. This deck is a deep dive into how to design and optimize apps for viral distribution

The Art & Science of Virality in Web Applications

@amitranjan3 months ago

The Art & Science of Virality

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                                  What is Virality?

                                                  Virality

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

                                                                  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

                                                                                  Putting it differently...

                                                                                  Virality is marketing BUILT INTO the product… if the product is viral, it will market itself

                                                                                                  Ways to go Viral

                                                                                                  • - Social Graph: Facebook, Twitter, IG
                                                                                                  • - Network Effects: IM, Whatsapp, Telegram
                                                                                                  • - Emails: LinkedIn
                                                                                                  • - Widgets: YouTube, SlideShare
                                                                                                  • - SEO (backlinks authority): Wikipedia

                                                                                                                  Viral Coefficient -The secret sauce

                                                                                                                  Viral Coefficient is the number of additional members every new member brings

                                                                                                                                  Viral Coefficient < 1 · grows initially but hits ceiling

                                                                                                                                  Viral Coefficient > 1

                                                                                                                                  • · growth unbounded
                                                                                                                                  • · think perpetual motion machine

                                                                                                                                                  Why viral coefficient > 1

                                                                                                                                                  All figures hypothetical

                                                                                                                                                                  Within an app, channel with highest viral coefficients dominates

                                                                                                                                                                  Illustrative example for hypothetical video sharing site

                                                                                                                                                                                  The Mathematics of Viral Growth

                                                                                                                                                                                  User

                                                                                                                                                                                  CTA - invite friends

                                                                                                                                                                                  Yes

                                                                                                                                                                                  y% = invite accept rate

                                                                                                                                                                                  x * y > 1 gives you viral growth!

                                                                                                                                                                                  x = invited friends

                                                                                                                                                                                  Accept?

                                                                                                                                                                                                  Designing a viral loop

                                                                                                                                                                                                  Conversion Funnel

                                                                                                                                                                                                  Requests

                                                                                                                                                                                                  1 friend request

                                                                                                                                                                                                  1 perfect match invitation

                                                                                                                                                                                                  1 hotness request

                                                                                                                                                                                                  Distribution Channels

                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Viral Loops: Distribution Channels

                                                                                                                                                                                                                  • - Invite a friend
                                                                                                                                                                                                                  • - NewsFeed
                                                                                                                                                                                                                  • - Embeds / widgets
                                                                                                                                                                                                                  • - Notifications
                                                                                                                                                                                                                  • - Emails
                                                                                                                                                                                                                  • - Profile Actions

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Fine Tuning Viral Channels

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  • - 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

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Using metrics: CTAs & click flows

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  X% user dropoff

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Y invites sent/user

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  profile

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Enter

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  • - A/B test entire user flows
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  • - A/B test calls to action

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  You have

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Social Me request.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Neil Shears sent

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  having fun with Social Me. Find out what Neil said

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Find Out Now

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Ignore

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Block This Applicatlon

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Flow A

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Flow B

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Z% invites accepted

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  A new users

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  B new users

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Viral channels NOT EQUALS features

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  • - Viral channels bring new users
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  • - Features keep existing users engaged
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  • - Features not necessarily viral
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  • Viral Channels LifeCycle

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

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    The Social Participation Ladder

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Questions?

The Art & Science of Virality
1/20
Sorry for the all-caps:)
2/20
What is Virality?
3/20
- Virality: Ability of an object to self-replicate
- Think pathological diseases 
- Often mixed w…
4/20
Virality in Web Applications
- Single minded focus on acquiring new users 
- Get users to spread …
5/20
Putting it differently... 
Virality is marketing BUILT INTO the 
product… if the product is viral…
6/20
Ways to go Viral
- Social Graph: Facebook, Twitter, IG
- Network Effects: IM, Whatsapp, Telegram
…
7/20
Viral Coefficient – The secret sauce 
Viral Coefficient is the number 
of additional members ever…
8/20
Viral Coefficient < 1 
• grows initially but hits ceiling
Viral Coefficient > 1
• growth unbound…
9/20
Why viral 
coefficient > 1
All figures hypothetical
YouTube FaceBook Instagram
10/20
Within an app, channel with highest viral coefficients dominates 
Illustrative example for hypothe…
11/20
The Mathematics of Viral Growth
User CTA - invite friends
x = invited
 friends
Accept?
Yes
y%…
12/20
Designing a viral loop
Conversion Funnel Distribution Channels
13/20
Viral Loops: Distribution Channels 
- Invite a friend 
- NewsFeed 
- Embeds / widgets 
- Notifi…
14/20
- Validate Use Case : Will they use it?
- Test CTA (call to actions) : Will they click it?
- Trac…
15/20
Flow A
Flow B
A new users
B new users
X% user dropoff Y invites sent/user Z% invites accepted
…
16/20
Viral channels NOT EQUALS features
- Viral channels bring new users
- Features keep existing user…
17/20
Viral Channels LifeCycle
-Viral channels eventually decay (saturation, user conditioning)
- When …
18/20
The Social 
Participation Ladder
19/20
Questions?
20/20


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