Great story from Amex's Open Forum blog tells the story of Mizage, a small software company that decided to be $14 worth of generous and how it unleashed a 669% increase in sales.
Mizage's window management tool for the Mac, called "Divvy" sells for $14. A prospect emailed the company asking if they'd consider taking $5 for it.
The sales team replied that they'd be glad to give it to him free and asked that he think about telling his friends about Divvy or Tweeting about it.
The grateful customer submitted the email thread to Reddit, and the story landed on the front page.
Since Reddit gets 8 million views per month, lots of new eyeballs read about Divvy and visited the site. Mizage was smart enough to post its own subsequent thread to Reddit, sharing before and after sales numbers.
The article's author highlights a few takeaways, number one being that "stories drive sales." What got people's attention the most is the story element: Guy asks for a favor from an anonymous company. Company grants it--and then some. Guy is grateful and returns the favor in spades. Company's good deed pays off. The fact that it's a positive story makes it even more viral.
Human beings have been storytellers since we were living in caves and our brains are just as compelled by stories as they've ever been.
Today's meager attention spans can still be expanded by a good tale, and once you have someone's attention, a good product will sell like iPhones.
What's the compelling story behind your brand? Every time you can focus on a true story about how your company's product or service has helped real live customers, you're hitching your star to the power of a story. Try it and see what happens!
Mizage's window management tool for the Mac, called "Divvy" sells for $14. A prospect emailed the company asking if they'd consider taking $5 for it.
The sales team replied that they'd be glad to give it to him free and asked that he think about telling his friends about Divvy or Tweeting about it.
The grateful customer submitted the email thread to Reddit, and the story landed on the front page.
Since Reddit gets 8 million views per month, lots of new eyeballs read about Divvy and visited the site. Mizage was smart enough to post its own subsequent thread to Reddit, sharing before and after sales numbers.
The article's author highlights a few takeaways, number one being that "stories drive sales." What got people's attention the most is the story element: Guy asks for a favor from an anonymous company. Company grants it--and then some. Guy is grateful and returns the favor in spades. Company's good deed pays off. The fact that it's a positive story makes it even more viral.
Human beings have been storytellers since we were living in caves and our brains are just as compelled by stories as they've ever been.
Today's meager attention spans can still be expanded by a good tale, and once you have someone's attention, a good product will sell like iPhones.
What's the compelling story behind your brand? Every time you can focus on a true story about how your company's product or service has helped real live customers, you're hitching your star to the power of a story. Try it and see what happens!
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