<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>Companies increasingly rely on “network” and “viral” marketing within their communication strategies. This study showed that providing viral products with specific features can increase their diffusion substantially. Products that were enabled to send automated notifications within a user’s local Facebook network upon adoption generated a 450 % higher adoption rate among Facebook friends compared with products without any viral features. Products that enabled adopters to send personal invitations to install the app generated an increase in the adoption rate by friends by 750 % more than in the control group. Although each personalized referral had a much stronger impact, notifications outperformed invitations in overall adoption. Automated notifications require no effort, and therefore substantially more messages were generated. The number of users who took the effort to send out personalized invitations was much smaller. A simulation of adoption beyond immediate individual networks showed that the passive-broadcast app experienced a 246 % increase in the rate of adoption, whereas adding active-personalized viral messaging capabilities generated only an additional 98 % increase, compared with the group without viral features.</p></abstract>

Companies increasingly rely on “network” and “viral” marketing within their communication strategies. This study showed that providing viral products with specific features can increase their diffusion substantially. Products that were enabled to send automated notifications within a user’s local Facebook network upon adoption generated a 450 % higher adoption rate among Facebook friends compared with products without any viral features. Products that enabled adopters to send personal invitations to install the app generated an increase in the adoption rate by friends by 750 % more than in the control group. Although each personalized referral had a much stronger impact, notifications outperformed invitations in overall adoption. Automated notifications require no effort, and therefore substantially more messages were generated. The number of users who took the effort to send out personalized invitations was much smaller. A simulation of adoption beyond immediate individual networks showed that the passive-broadcast app experienced a 246 % increase in the rate of adoption, whereas adding active-personalized viral messaging capabilities generated only an additional 98 % increase, compared with the group without viral features.

Designing Viral Product Features for Broader Reach

MIT Sloan School of Management, Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.

Boston University School of Management, Boston, Massachussetts, U.S.,

NIM Marketing Intelligence Review

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

{"article-title":"Designing Viral Product Features for Broader Reach"}

Companies increasingly rely on “network” and “viral” marketing within their communication strategies. This study showed that providing viral products with...

Designing Viral Product Features for Broader Reach

Published Online: Jul 16, 2014

Page range: 18 - 23

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/gfkmir-2014-0013

Keywords
Viral Marketing, Peer Influence, Social Contagion, Social Networks, Viral Product Design

© 2014

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Designing Viral Product Features for Broader Reach

Published Online: Jul 16, 2014

Page range: 18 - 23

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/gfkmir-2014-0013

KeywordsViral Marketing, Peer Influence, Social Contagion, Social Networks, Viral Product Design

© 2014

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
Viral Marketing, Peer Influence, Social Contagion, Social Networks, Viral Product Design