

Dropbox-style Double-Sided Incentives for Sharing - patio11
http://www.kalzumeus.com/2010/04/28/dropbox-style-two-sided-sharing-incentives/

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patio11
Regarding the bug described at the bottom: new rule. If I try to push code to
production between the hours of 10 PM and 10 AM, the server will ask "Two of
the last five times you did this, you ended up writing apologies about it.
What are you doing that is so important you're risking that being three
instead of sleeping and then pushing this tomorrow when you're in a state to
understand what you're doing?"

~~~
Poiesis
That's one application of the Five Whys I'd like to see get more use. At work
everyone's more interested in the next bug or feature instead of in how the
last one got there. The irony being, of course, that what they're going to get
is exactly that--the next bug.

How many "we did this because you were too dang tired" have _you_ seen?

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pavs
I think dropbox style Double-Sided incentive would be great for web-host
solution. The market is already very saturated with hosting services providing
very competitive prices, if a new player wanted to enter this market (esp. VPS
which I am interested in), they could use this kind of incentives:

\- $20 for 300mb(memory) instances

\- For each people you recommend both of you will get 50mb more memory for
their VPS instance.

\- Caps on 1gb

\- valid for one year.

Since hosting solutions are long term investment, most people don't jump
around hosting services that often; if you can retrain even 50% of those
customers as a long term customer is a win! You probably have to incur a short
term loss, but your hosting will probably explode like wild-fire.

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barmstrong
Timely post - because I actually just did the same thing on
UniversityTutor.com after seeing the Dropbox slides from the conference :)

[http://www.startbreakingfree.com/1504/how-to-get-your-
custom...](http://www.startbreakingfree.com/1504/how-to-get-your-customers-to-
refer-their-friends/)

Great minds think alike!

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maxklein
In my opinion, the way dropbox did it was not good. My bank gives both you and
referrer some gadget when you are referred. Makes sense because I know what a
gadget is.

Dropbox gives you 250 extra mb. Yeah, but I (the person being referred) never
heard of dropbox and would not have known if there was less or more MB.

I believe dropbox worked because the person who was referring made more mb. I
_believe_ that though intended as a double-sided incentive, it was actually a
single sided incentive that worked.

~~~
rubinelli
Most people can't tell the difference between a GB and a GHz, but if there is
one thing the computer industry taught them, it's that a bigger number is
always better. Specially when their techie relative/friend/coworker says so.

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scottporad
It's still not permission marketing. I'm trying to think of a way to turn this
around so that it mirrors real world experience more accurately. For example,
what if I could "ask" my social network for a recommendation, instead of
having it pushed onto me?

More here: [http://www.scottporad.com/2010/04/28/improving-dual-
incentiv...](http://www.scottporad.com/2010/04/28/improving-dual-incentive-
tell-a-friend-marketing/)

~~~
patio11
_For example, what if I could "ask" my social network for a recommendation,
instead of having it pushed onto me?_

Which scenario sounds better to you:

1) Cindy Smith at George Washington Middle School wants a freebie. She sends
an email to her colleagues asking them to sign up. Some do, she gets her
freebie. Several colleagues who were not interested in Bingo Card Creator get
emailed.

2) Cindy Smith at George Washington Middle School wants a freebie. She sends
an email to her colleagues asking if any of them are current users of Bingo
Card Creator. No one is. Cindy Smith gets disappointed. No one else signs up.
Several colleagues who were not interested in Bingo Card Creator get emailed.

