

The lure of exclusivity - sw007
http://11kclub.com/journey.aspx

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tchock23
I've built a number of private online communities over the years and have
experimented with language around exclusivity and scarcity enough to know that
it works well to draw interest where it was previously difficult to get people
to pay attention.

I've often wondered why more startups don't try to build some sense of
exclusivity to the sign-up process. Everyone is so focused on removing the
barriers to sign-up and getting the user to improve their vanity metrics.
Getting quality users by creating barriers to entry can be a tactic as well...

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stfu
But wasn't there like a beta "craze" up until a few years ago? Like when Gmail
launched, Google Buzz and a many other sites and services that are long
forgotten by now.

It certainly can work if the product is really attractive. But my suspicion
is, that standing in line for an underwhelming experience might even amplify
negative effects as the personal investment to gain that knowledge was
substantially higher.

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knes
Such a simple idea but I'm looking forward to see how it goes ( I have signed
up ).

One feedback though. You brand this as something exclusive ( only 11K people )
but in the "Welcome mail" after I signed up you ask me to share it with my
friends... Isn't that counter intuitive? If I want to be "selected" the less
competition there is, the better so I shouldn't share it.

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sw007
Thanks, and thanks for signing up. I appreciate it.

I can see how that may be confusing. And yes you are right - but we are hoping
that as much as you want to get in, you will also want to join the club with
your wife/husband/brother/sister/friend - a lot of clubs, no matter what they
are, are more fun if the experience is shared (in my opinion).

thanks again..

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mikedmiked
You could limit the number of invites that a new customer could offer to be 1
or 2. It might even make them more likely to invite somebody because an invite
appears to have greater value. Worth an A/B test at least imho.

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squarecat
Perhaps topically relevant:

\- <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veblen_good>

\- <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positional_good>

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sethrin
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scarcity_value>

"Tom said to himself that it was not such a hollow world, after all. He had
discovered a great law of human action, without knowing it -- namely, that in
order to make a man or a boy covet a thing, it is only necessary to make the
thing difficult to attain."

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mherdeg
Would be interested to hear some product insight on how you guys think the
11kclub product compares with "Lily Cole's Impossible".

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sw007
I hadn't heard of this story. Just looking at it now and will get back to you.
At a first glance it seems we place more emphasis on bartering and exclusivity
but looks like she's done a great thing. Thanks for sharing this - look
forward to reading up on her project.

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mdoerneman
I tried signing up but I got this error: "a general error has occurred"

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sw007
Sorry about this - we'll take a look. Can I ask What browser you are using?

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mdoerneman
Firefox

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tamping
Interesting - anyone got the link to the original HN discussion?

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sw007
I can share that with you (co-founder) -
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4323459> \- as I say, we wanted to create
the illusion that we'd stumbled across it so that we got genuine sign up's.
Alas, people found out who we were so we apoligised and held our hands up. Our
intentions were always good and we felt it important to include that
experience in our journey because we learnt a lot that day.

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tamping
Thanks sw007 - well done for keeping calm and not rising to some of the
comments in the thread. Good luck!

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sw007
Thanks :) They were right I guess in that maybe we were not honest enough but
at least our intentions have proved to be good. As I say, it was a good
lesson. A sad night - we felt like the experiment was over a little bit - but
ultimately it did us good.

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jonathan1
The whole reason this is stupid is you are just trying to prove a point that
has been well established. Facebook has proven exclusivity works already, we
don't need clones just to prove the same well known thing over and over. Why
don't I start the 5,20,100k club to see if this effect works at different
levels! Because who cares! Solve a problem, build something useful, not just
because.

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jonathan1
This is such a dumb idea it blows my mind. Create something useful.

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sw007
Thanks for the constructive feedback...

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jonathan1
Meant to be honest not constructive, constructive is do something else.

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sw007
I just don't see how that comment can possibly be worthwhile. If you don't
like it, if you think it is rubbish, then fair enough. But we have spent a lot
of time building a product we are proud of, building a community of great
people and have aims that we think are worthwhile. I am not asking you to sign
up - if you hate it, you hate it - don't sign up, it's pretty simple. Whilst I
am on my soapbox - go build a product that doesn't suck and then come back to
us and then I may care what you have to say..

