Making It Sticky

How do you convince someone to keep something? 

We have all of these great ideas and then we end up with a really great product of some kind. After all of that effort to put something into someone else’s hands, why will they hang on to it instead of discarding it just a short time later?

We know when people don’t value the thing we’ve given them because they won’t keep it: It’s just not valuable to them. Immediate feedback includes when we give something to somebody and they turn around and throw it away immediately, even right in front of you! (Think about every time someone has randomly handed a flier to you in the street...) Maybe even worse is when they keep it long enough to get home but then relegate it to some kind of purgatory like a junk drawer, top shelf, or the back of the closet. 

Paper is possibly the best example because there’s just so much of it: brochures, business cards, junk mail (it’s literally in the name!). If it doesn’t fill a need the person won’t want it in the first place. 

Swag is another example, marketing giveaways masquerading as merchandise. This often happens because the actual item is cheap and of very low quality, and or the value it provides for its intended purpose is minimal. Even the best-intentioned gifts are not immune. Maybe the person doesn’t really want what you offered them or they already have a ton of that particular tchotchke or theme. As a result, your best-case scenario is that someone will hang on to it as a reminder of something they need to do later, but as soon as they do the item has rendered itself obsolete and has no more value. 

What would cause someone to keep something you handed them? There has to be value in it, a reason to keep it. 

Of course getting someone to hang on to something is only the first step. To maximize the staying power of what you give them, it must have some combination of two key properties.

First, the item should be useful. Obviously if something is useful, people will hang on to it. They keep it because of the value it brings them. 

• It could be practical: a tool or material for which they have a repeated need (think apparel, or a flashlight, or a kitchen utensil). 

• It could be fun: an activity or experience that they can repeat and share (a puzzle of some kind). 

• It could be informational: a reference source for information they need that they can easily and repeatedly return to (think of what you can put on a bookmark or reference chart). 

We work really hard to meet the needs we know people have, even if they don’t realize they have that need. This is easiest when we’re filling a need we have personally and we realize that there is a wider market need that we just met, that is, we’re not the only ones!

Second, the item might be “cool.” If something is cool then people will also want to keep it. They keep it because of the feeling it brings them. 

• It could be practical: an enjoyable way to meet a current need (think a ball cap at a sunny event or umbrella at a rainy event). 

• It could be reputation: improving image or prestige (think anything with the logo of your favorite team or university). 

• It could (also) be fun: something you play (think a toy or a game). 

Of course the best product combines both of these properties. Apparel is potentially a good example; then the challenge becomes differentiation: How do you make your t-shirt stand out from a million others? Lots of paper falls in this category, which is good news because it’s a primary and inexpensive marketing medium. It’s useful if the information is relevant, and it’s cool if the layout and design are great. The best “marketing brochures” are educational tools or reference guides, information that is hard to remember so it is often referenced and never goes out of date. A website and other digital media are similarly useful if they provide information or services that are needed and enjoyable to navigate, such as interactive websites and embedded games. Obviously the longer people hang on to things, the more impact you can have on them and their brand exposure, memory, and sales. 

It's helpful to think of examples of what almost works at the extremes of this spectrum. Something that is extremely useful but not cool is a thesaurus: Everyone needs it and uses it sometimes, but no one thinks twice about it because it’s so rare to find an interface or format that isn’t boring. Something that is cool but not useful is a fidget spinner: They were so popular when they first came out that they were utterly ubiquitous, but only for a brief period and then they were relegated to the bargain bins. 

Take care not to undermine your product with low quality. That will result in a losing effort because not only will the item itself not last long, your reputation will suffer because the low quality of the item becomes a reflection of you and your image. Also take care not to undermine your product with poor design. This will also be a net loss for you because if it’s a hard-to-use reference or tool it won’t get used because it takes too much work, and if it’s not attractive it won’t get used because it’s not enjoyable to do so.

At the same time, you can enhance the value of your product if you design it with an inherent home in mind. Apparel lives in a closet or dresser when not in use. Reference charts can be three-hole punched and live in a school binder. Some information can be helpfully and beautifully conveyed in business or credit card format and easily live within a wallet. By designing your item to indicate intuitively where it belongs, in a worst-case scenario instead of being discarded it will be consciously put in the correct place for retrieval and use later.

Finally, consider the contrast between these two properties: useful and cool. Which will people hang on to longer? This is strictly a question of practicality. We will eventually get bored of what is cool long enough to lose it, discard it, or forget it. On the other hand if it’s useful enough, we’ll return to it again and again. We’ll find or make a home for it so that we can keep using it.

Thanks are sticky if they are useful or cool, and useful is stickier than cool.