Module Two Variable Rewards and Discord

Customers have given you their precious time and attention, now it’s time to reward them in the third phase of the Hooked Model: Variable Rewards. Not any old reward will do, however. All satisfying rewards understand one thing: a customer’s preference for variability. In this lesson, you’ll learn how to determine customers’ preferences for variability and how to leverage 3 types of rewards that appeal to our hard-wired desires.

III. Variable Rewards

-Must understand two things: Degree of variablity types of rewards

High degree of variability is good: feeds - keep scrolling to see new content, infinite variability. Creates a habit -Predicitability reduces how much you want to use it

Sometimes you do want to reduce it - ATM withdrawals
User must maintain a sense of agency - user must own it
Uber can make us anxious because we don't know driver or if we'll get ther in time they reduce it by giving users more agency and control

Uber - Tells you how far your ride is, how long it takes to get where your going

Rewards - Self, Tribe, Hunt -Play off our deepest instincts primal desires

tribe: need to be cared for by other - Rewards that appeal to our desire to appeal to our community, h
hunt: gathering resources - Rewards that provide information or monetary rewards - Ross treasure hunts
self: mastery or agency - Rewards that provide personal gratification - Apple Watch activity rings

Email is ultimate habit forming

tribe: not sure who might respond
hunt: don't know whats in email
self: gratification of sending email, tracking read messages

Designing Rewards

Identify the emotion you want to transition your customer towards

Boredom - entertain them
Create a spectrum with opposite feelings on each end

Determine the Customer's Level of Variability

Create variabbility with inhouse created content and user created content
New nintendo games or new hbo show
curated: user generated content like YouTube or Instagram
Product Hunt, Stitch Fix
Don't want want variablitity - clarify unknowns that drive trigger
Salesforce - which leads are best and who to reach out to
Smart water bottle
- Self: Hydration saved, platic bottles
- Tribe: Donation Leaderboard
- Hunt: Plant a tree

Prioritize Rewards

Prioritize most satisfying rewards
Balance the prioritization with the cost of implementation

Key Takeaways

The same product can add or reduce variability

Google Maps: How to get from point a to point b, suggest restaurants, and suggest places to go

To hold attention, add degrees of varaiability

Uber needs to be predictable, but provides variability - changing colors of cars on map

Rewards of the tribe have the longest-lasting impact

IV. Variable Rewards: Discord

Between 2016 and 2021, Discord’s registered users increased by 14x, and in January 2021, it was the second most popular social media platform. Driving the platform’s rapid growth is its ability to provide gamers with a deeply satisfying reward: reliable in-game chat performance.

Discord was initially meant to be a messaging service for gamers
Between 2016-2021 grew by fourteen times
reliable, sleek and efficient

Idenitfy the emotion that satisfies the trigger

To alleviate gamers frustration of gamer messaging
Made a better service to communicate and hang with others
They sent more encouraging message sthan tasks

Assess the need for variablity based on internal trigger

Streamlined messaging platform efficient

Determine potential rewards and prioritze customer relief

Uses rewards of the tribe to provide three resolutions for communicating with others

Create a space for multiplayer communication

2021 over 19 million servers covering a variety of topics

VOIP that is better and more faster than any competitors

most popular discord servers

Low barriers to entry

Feemium plan includes creating servers, participating on teams, etc
Paid subscription adds HD and other stuff
Free satisfies most users needs

Key learnings

Rewards of the tribe are most likely to encourage repeat interaction
Depending on consumer needs, one product can bothe reduce and increase variability