The Hack - Use Gimmicks to Increase Referrals

AARRR stage - Referral

Growth Problem - How to Get Users Interested in a Referral Program

Haxplanation:

Ahhh, dancing cats. That old meme classic. They got millions of views when YouTube first launched and, without fail, they still get millions of views today. Technology has evolved and bandwidth has increased. But dancing cats haven't lost their strangely entertaining appeal.

In fact, most Hollywood actors don't have such staying power. Or get as many views (or have such killer moves.) But let's circle back a little. What is the connection between waltzing cats and increased referrals? Or growth hacking for that matter?

Well, a lot if you want to seriously hack the number of invites that your users send out. Young grasshopper, you are about to discover the most kung-fu of all referral hacks.

Just Hack It:

• Where do we start? Um. Find a cat that dances. It's doesn't have to be a professional dancing cat by the way. Even your furball will do. Er. Um. Record a video on your iPhone. Er. Edit the video and choose some corny song for the background track. Um. Job nearly done actually.
• Now, use your video as bait to get users to refer their friends. You're probably thinking, will this really work? C'mon!!! Who wouldn't refer a friend for the chance to see a kitten bust a move?
• "Instant gratification, here I come" is what your user's brain will scream with delight
• Seriously though, as stupid as the idea sounds, the end result is that your invites will steadily climb. Let's just write it off as a scientific mystery…
• And it doesn't have to be a dancing cat by the way. In fact, it doesn't have to be a dancing anything. Whatever silly gimmick you can come up with that gets people laughing, talking and sharing is hack-worthy
• Just make sure that your gimmick isn't lame, otherwise you'll do yourself more harm than good
• And be mindful that the line between out-of-this-world-awesomeness and just plain bullcrap is a very fine one. Good luck tip-toeing it!

Source or Inspiration:

http://blog.strikingly.com/tips-and-how-tos/how-a-dancing-cat-doubled-our-conversion-rate/