So as you can tell from the title, there is no question mark. This means I know the trick in order to be as successful as Google is now. I got this idea when I was explaining something to a friend of mine who is not technical at all. The idea I was explaining is one I already dealt with earlier. This is a combined post of those thoughts I already formed.

Disguising simplicity

So first thing you do is you state that your product is simple to use. How many services/products can you think of from the top of your head right now that promised this? It is the golden rule right? Well there is a trick, don't make it actually simple to use. You have to get the sweet balance between a service that looks easy to use and is actually hard to use. This is something Google has perfected.

IKEA Effect

What happens when you sell a service that is difficult to use but is marketed as simple? Well people will start using them, reasonably intelligent and well thinking people, and they will run into blockades. Then start to wonder; why is it difficult for me to use? I am smart, I should be able to do this. So they keep on going. Then something starts working, something not necessarily clicks but it seems to be correct. Some parts are unused and other parts are not used correctly, that is not important. What is important is the fact that you did something yourself. The fact you created something after spending time, regardless of what is created, it will be more highly valued than any other store bought service or off the shelf product.

This is what is called the IKEA effect, the propensity of people to value their own made things way higher than anything else.

Trigger the virus

Now the viral marketing will trigger itself. The people that conquered this product, will feel the need to share that with the world. Telling the world it is simple to use this product/service, after all they figured it out. So the news spread of this difficult to use service under the guise of simplicity.

Google in a nutshell

Almost all the products of Google fall into this category: AMP, Kubernetes, Gmail, Golang to name some. However some do not fall in this category at all, like Bazel for example. Why? Well they did not apply this marketing to Bazel. It is actually a good tool therefore. I think Dart used to fall in the first category, but after the overhaul it falls in the second one. I have yet to confirm this though. Same goes with Flutter.

To reiterate the formula of success, make a service difficult to use whilst stating it is simplicity itself and trigger the IKEA effect with anyone who will use it.

#devlife #thoughts