While habits try to stick to you, your brain wants to try out new things — the push-pull works well for marketers
Think of the following situation. You are addicted to Coke and it’s an integral part of your monthly grocery list. The status quo bias indicates that you are likely to keep buying it, as it is a part of your habit. In fact, brands spend significant sums of money to retain your loyalty for this […]
Welcome to FactorDaily: Signals that help you read the future
FactorDaily turned one earlier this month and we couldn’t be more excited, more confident about the journey we started last year. Right now, as I write this piece, a thousand thoughts are crossing my mind. But, honestly, most of them are about how much needs to be done in the coming months and years ahead […]
‘In a battle between staying anonymous and being unmasked, there is no excuse for being unprepared’
Editor’s note: Anonymity on the internet has its pros and cons. It helps whistleblowers, but also gives rise to online abuse. Last week, Bangalore-based internet activist and entrepreneur Kiran Jonnalagadda showed that set of sock puppet accounts anonymously operated by members of India’s software products think tank iSpirt were running campaigns to support Aadhaar, […]
Did Uber just run its first test to boost revenue in India?
Once a product guy, always a product guy! I just noticed some neat A/B tests that made me wonder if Uber is running an experiment to boost revenue from its super users in India. To the uninitiated, A/B testing is form of experiment where two features, called A and B, are tested among statistically similar […]
I went off social media four weeks ago. Here’s why you should too
Four weeks ago, I decided to silence every little nagging voice in my head that told me that moving away from social media would be a disaster. This is an unedited story about how it went down. I’ve been active on Facebook ever since we collectively decided Orkut was no longer cool. I was also […]
Is AirBnB disrupting the hotel industry? Probably not yet
Do you run a hotel, or a hotel booking website or service? In that case, you have probably heard about the sharing economy, and the impending threat of AirBnB, an online service that allows homeowners around the world to rent out their apartments to travellers for low rates. Other instances of the sharing economy are […]
Money is power. But did you know power is also money — it makes you save more
Do you end up spending more when you feel hapless, and saving more when you feel empowered? According to research, it turns out this is indeed likely to happen. Thus, we add another fascinating aspect to the complexities of money that we already discussed in a three-part mini-series in this column. When Andrew Jackson declared […]
Vernacular is no longer important for smartphones in India. Focus on video
Many a time, while talking to industry people and the media, I am asked how important is local languages enablement on smartphones. This is what many handset players talk about while projecting high on the localisation quotient. Others like IndusOS, which in true essence is not an OS but a custom layer built on Android […]
What kind of promotions should your brand offer?
A few days ago, I picked up a bar of Snickers served at a friend’s party. It was a normal bar of chocolate with the usual branding, but what caught my eye was the unusual promotion on the package. You could get Rs 20 cash in your Paytm account by entering a code given inside […]
Do you focus on the big picture or on minute details? Turns out you can be nudged by a smart marketer either way
Answer the following questions: A telephone is (a) A gadget to make calls (b) A solution for your communication, computation and entertainment needs A holiday trip means (a) Catching a flight (b) An escape from the tedium of the day-to-day grind If you answered (a) to both the questions, you were likely focusing on the […]
