The Psychology of

Reach, Frequency, and

Stickiness

David C. Evans, Ph.D.Psychster Inc.

Total Page Views

Users/mo * Visits/user/mo * Page Views/user/mo = Total Page Views/mo

People * Checking * Clicking = Total

People

Checking

Clicking

Increasing Checking and Clicking increases page views more than increasing members.

• 1 additional visit increases total monthly page views by 819 million.

Adding 1 to any column increases the total views by the product of the other 2 columns.

• 1 additional page view per visit increases total page views by 186 million.

• 1 additional Facebook user increases total monthly page views by 281.

PEOPLEUnique

Audience/month

CHECKINGVisitsPer

Person /month

& CLICKINGWeb PagesPer Person

Per Visit/month

TOTALWeb Page Views

(000)/month

TimePer Person(hh:mm:ss)

/month

Facebook 23,346,000 8.0 35.1 6,560,961 1:01:31

Psychology/Design• “Variable interval reinforcement

schedule” (Skinner, 1939)

• Unknown time until cool content appears

Outcome• Frequent anticipatory responses

• Checking: More site visits

Examples• Concert tickets; American Idol• Any UGC: Email, comments on

profile, message boards • Breaking news• Netflix queues• Ebay bids• Email and alerts

How do we increase Checking?

Psychology/Design• “Variable ratio reinforcement

schedule” (Skinner, 1939)

• Unknown actions until cool content appears

Outcome• Frequent responses without

extinction

• Clicking: More page views without tiring

Examples• Games of chance, sports• HotOrNot.com• MySpace FOAF• Realty, product browsing• YouTube video

How do we increase Clicking?

Recommendations• More checking: Build in an unknown time interval

o Add email, comments, or a message board.o Add an RSS feed.o Display new content at random intervals.o Minimize or eliminate email alerts except monthly.

• More clicking: Add a casual game.o Display your database of content in a random rotation.

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