Why do some communities thrive and others fail? Roger’s specialty is applying neuroscience and behavior research to solve marketing problems. He’s also the founder and architect of one of the most successful online communities, College Confidential. That community (acquired by a unit of the Daily Mail Group in 2008) gets millions of monthly visits and hundreds of millions of annual pageviews. Roger will combine these two fields into one takeaway-packed session. Expect both science-based tactics combined with practical, hands-on experience that will help you turn your community into a winner.

1. The Brainy Way to Build
Your Community
Roger Dooley
rogerdooley.com
rogerd@dooleydirect.com
@rogerdooley

2. #fbsprint
@rogerdooley

11. Quantcast
Rank Site
733 Cars.com
737 Abcnews.com
777 CollegeConfidential.com
791 SocialSecurity.gov
809 ESPN.com
@rogerdooley

14. 1. Conversion

15. Via Andre Morys

16. Traffic Conversion
@rogerdooley

17. 2. Habit Formation
@rogerdooley

18. “Then a friend sent me a link to
College Confidential.
…deeply addictive, it feels like a
cross between college admissions,
porn and heroin.
Check it out at your own risk. “

19. “She might as well have sent crack.
I was hooked. “

21. @rogerdooley

22. Daniel Kahneman Ronald Coase

23. Daniel Kahneman
System 1 System 2

25. 5% Conscious

26. 95% Non-conscious
@rogerdooley

27. Conversion
&
Community

28. The
Persuasion
Slide
™
@rogerdooley

31. Gravity

32. Nudge

33. Angle

34. Angle

35. Friction

38. Robert Cialdini: 6 Factors
@rogerdooley

39. BJ Fogg: Behavior Model
@rogerdooley

40. Geoffrey Miller:
Evolutionary Psychology
@rogerdooley

41. Behavior Research

43. No single
theory explains
all behavior!

44. Community
Conversion
@rogerdooley

45. Gravity
• Initial Motivation
• Needs
• Wants
• Goals

46. Fighting Gravity
“Do this for us!”

47. Fighting Gravity

48. Work WITH Gravity
“We will help you!”
@rogerdooley

49. Work WITH Gravity
From iwillteachyoutoberich.com
“Make
Money!”

50. Nudge
Attention!

51. Nudges
Phone Call
Call to Action
Popup
Search Ad
Banner Ad
Email Alarm
Sign
Sales Call

52. Bad Nudge
From pawesome.com

53. Fair Nudge

54. chrisbrogan.com

55. From
chrisbrogan.com

56. Non-members see:

58. Nudge must be seen &
start the process
@rogerdooley

59. Angle
Motivation!

60. Nudge Without Motivation
@rogerdooley

61. Conscious &
Non-Conscious Motivators
@rogerdooley

62. Conscious Motivators
Benefits
Gifts
Discounts
Features
Specifications Prices

63. Non-conscious Motivators
Emotions Psychology
Brain Bugs

64. Include BOTH Conscious and
Non-conscious motivators!
@rogerdooley

65. Conscious: Benefits
“Typical customer saves 25%.”
“Has twice the power!”
“Money-back guarantee!”

67. Gifts & Discounts
“Free 50-page ebook!”
“$10 Starbucks card if you complete the survey!”
“20% off until midnight!”

69. @rogerdooley

70. No Discounts,
No Motivation

72. Problem:
Cost to Motivate
$ €

73. Non-Conscious Motivators
FREE!
Effective!

74. Dog owners?
Pet parents?

81. Liking

82. Show attributes you
share with your visitor to
create “liking effect.”
@rogerdooley

85. Friction

86. Ronald Coase
Friction =
The time, money, and
effort lost in getting
what you want.

87. Difficulty:
Real and
Perceived
@rogerdooley

88. Real Friction
Form Fields
Steps in Registration Process
Instructions
“What am I supposed to do?”
ANYTHING in Conversion Sequence

89. High
Friction

90. High Friction
@rogerdooley

91. $4,000,000,000,000.
2015 Est. – Business Insider

92. Near-Zero
Friction
@rogerdooley

93. • 4 screens
• Captcha
• Required fields
• Rules box
• Tiny CTA button
Community
Friction

95. Security Friction

96. “Imaginary” Friction
&
Cognitive Fluency
@rogerdooley

97. Confession Site
I believe God is on IRC and that I have found
him. Sometimes I sympathize with other
prophets of the past because no one believe
me and I fear it will soon be too late to save
mankind.

98. Confession Site
I believe God is on IRC and that I have found
him. Sometimes I sympathize with other
prophets of the past because no one believe
me and I fear it will soon be too late to save
mankind.

99. More “fluent” site =
More revealing posts
Drunk Tank Pink, Alter @rogerdooley

103. Minimize perceived friction
with simple fonts, short text, &
easy-to-read design.
@rogerdooley

104. Lurker
Conversion

105. Lurker to Active
• Identify
• Nudge
• Motivate
• Make it easy
@rogerdooley

106. Now, make it a habit…

108. Nir Eyal
nirandfar.com

109. The HOOK Canvas
1. What internal trigger is
the product addressing?
2. What external trigger
gets the user to the product?
4. Is the reward fulfilling,
yet leaves the user
wanting more?
3. What is the simplest
behavior in anticipation
of reward?
5. What “bit of work” is done to
increase the likelihood of
returning?
Nir Eyal’s Hook Model

110. The HOOK Canvas
1. What internal trigger is
the product addressing?
2. What external trigger
gets the user to the product?
4. Is the reward fulfilling,
yet leaves the user
wanting more?
3. What is the simplest
behavior in anticipation
of reward?
5. What “bit of work” is done to
increase the likelihood of
returning?
Nir Eyal’s Hook Model

111. The HOOK Canvas
1. What internal trigger is
the product addressing?
2. What external trigger
gets the user to the product?
4. Is the reward fulfilling,
yet leaves the user
wanting more?
3. What is the simplest
behavior in anticipation
of reward?
5. What “bit of work” is done to
increase the likelihood of
returning?
Nir Eyal’s Hook Model

114. Action
• Trigger + Motivation
• Join, Post, Like, etc.
• Make it EASY

115. Reward
• Dopamine
• Anticipation
• Variable

116. Reward
• Social (likes, shares, comments)
• Information
• Amusement, etc.

118. Investment

119. Cialdini’s 4th Principle

120. Hook Canvas
Investment loads next trigger!

121. Successful Communities
• Nudge visitors and members to act
@rogerdooley

122. Make it easy to join & participate
@rogerdooley

123. Give variable rewards (likes, etc.)
@rogerdooley

124. Let members build value and load
new triggers
@rogerdooley

125. How The World’s Top Conversion
Experts
Seduce You Into Joining
@rogerdooley

126. Multiple Nudges

127. Popups Convert Best
• Exit Intent
• Two Button

128. Measure Real Behavior
• Heat Maps
• Scroll Maps
• Mouse Tracking
• Etc.
• Tools: CrazyEgg,
ClickTale, Inspectlet,
many more

129. Use A/B Tests
Tools: Optimizely, Visual Website Optimizer,
Convert.com, etc.

130. There are no best practices,
just starting points for testing.
@rogerdooley

132. If you remember just
one thing …

133. Change is constant and
accelerating…

134. Communication
50 Years

135. Media
50 Years

136. Mobile!
Big Data!
Social
Media!

137. Our Brains
NO Change in 50,000 Years!

138. Build your community
for the way the
human brain really
works!

139. The Brainy Way to Build
Your Community
Roger Dooley
rogerdooley.com
rogerd@dooleydirect.com
@rogerdooley