📧 Airbnb
A case on designing for word-of-mouth.
Hi, I’m Felix! Welcome to this week’s ADPList’s Newsletter; 🔒 subscriber-only edition 🔒 weekly advice column. I write high-quality insights on designing products people love and leadership in tech. If you’re interested in sponsoring us, let’s chat!
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Today, I’m trying out a very special format.
This is a bite-size powerful study on real-world companies and products and some of the most important product lessons we can learn from them.
We’re starting with Airbnb.
Let me know what you think about this format in the comments! 🙏✨
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Imagine you are a Product Manager or Designer at Airbnb.
Brian Chesky, the CEO, invites you to a meeting and asks which version of the conversion email is going to perform better.
Which one would you pick?
Most product managers and designers will pick A. It is slicker and communicates a lot of information about what the user will be getting through delightful design.
In a recent A/B Test that they ran, version B performed better globally.
Why?
Version B taps into the altruistic emotions of people.
We’re also now in the process of A/B testing promotional emails. One experiment I was particularly excited about was communicating very different value propositions for the same product. In one email, we emphasized that you can earn $25 for inviting a friend (self-interested). In the other email, we emphasized that you are sharing $25 with your friend (altruistic).
— Jason Bosinoff, Former Airbnb, Director of Engineering.
As I came to learn at ADPList, altruism in product, is extremely powerful.
Don’t underestimate their power.
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Do you like this short format? Let me know in the comments! 🙏✨
I'll keep creating great stuff if you keep reading. I read every reply if you care to reply :). You might get an answer back.
Until next week.
Felix Lee
Would be interesting to know for which market/geography did the version B work better. Or if it's independent of that. Does altruism work for a developed and a developing country in a similar fashion?
Thanks Felix for this short version! Great to read when I need my dose of design outside of work. I was wondering if there is a way to allow or provide an option to read more of we wish to.