🧑‍🔬 How This App Hit 50 Million Downloads in 5 Years

🧪 The Self-Serving Bias

🤳 How Impulse Uses The Self-Serving Bias

Impulse uses this bias through a quiz funnel.

A quiz funnel is a marketing tool that helps brands move people from prospect to customer through use of quizzes.

Think Buzzfeed-style quizzes but at the end of them, there’s a call-to-action encouraging you to signup to something based on the quiz results.

Impulse’s ads categorize intelligence types and archetypes in a way that allows prospects to identify with positive traits and characteristics.

For example, someone might take a test that tells them they have a 'rare intelligence type' or belong to a particularly positive-sounding archetype like 'The Creator' or 'The Sage.'

These flattering labels can boost self-esteem and ego, encouraging people to share their great results.

In turn, this helps naturally spread word about Impulse.

🧠 How You Can Use The Self-Serving Bias

The key to the Self-Serving Bias is to create a scenario where your customers can attribute the positives of your product or service to their own good decision-making.

Here are some examples on how to use the Self-Serving Bias in your ads:

• Compliment and affirm their identity

  • Music streaming service: "You've always had an ear for the hits before they're hits. Our playlists are curated for trendsetters like you."

• Celebrate customer choices

  • Subscription box service:" It's no surprise you chose the premium box—reserved for connoisseurs like you."

• Acknowledge Efforts

  • Project management tool: "Behind every successful project is a visionary planner like you. Our tool is just here to make your brilliance shine brighter."

• Highlight achievements: If your product helps users achieve something, make that the star of your show

  • E.g.: “Join the ranks of successful entrepreneurs with our tool!).”

The goal here is to reinforce the customer's self-concept.

In fact, just yesterday I came across this sign for a co-working place:

This could be seen as an example of using the Self-Serving bias, because they’re affirming and complimenting the prospect’s identity - “serious entrepreneurs".”

This is very similar to the idea of Self-Image Congruity, that we discussed a few weeks ago.

The goal is to subtly remind prospects how great they are and that they're the kind of person who makes great decisions—like choosing your product.