[video] Kathy Sierra on Badass Users, Behaviours and Better Business

How important is word of mouth marketing? Ask Business News Daily, ‘92 percent of people trust recommendations from friends and family above all other forms of advertising when making a purchase decision’.

With all these social media platforms, no company is safe. People are taking to Twitter and Facebook to voice their opinions on all things brand, not to mention customer reviews that users are able to leave anywhere for anyone to see.

So it’s a fight to make your product special. And so we fall to the wise words of Kathy Sierra and her ‘badass’ ways. Just to be clear, badass does not mean tattoos and troublemaking. This is far more scientific as she explained in her keynote at The Business of Software conference.

You want your user to tell their friends, their followers, their colleagues, to their hairdresser’s sister’s boyfriend’s brother’s goldfish that they need this product. In order for this to happen we have to focus not on making the product or its marketing awesome but making the outcome that the user experiences awesome. Focus not on what the user thinks of us, but what the user thinks of themselves.

People don’t want to be a master of your product; they want to be a master of the bigger picture. For example, if you have a fitness-tracking app the bigger picture is the user creating a healthier, more energetic lifestyle for himself, which, of course, can be achieved by using your app.

Should you wish to become badass at being a badass here’s some recommended reading courtesy of Kathy Sierra:

• Expertise and Expert Performance by K. Anders Ericsson
• Handbook of Self-Determination Research by Edward Deci
• The Talent Code by Daniel Coyle
• Drive by Dan Pink

Watch or read the full speech here.

Photo (cc) Alex De Carvalho on Flickr.