Research: Invite-Only Systems
The hunt for the perfect invite system for Hum
I’m curious if anyone else does this, but I’ve been using Medium privately to store notes for myself and for my teammates. I used to write on iA writer, but ever since Medium came out (disclaimer: I was a designer at Medium) I’ve been so head-over-heels for the beautifully designed editor (props to the design team!) that I’ve found myself doing my long note taking and research here instead. I thought it was a unique way to take advantage of Medium and wanted to share!
Anyway, I thought it might be fun to publish some old notes that I’ve taken while researching Invite-Only systems the past few days for our upcoming rollout of Hum, our new messaging system teams.
Mailbox had a unique system in place that got a lot of hype.
Likes:
- It solved the problem of how to create an invite-only system on an iPhone app — which has been hard to do.
- It was unique and got lots of people talking about it. PR tool.
- It worked. People felt important to have the app first for those that signed up early.
- Nicely designed. Simple. Elegant.
Dislikes:
- I downloaded the app and it would just sit there. Felt depressing for people like me far out on the waiting list with the massive number countdown.
- Felt fake. Again because of the countdown.
- It didn’t feel as special since anyone could be on it
- It was basically just a long DMV line, or felt that way.
Summary: I think this system was more negative than positive, though it’s the best solution I’ve seen on an actual iPhone app. The longer I had to wait the less I wanted to use it. With other systems we have to wait, too, but I think it’s because I was given a numbe. iit felt less appealing. B- system.
Dribbble, probably one of my favorites. It was based on performance and felt more like a reward and honor.
Likes:
- Someone had to personally invite you.
- Most people only had one, sometimes two invites to give out so they were pickier on who they chose.
- Not everyone got in right away. Lots of hype.
- Felt rewarding to invite and honoring to get invited.
- Invites we’re sold on eBay, or attempted to anyways.
- People had contests for invites.
- The better you performed on Dribbble, the more likelihood you would get another invite to give away.
- The community was able to grow together in a powerful way.
Dislikes:
- Eventually too many invites were given out for a site like this.
Summary: Dribbble’s invite system was brilliantly handled in the way that it was so limiting and the fact that the better you performed, the more invites you got. It was a rewarding system, although I wish the more the site grew, the harder it was to get an invite since so many people are on now. That’s a good thing for Dribbble as a business. An A+ system.
Gmail, probably the biggest one ever used.
Likes:
- Someone had to personally invite you.
- Most people only had one, sometimes two invites to give out so they were pickier on who they chose.
- Not everyone got in right away. Lots of hype.
- Felt rewarding to invite and honoring to get invited.
- Invites we’re sold on eBay, or attempted to anyways.
- It took a bit more time to invite someone, so it felt more special.
- It felt so special to use Gmail that you immediately switched email addresses, almost as bragging rights.
Dislikes:
- N/A
Summary: Works great for things that you receive a new personal ID for. A+ system.
Medium had a nice, more hands on rollout.
Likes:
- Not everyone got in right away. Lots of hype.
- Medium employees and editors could hand pick certain people to get on which was a nice touch. As a designer there, I was able to add some friends right away.
- You could collaborate on unpublished posts to get your invite, so you had to work for it, which was smart. You earned your invite.
- I felt the desire to write on Medium since not a lot of people could. It was more rewarding to tweet my links.
- Early writers had a chance to gain a lot of posts in miscellaneous collections. Great for getting good content quickly.
- Since we could hand select writers, the content was strong for the public to read on roll-out, which helped gain respect for the posts.
- You could still sign up and request an invite.
Dislikes:
- Wish it was a little more closed still. Maybe. Unsure.
Summary: For what Medium is, the invite system was perfectly executed, and personally hand picking people was a nice touch, not to mention having to earn your invite by collaborating on posts. I think every system should have hand picking like Medium. A+ system.
Pinterest used an interesting approach.
Likes:
- You have to wait and not everyone can just get in.
- It shuns away quick users and allows room for people that actually want to use the product the right way, which allows for better content on the site.
- The focus was on the content at first and not the number of users. I like this a lot
Dislikes:
- Not very rewarding. There’s no perk to being invited since it’s basically just a quick wait.
- Pushed me away from using the product for awhile, but that’s because I wasn’t that into it from the beginning. That’s a good thing for Pinterest, so they only got serious active users first. It is possibly what made them grow so fast, the great content.
Summary: Worked for them. B+ system.
Google+ was similar to Gmail but wasn’t as effective.
Likes:
- It was easy for me to get an invite.
- Someone had to personally invite you.
Dislikes:
- It was too easy for me to get an invite.
- It grew too fast, so there were too many people and too little content.
Summary: Let’s not follow this system. D+ system.
Gilt’s probably the most rewarding.
Likes:
- Very rewarding to invite since both yourself and the person you invite gets an extra discount to use.
- Feels more like a club.
Dislikes:
- Missed some good deals waiting for my invite.
Summary: Rewarding people with extra incentives is a nice touch. Other than that, nothing here is too different. B+ system.
Overall: Let’s find a way to mix all of these. Let’s create something that’s rewarding to both sides like Dribbble and Gilt. We need something that feels more special at the beginning and harder to get invites to send out much like Dribbble or Medium. Adding the personal touch of Medium’s handpicking is a plus. Let’s grow slowly and focus on content from our early users, not like G+ but more like how special the early Gmail users felt. Let’s be unique like Mailbox, but without the long DMV style wait list.
Keywords: rewarding, special, unique, slow, hard, personal, hand picking, honor, earn, friends, teams
