Three "Yes!" ⋅ EV #001

Your primary audiences — users, partners, developers, attendees, funders, etc. — will say "Yes!" to your project three times.

The first "Yes!" happens when they agree to give you a try:

• a new user downloads your app or connects the wallet;
• a potential partner agrees to meet your team;
• a developer starts experimenting with your code.

The first "Yes!" happens if you pass an evaluation "Is it a right thing for me?" and a comparison to alternatives and solutions that you even don't consider a competition.

After the first "Yes!", they enter the zone of the first experience which covers everything from onboarding to completing the first, even a tiny task toward a future that your brand promises them.

As the first experience comes to an end, they are ready to decide whether to say their second "Yes!" or not.

The second "Yes!" is their agreement to tighten their bond with you:

• a new user signs up for a paid plan after the free trial ends;
• a partner agrees to launch a pilot project together;
• a developer integrates your API or builds a part of their product with your SDK.

After saying the second "Yes!", they enter the home straight to Your Ideal Future. All the way to saying the third "Yes!"

The third "Yes!" turns people from 'they' to 'we' in your eyes:

• a user becomes an advocate or even applies to work for you;
• a partner suggests a co-joined venture;
• a developer starts contributing to your open-source code and writes tutorials you could only wish for.

The third "Yes!" is when everyone starts referring to you as the best thing that has ever happened to them.

Each of these three "Yes!" marks an endpoint of three loops of customer onboarding:

1. The first loop is consideration and evaluation — a loop where branding and marketing are responsible for the successful outcome.
2. The second loop is user onboarding — a loop where UX (user experience) or DX (developer experience) defines if the following loop will happen.
3. The third loop is the most complex. It is where customer support, community building, decentralized leadership, together with branding and marketing that does not feel like marketing at all, morph into one magic creature to make a person feel like they have found their place.

The last loop is an art mastered by not so many.

And the entire three-loop journey starts with a potential user thinking, "Have never heard of it… Why should I give your product a try?" and your branding rolls up its sleeves to answer: "Because…"

Everything you’ll read in the Embrace Variety emails will help you architect the first loop for your project. We have quite a ride ahead.

Onward!

Thanks for being an early reader,
Ira