made-to-stick

# Made to Stick Framework A framework for crafting ideas and messages that are understood, remembered, and drive lasting action. Based on decades of research into why some ideas survive and others die. ## Core Principle **The Curse of Knowledge is the single greatest barrier to effective communication.** Once we know something, we can't imagine not knowing it—which makes us bad at explaining our ideas to others. Sticky ideas aren't born, they're made: the SUCCESs framework provides six principles that make any idea more memorable and impactful. ## Scoring **Goal: 10/10.** Score any messaging (copy, presentations, campaigns, onboarding) by running the [Quick Diagnostic](#quick-diagnostic): rate each of the six traits 1-10, then map the 6-60 total to a band (50-60 = 9-10, extremely sticky; 35-49 = 7-8, strong; 20-34 = 4-6, forgettable; below 20 = ≤3, won't stick). Always state the current score, which traits scored lowest, and the specific fix from the diagnostic's Fix column. ## The SUCCESs Framework **S**imple · **U**nexpected · **C**oncrete · **C**redible · **E**motional · **S**tories **Not a checklist—a toolkit.** Not every sticky idea uses all six, but the stickiest ideas tend to use most of them—don't force all six onto a message that only needs two. ### 1. Simple **Core concept:** Find the core of the idea and share it compactly. Simple ≠ dumbed down—it means ruthless prioritization: "if you say three things, you say nothing." **The Commander's Intent:** if everything else goes wrong, what ONE thing must we accomplish? For messaging: if people remember ONE thing about your product, what should it be? **The inverted pyramid:** lead with the most important thing; readers who stop anywhere still got the core. **Techniques for simplicity:** | Technique | How It Works | Example | |-----------|-------------|---------| | **Core message** | Strip to the essential | Southwest: "THE low-fare airline" | | **Analogy** | Explain new via known | "It's like Uber for dog walking" | | **Generative** | Core idea that generates behavior | "Names, names, names" (local newspaper motto) | **Application to product messaging:** | Before (Complex) | After (Simple) | |-------------------|----------------| | "AI-powered, cloud-native customer engagement platform with omnichannel capabilities" | "Talk to all your customers in one place" | | "We leverage machine learning algorithms to optimize conversion funnels" | "We find why visitors don't buy and fix it" | | "Enterprise-grade project management with Gantt charts, resource allocation..." | "The simplest way to manage projects" | **The test:** Can you explain it to a smart 12-year-old? **Warning:** don't simplify into emptiness—"we make the world better" is simple but meaningless. See [references/simple.md](references/simple.md) when you can't reduce a message to one core idea—it has the Commander's Intent exercise, the inverted-pyramid pattern, and five "find the core" drills. ### 2. Unexpected **Core concept:** Get attention by breaking patterns (surprise); hold attention by creating curiosity gaps (interest). The surprise must connect to the core message—identify the counterintuitive implication and communicate that. **Example surprises:** | Category | Expected | Unexpected (Sticky) | |----------|----------|---------------------| | **Product launch** | "Introducing our new feature" | "We removed your favorite feature. Here's why." | | **Statistics** | "Obesity is growing" | "A bag of movie popcorn has more fat than a bacon-and-eggs breakfast, Big Mac and fries, and steak dinner — combined" | | **Value prop** | "Save money on insurance" | "15 minutes could save you 15%" (specific, unexpected) | **Creating curiosity gaps** — open a gap in knowledge, create the desire to fill it: | Technique | How It Works | Example | |-----------|-------------|---------| | **Question** | Ask what they don't know | "What's the #1 reason startups fail?" | | **Prediction** | Ask them to predict | "How many X do you think...?" | | **Mystery** | Present a puzzle, delay the resolution | "Nordstrom once refunded a set of tires. They don't sell tires." | | **Challenge** | Violate assumptions | "Everything you know about X is wrong" | **Anti-pattern:** Gimmicky surprise without substance. See [references/unexpected.md](references/unexpected.md) when a message reads as predictable—it has techniques for finding the counterintuitive angle and engineering curiosity gaps. ### 3. Concrete **Core concept:** Use sensory language and specific details instead of abstract concepts. Abstraction kills memorability; the more concrete and specific the idea, the stickier it becomes. **Abstract vs. Concrete:** | Abstract | Concrete | |----------|----------| | "Improve customer experience" | "Customers get their order in 30 minutes, still hot" | | "Increase engagement" | "Users open the app 8 times a day" | | "Optimize efficiency" | "Reduce report generation from 4 hours to 10 minutes" | | "World-class support" | "Call us and a human answers in under 60 seconds" | | "Scalable solution" | "Handle 10,000 users on day one without code changes" | **The Velcro theory of memory:** concrete ideas have more "hooks"—"bicycle" is easier to remember than "vehicle" because you can picture it. **Techniques for concreteness:** | Technique | How It Works | Example | |-----------|-------------|---------| | **Specific numbers** | Replace "a lot" with exact figures | "2,347 customers" not "thousands" | | **Sensory language** | Engage senses | "Crispy, not crunchy" | | **Concrete example** | Replace category with instance | "Like John, a 35-year-old teacher in Denver" | | **Before/after** | Tangible transformation | "Before: 4 hours. After: 10 minutes." | **Application:** features → outcomes; percentages → real numbers ("saves 40%" → "saves 16 hours/month"); categories → specific examples ("restaurants" → "pizza shops in Brooklyn"); demos > feature lists. See [references/concrete.md](references/concrete.md) when a message stays abstract—it has sensory-language drills and the abstract-to-concrete conversion process. ### 4. Credible **Core concept:** Help people believe your idea using external credibility (authorities, credentials) and internal credibility (vivid details, human-scale statistics, testable claims)—internal is more powerful. **External credibility:** | Source | How It Works | Example | |--------|-------------|---------| | **Authorities** | Expert endorsement | "Recommended by Harvard Business Review" | | **Anti-authorities** | Real people with experience | "Here's what a customer with the same problem found" | | **Credentials** | Verifiable achievements | "10 years experience, SOC 2 certified" | **Internal credibility:** | Technique | How It Works | Example | |-----------|-------------|---------| | **Vivid details** | Specificity implies truth | "On Tuesday at 3pm, in the conference room on the 4th floor..." | | **Human-scale statistics** | Relate numbers to experience | Not "10TB of data" but "every book ever written, 100 times" | | **The Sinatra Test** | One example so good it proves everything | "If I can make it there, I can make it anywhere" | | **Testable credential** | Let them verify | "Try it free for 14 days" | **The Sinatra Test:** one reference so impressive it handles all objections—"We secured the White House" (security), "We handle Super Bowl traffic" (scalability), "Used by Apple, Google, and Microsoft" (quality). **Making statistics stick:** put them in a context people understand—not "37 grams of saturated fat" but "more saturated fat than a Big Mac, fries, and milkshake combined." See [references/credible.md](references/credible.md) when a claim sounds unbelievable—it has authority types, the Sinatra Test, and methods for making statistics human-scale. ### 5. Emotional **Core concept:** Make people feel something—people act on emotion, not analysis. Statistics numb; stories about individuals inspire action. Mother Teresa principle: "If I look at the mass, I will never act. If I look at the one, I will." **Emotional appeals:** | Approach | How It Works | Example | |----------|-------------|---------| | **Individual focus** | One person's story > statistics | "Meet Sarah, who..." > "10,000 people affected" | | **Self-interest** | "What's in it for me?" | WIIFM: features → personal benefits | | **Identity** | "What would someone like me do?" | "Texans don't litter" (Don't Mess with Texas) | | **Maslow's hierarchy** | Appeal to the right level | Security, belonging, esteem, self-actualization | **The identity approach:** people decide based on identity, not calculation—frame your product as consistent with who they want to be: | Identity Frame | Product | Message | |---------------|---------|---------| | "I'm an innovative leader" | SaaS tool | "For teams that move fast" | | "I care about my health" | Food product | "Made with ingredients you can pronounce" | | "I'm a serious professional" | B2B service | "The tool Fortune 500 CTOs rely on" | **Avoid the "semantic stretch":** don't over-abstract the emotion—"Support the troops" beats "Support our national defense infrastructure." See [references/emotional.md](references/emotional.md) when a message is all logic and no feeling—it has the individual-focus, identity, and self-interest appeal frameworks. ### 6. Stories **Core concept:** Stories are flight simulators for the brain: they simulate experience, inspire action, stay memorable through narrative structure, and bypass resistance (people don't argue with stories). **Three story plots that work:** | Plot | Structure | When to Use | Example | |------|-----------|-------------|---------| | **Challenge** | Protagonist overcomes obstacle | Inspire courage, perseverance | "We started in a garage..." | | **Connection** | People bridging a gap | Inspire tolerance, teamwork | "A customer helped another customer..." | | **Creativity** | Novel solution to problem | Inspire innovation, thinking | "We tried X, Y, Z... then discovered..." | **Story structure for product messaging:** character (relatable customer) → problem (emotional) → journey (what they tried, concrete) → solution (how your product helped, specific) → outcome (measurable + emotional). **Example:** > "Sarah ran a 10-person design agency. Her team spent 4 hours every Friday compiling client reports from 5 different tools. She'd tried hiring an intern, building spreadsheets, even a custom tool. Nothing worked. Then she found [Product]. Now reports generate in 10 minutes. Last Friday, her team left at 3pm for the first time in years." **Spotting stories in the wild:** support tickets (problems + resolutions), sales calls (objections + breakthroughs), user interviews (before/after moments), internal Slack (team wins). See [references/stories.md](references/stories.md) when you need to build a narrative—it has the three story plots, the product-story structure, and methods for collecting real stories. ## The Curse of Knowledge **How it manifests:** jargon your audience doesn't know; skipping context that seems "obvious"; assuming your audience sees what you see; over-abstracting because you know the specifics. **Solutions:** test messaging with outsiders (not your team); use concrete language, not abstractions; tell stories, not bullet points; ask "would my mom understand this?" See [references/curse-of-knowledge.md](references/curse-of-knowledge.md) when your own message reads clearly but lands flat on others—it has diagnosis and remedies for shared-context blind spots. ## Applying SUCCESs to Product ### Landing Pages - **Simple:** one clear value proposition above the fold - **Unexpected:** counterintuitive claim or statistic - **Concrete:** specific outcome ("save 4 hours/week" not "save time") - **Credible:** customer logos, specific testimonials - **Emotional + Stories:** customer pain point and transformation narrative ### Product Demos - **Simple:** show ONE core workflow, not every feature - **Unexpected:** start with the "aha moment", not a tour - **Concrete:** use real data, not "Lorem ipsum" - **Credible:** show how [specific company] uses it - **Emotional + Stories:** "Let me show you what happens when [customer] has this problem..." ### Onboarding - **Simple:** one action per screen - **Unexpected:** delight with a quick win early - **Concrete:** show real results, not abstract promises - **Credible:** "Join 5,000 teams already using..." - **Emotional + Stories:** celebrate first success; "here's how [user] got started..." See [references/applications.md](references/applications.md) when applying SUCCESs to a specific format—it has element-by-element tables, fill-in templates, and before/after examples for landing pages, demos, onboarding, presentations, email campaigns, internal comms, and documentation. See [references/case-studies.md](references/case-studies.md) for full worked teardowns (JFK's moonshot, the Subway diet, Don't Mess with Texas) when you want to see all six traits operating together in a famous message. ## Enrichment — Symptom → principle (reverse diagnostic) The Quick Diagnostic below scores each trait one by one; this table runs the other way. Start from what's actually wrong with a message and jump straight to the principle that fixes it: | Symptom (what people say) | Reach for | |---------------------------|-----------| | "It's too complicated" | **Simple** | | "They tune out" | **Unexpected** | | "They forget it" | **Concrete** | | "They don't believe it" | **Credible** | | "They get it but don't care" | **Emotional** |