contagious

Apply the STEPPS framework: score your product across Social Currency, Triggers, Emotion, Public, Practical Value, and Stories, then strengthen the weakest drivers. Virality is engineered through deliberate design choices, not luck, and even two or three drivers done well dramatically increase word-of-mouth.

STEPPS is Jonah Berger's six-principle framework from Contagious: Social Currency, Triggers, Emotion, Public, Practical Value, and Stories. Each principle independently increases sharing, and the most contagious ideas activate several at once.

Quality alone does not drive sharing; content fails when it lacks high-arousal emotion, everyday triggers, or visible usage signals. Run the Quick Diagnostic to check whether sharing makes people look good, whether an environmental cue recalls it, and whether the brand is embedded in a retellable story.

No, only about 7% of word-of-mouth happens online while 93% occurs in offline conversations. Design conversation triggers linked to daily routines and frequent environmental cues rather than relying on share buttons and social mechanics.

Use the Rule of 100: for products under $100, frame discounts as percentages because the number is larger; for products over $100, use dollar amounts. A $30 item sounds better as 50% off, while a $2,000 item sounds better as $200 off.

STEPPS cannot compensate for a product nobody wants, and manufactured scarcity, fabricated stories, or engineered outrage erode trust. The framework also requires sustained reinforcement, since trigger associations and visibility loops take time and consistency to build.