As the INSIDER Guide to New Product Development (NPD), I’m constantly keeping an eye out for bite-size information that will help you develop and scale better subscription products.  Here’s my “Five on Friday” compilation for February 26th, featuring the five best trends, tips, quotes or stats from my reading this week.  

1. The Power – and Pitfalls – of Statistics 

I recently stumbled on a statistic I thought would be of interest to 5 on Friday readers. It emphasized why including images in blogs, tweets and articles are important, and asserted that your brain processes images 60,000 times faster than text.

I searched for the original source of the quote (not cited in the article), and reasonably quickly I found a blogger’s 2012 detailed quest for the source of the “60,000” statistic. Neither he nor I could find it.  He did, however, lay out several examples of the quote used without attribution, mistaken attribution or as the seemingly original thought of the writer.

So rather than an example of why you should include images to enhance your text, I offer you one that illustrates why it’s good to check your facts before believing or, worse, disseminating them.

2. Netflix Won’t Change Their Rating Results by Changing the Rating System

A recent Business Insider article announced that Netflix is toying with changing its rating system from the 1-to-5 rankings we’re familiar with to something that would better capture “enjoyment level.”  The reason?  Too many viewers who enjoy so-called “bad” movies, but rate them poorly because they know they’re not Citizen Kane.

But the numeric system isn’t to blame. The system clearly indicates that a high rating means “Loved It,” not “It’s another Citizen Kane.” So what are the takeaways for Insiders?

• Be direct about what you’re asking
• your subscribers to rate – but . . .
• Also understand that subscribers have minds of their own, and could take even the clearest rating system in an unanticipated direction. 
• See the ambiguity inherent in a simple rating system, and trust that tool (both as a business person and as a user) only so far when decision-making. 

3. Boomerang App Allows You to Schedule Email “Sends” in Gmail

Many small businesses use a non-business Gmail account as they start off.  But, there’s a key feature missing from Gmail – the ability to write an email today and send it at a future time. 

I just started using the Boomerang app, which embeds seamlessly into Gmail to allow not only the future send, but also reminders to follow up, suppression of some emails during a time and other features that can improve productivity and bring you closer to that ever-elusive thing – the empty Inbox.

4. New Tips for More Effective Meetings

Larger organizations, especially, burn out team members with well-intentioned but enthusiasm-sapping meetings.  Most of us know we should start and end on time, be ready with an agenda and make sure to allow time to summarize and reiterate to-do’s before everyone scatters.  However, this infographic from Entrepreneur.com (too large to include in its entirety here) offers a few tips you may not have thought of.  My favorites?  Report on follow-up tasks via email, assign a meeting leader to keep things on track and keep meetings small – four to seven people is optimal. 

5. Reid Hoffman Quote Encourages Rapid Iteration

Have a great weekend, everyone.

Diane

Diane Pierson has deep experience in product management and marketing, having delivered results to companies including Dun & Bradstreet, LexisNexis, American Lawyer Media and Copyright Clearance Center. She has built products & services that have delivered over $100 million in revenue and knows what works, and what doesn’t, when executing product plans and strategies. She is also a contributor to Subscription Insider. (Read Diane’s full Bio)