We all know the statistics, or at least know the analysis about the statistics: People typically tend to buy things based on the recommendation on their friends and someone that they have trust in. But how would you know if someone would actually buy that item? Is there a way where you can use some sort of a viral social network or service that you can just post photos up there and all you want people to do is simply vote yes or no whether or not they’d be interested in that? Is there a need for a “Hot or Not” service for products where people can join in and share the items they are considering purchasing or perhaps even selling? And lastly, how can you further spread the news about your product by attaching it to the existing social networks like Twitter and Facebook?
That’s a lot of questions to be asking, but allow me to simply respond with three short words: Tip or Skip.
Yup, that’s right…we’re talking about the Tip or Skip mobile shopping application that we first covered a few months ago, but this isn’t going to be a rehashing about what the service is about, but more about celebrating the application and its usefulness. You see, when I first wrote about Tip or Skip in February, it was still in that beta stage, but today, the service is rolling out to the public with a bit more of a social gaming aspect to it. The evolution of the service, along with the pretty cushy $2 million funding round from great investors like 500 Startups, John Ason, Corinthian Group, and more, will surely captivate people to share what they’re seeing (from a retail/commercial standpoint) and may, quite frankly, be a big sap to your productivity during the day. You’ve been warned!
As Tip or Skip CEO, Michael Weiksner said: “Consumers spend two thirds of their time on their phones playing games and using social networks. Tip or Skip is the first mobile experience to combine these elements for shoppers. On Tip or Skip, shoppers compete to be a top tastemaker by spotting and sharing the best products.”
With that being said, just how can Tip or Skip accomplish this? By certainly making it fun to do some window shopping, all without needing to spend money on gas and dealing with crowds, and definitely much more engaging.
Okay, so the deal is this…the original concept of Tip or Skip is still there where you can glance through any number of photos of products that might be interesting to you. You can cycle through each one and mark them either as “Tip” or “Skip”. And as it’s been alluded to, this new application is basically like “Hot or Not”. Simple concept. But now, the service has a social gaming feature to it where you’re able to earn points when other people re-tip your original tip. Get it? So if we put it in Twitter terms…if I say I like something and you retweet it (re-tip), then according to Tip or Skip, I believe that the original person gets points for that. Once a re-tip has happened, the original poster will earn “sway” points (I’d imagine it’s like Klout for social gaming?). But here’s a kicker that was discovered and shared on CNET: you can run out of “sway” points and once that’s been done, you’ll be unable to play the game anymore. Bummer huh? Well that’s probably tied back into the addictive nature of Tip or Skip…you’re going to want to keep tipping stuff and sharing it with your friends and other players because otherwise, you might just lose out on all your “sway” points–it’s a matter of sharing and survival, people!
If you’re tired of seeing all the same things on Tip or Skip and want to see how much influence your products and designs have, then Tip or Skip has the feature for you. A new feature called “Create” allows you to simply upload photos from your phone or even take a photo and share it with the entire community. Then it will be going into the larger pool of items to be judged and you’ll get people’s thoughts on whether it’s tip-able or skip-able. The service doesn’t require photos to be about clothing or merchandise, so I’d imagine you could share whatever you want. Quite honestly, Tip or Skip will probably allow anyone to share whatever they want and have it be rated. Although there is one probably unbreakable rule to anything that’s posted in the app–it must be able to be bought.
In looking at a product’s page in more detail, you’ll be able to find out where exactly you can purchase that item. In the image shown here, the musical glasses, if you’d like to buy them, can be purchased on the Luna & Curious website for £99. So not only is there a chance for purchase conversions, but for businesses that are interested in doing some social focus groups or market research, they could seed their products on Tip or Skip to see what product items would be worth selling online or in their stores and if someone really liked it, they could buy it instantly–no need to waste any precious time out of the day. And for people who are interested in how many views a certain product receives, the service also provides that as well–very helpful in determining what the most popular items are.
A couple of things that I believe aren’t my favorite with Tip or Skip has to deal with the images being used. Some images that I see on the site are not completely resized and that might be the best images that they have. Ideally it would be great to have sharp and crisp images of products so people have a really good idea about what things look like–otherwise we’re more inclined to possibly just skip it over and move on. Secondly, in their beta mode, to add to their gamification model, Tip or Skip gave out badges to individuals for various achievements and milestones. As I was testing out the app a few months ago, I received the “Discerning Eye” badge–but sadly that seems to have been removed from play.
To further test the social merchandising industry, it would be also especially nice for Tip or Skip to help further the sales conversion for potential merchant partners by integrating a very subtle mobile advertising platform like Kiip so that after someone reaches a milestone, they will be greeted with this special coupon for a retail partner with discount codes, invitations to special events, or whatever other prizes are possible. That would help keep people more engaged and may even help drive up sales and usage of the site, as people are more interested in getting better achievements.
Tip or Skip is a product of two lifelong friends, Nathaniel McNamara and Michael Weiskner and based in New York’s world-famous Fashion District. The application is available on the iPhone and iPad. I’m sure an Android version is coming (but not right now).
Excuse me, I need to get back to my mobile shopping.
Photo Credit: Woman on laptop (original photo taken by Jeffrey Pott/Flickr)