Airbnb Case Study Cheat Sheet

Based on https://growth.design/case-studies/airbnb-personalization

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📝 CHECKLIST SUMMARY
Want to use personalization to lower user churn for your product?
Then remember these tips (see this twitter thread for related visuals and comments):

▢ 1— 👤INDIVIDUALS > SEGMENTS: Find ways to detect individual preferences and anticipate needs. (e.g.: 90% of
Shaquille O'Neal's last 100 Airbnb bookings had King Size Beds—let's use a default filter so he can sleep comfortably!)
▢ 2—📊SEGMENT > AVERAGES: Relying on "averages" in data can be risky. Use customer segments & cohorts to analyze
behavior whenever possible. (e.g.: "Work Trip" filters may be good for "Corporate Travelers" who deduct travel
expenses, but not for frugal "Digital Nomads").
▢ 3— 💎CONTEXT > DATA: Data tells you "what". Context tells you "why". e.g.: Both "a couple" & "two business partners"
would use "Number of People: 2" in their filters… but their expectations are very different for the results 😉 (2 beds vs 1
bed).
▢ 4—⏰TIMING: Customization at the right moment can work wonders to nudge users in the right direction (e.g.: if I use
"today" as a booking "from" date, Airbnb nudges me to use the "Instant Book" filter. Brilliant.)
▢ 5—🎩PERSISTENCE : Ask for high-inertia preferences once and persist them. Avoid pushing your users through a
"Filter Fest" every time they use your product.

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💡 INSIGHTS
Here are all of the marketing, psychological & UX insights covered in the case study:

🧪 Location Personalization

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💎 Nudge. Don't Push.

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📊 Usage Based Personalization

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🧠 Status Quo Bias

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🧠 Social Proof Pitfalls

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💎 Customization vs Personalization

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💡 Feature vs Jobs To Be Done

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🧠 Hick's Law

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💡 Want to use psychology to build better products?
If you're looking for more ways to sharpen your product skills using psychology, check these out:

Product Psychology Course.

If you want to learn how to use psychology to create better
experiences for your customers, check out our course:
https://growth.design/course

Cognitive Biases Cheatsheet.

100+ cognitive biases and design principles that affect
your product experiences. Tons of product examples, tips,
and checklists to improve your user experience:
https://growth.design/psychology
—Dan Benoni & Louis-Xavier Lavallée

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