How I'd Grow Flip
Think back to the first time you bought from an Instagram ad.
It felt so… new.
Buying on the internet had a certain sketchiness to it. But that sketchiness made you feel alive. And plus - you couldn’t believe how good the ad was.
Nowadays, it’s fully normal to shop online - thanks to Amazon, the emergence of DTC brands, and ultimately, more time spent on social media.
All of these things converge today in the form of a new app: Flip.
Flip is going for the moonshot. A hybrid of TikTok’s addicting “for you” page, combined with shopping elements from Amazon, Instagram and more.
Right now they’re taking a classic Venture Capital backed approach:
It worked for Uber, Doordash, and even AirBnB.
My opinion? It won’t work here.
But Flip as a concept makes soooo much sense.
So, how would we go about growing Flip?
Give $$, Get $$
If you’re reading this and actually know what Flip is, chances are, your friend invited you. And that invite came with a “gift card”.
When you signup for Flip, it immediately gives you:
- A list of friends to invite
- A gift card amount for each friend
- Weighted upon how many friends THEY have on the platform.
As a product feature, super smart growth hack.
The challenge with Flip was not the initial signup. In fact, I invited 5 people to try and boost my gift card amount.
The problem was not seeing interesting brands or familiar faces on the platform.
Now, I’m not super inclined to check back in.
So while the cash discount was fun, Flip failed the critical “Interesting-ness” problem.
When users open a social app, they need juicy content within 7 seconds (or they bounce).
So how do they fix it?
Well…
Win the Creators, Win the Eyeballs
It's important for Flip to put recognizable creators on people’s phones.
YouTube and TikTok have faced criticism in the past for not properly compensating creators.
People follow people.
And fixing the interesting-ness problem requires delivering a recognizable, established creator within thOSE first 7 seconds.
Follow the Sportsbook Playbook
New gambling users are insanely valuable to Sports Betting apps.
Some of the more popular ones have customer acquisition costs in the $500-1000 range, and they happily pay it.
As a result, they tinker with several different offers.
- Risk-free first bet.
- $100 off your first bet.
- Deposit matching (deposit $100, get $100 so you have $200 to bet)
- Boosted odds to win
For Flip, they should attempt something similar.
Direct response with an offer so good, you can’t refuse.
Imagine you see an Instagram ad like:
Chances are, you’re taking the deal.
Conclusion
Who knows if Flip will work. Had someone told a 35-year-old in 2003 that Amazon would be where people order anything other than books, they’d have looked at you crazy. Things change fast.
If they can:
- Conquer the interesting-ness problem
- Create more compelling offers
I think they have a shot. But throwing money at customer acquisition only works in the most extreme circumstances. You have to retain people to thrive.
What do y’all think? Will Flip change the shopping experience forever? Or is it a flash in the pan?
