Tomer Cohen’s Post

🎧 Just listened to an excellent episode of the Building One podcast hosted by Tomer Cohen with Gustav Söderström. Recommend checking it out! Adding my highlights: 1. Leadership: Communicating your thoughts and decisions, along with the intuition behind them, makes them scalable. This helps the team build follow-up hypotheses by combining the context they have. 2. Recommendation models: Spotify recognized the need to augment vector similarity and engagement-based features with semantic (content) similarity for improved recommendations, and fulfilled it through an acquisition.  3. Personalization: Single app with multiple experiences and user intents - centralized organization helps maintain a cohesive personalized user experience, while the different business units optimize personalization for their own vertical (similar org decision we made at Booking when Flights and Rides were introduced).  Go listen :)

Whoever at Spotify came up with the concept of ‘Your Year Wrapped’ is pure genius!🧞♂️ How is that for a piece of personalised content that makes the streaming platform so sticky and makes you feel so good. It’s entertaining, ellicits emotions (I smiled all along) and even surprises you 🎁 — What did I learn about myself? 🎵 I’m in the top 9% Spotify listeners worldwide (I think hybrid/WFH has something to do with it!) 📊 I am a Shapeshifter (refer to the picture below for what this means) 🕺🏽 My top 3 music styles are Groove Room, Hip Hop and Pop 🎤 My top 5 artists are… Actually I’ll keep this to myself! 🎧 My top 3 podcasts in listening hours are Enter the Boardroom by Nurole, Nudge Podcast by Phill Agnew and Punchy by We Are Rival — Cool little piece of content, right? Not only is it a brilliant idea for the user (and beautifully executed), for Spotify: 🤙🏻 It creates more use engagement 🔢 which generates more data for them to leverage 🦠 It promotes social sharing, leading to user acquisition 💚 while keeping its engaged users happy, driving retention and loyalty — A great example of product-led growth. And thanks Spotify for bringing an extra large smile every year 😍 #productledgrowth #PLG #productmarketing #surpriseanddelight

🎵 I Love Spotify Wrapped. According to mine I am in the top 0.5% of J Cole listeners worldwide😂the guy went platinum with ZERO features! Interestingly I also listened to 27 genres in 2023. Spotify Wrapped demonstrates how understanding customer behaviour, beyond just music drives engagement and loyalty. Before 2020 Behavioural economics was entirely a buzz word until I did my MBA thesis on BE. Behavioral economics, at its core, examines the influence of psychological, social, and emotional factors on purchasing decisions, and more recently on the utility that customers derive post-purchase for digital platforms. Key takeouts: Personalization: Custom year-end summaries create a unique, emotional connection with users. Social Proof: Encouraging social media shares, Wrapped harnesses the power of community influence. Anticipation & Reward: The annual excitement and reveal of Wrapped taps into psychological gratification. Gamification: Interactive elements like rankings engage users on a deeper level. Community Building: Wrapped fosters a shared experience, strengthening user connections to Spotify. By integrating these behavioral economics concepts, Spotify Wrapped has transformed from a viral campaign to a pivotal tool for customer retention and growth, it literally started as fireworks and ended up as a warm campfire that we are all sitting around. #Behaviouraleconomics #Growthmarketing #Digitalnudges Image source: Brad Callas

🚀 Excited to Share: Product Teardown of Spotify! 🎶 Hello LinkedIn Community! I am excited to share my latest learning—a comprehensive Product Teardown of Spotify. This deep dive explores the features, functionality, and strategies that make Spotify a leader in the music streaming industry. 💡 𝐑𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬: 𝐄𝐧𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐒𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐅𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬: Integrate more interactive social elements to increase user engagement and retention. Adding a feature that allows users to connect with friends across social media platforms would be particularly beneficial. 𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐋𝐢𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐫𝐲: Continue to diversify and expand the music and podcast library to cater to a broader audience. Increasing the availability of songs in local Indian languages will help reach and engage a wider audience. 𝐋𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐞𝐝 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: Tailor marketing strategies to different regions to better appeal to local user preferences and trends. 💡 𝐄𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬: 𝐇𝐢𝐠𝐡 𝐔𝐬𝐞𝐫 𝐑𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: The data-driven recommendation system effectively keeps users engaged and returning. Personalized song recommendations, favorite playlists, and curated artist suggestions create a strong hook for customer retention. 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭 𝐏𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: Spotify's strategic decisions and innovative features have solidified its position as a market leader. By diversifying its offerings and entering the podcast market, Spotify has become the largest podcasting platform in the world. The strategy of providing add-on services to existing customers results in high conversion rates, keeps acquisition costs low and enhances customer retention. 𝐄𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐌𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: The freemium model and targeted advertisements have proven to be effective revenue streams. This business model relates to Spotify’s generic competitive strategy by making the streaming music service available to practically every online person, regardless of intent or capacity to pay for the service. Prodigy | SJMSOM, IIT Bombay #SJMSOM #IITBOMBAY #MBA #Spotify #ProductTeardown #UXDesign #BusinessStrategy #Technology #MusicStreaming #Innovation

🚀 What makes Spotify Wrapped so interesting? 📊 What makes Spotify Wrapped go viral every year? Let’s dive into the psychology that keeps us all hooked! 🌟 1. Curiosity Gap: Spotify creates anticipation by teasing users about their listening habits before the Wrapped launch. It's all about making you wonder, "Did I listen to more songs this year?" 2. Anticipation: The thrill of not knowing your top artist or song keeps our brains engaged. This effect, known as Variable Reward, ensures we keep coming back for more. 3. Storytelling: Spotify Wrapped presents data like a story, making even the longest content captivating and engaging. 4. Bandwagon Effect: By encouraging users to share their Wrapped results, Spotify creates social value and FOMO (fear of missing out) for those who don't join in. Design Tips & Tricks: Personalization, FOMO, anticipation, and storytelling are key elements that make Spotify Wrapped so successful. 👉 Want a free consultation call for your website? DM the word “Website” for a free call! Feel free to drop a like, follow for more content, and turn on post notifications! #UXDesign #UIDesign #DesignInspiration #SpotifyWrapped #Figma #Psychology #WebDesign #Marketing #Psycology #buildinpublic #networking

Tech Talk 😃 Earlier this month, Spotify launched it’s annual wrapped campaign. This personalized retrospective of users' listening habits throughout the year has somewhat become a cultural phenomenon, and its success holds valuable lessons for other social platforms. For me, the genius of Spotify's Wrapped lies in its ability to transform data into a visually appealing and shareable format that seamlessly integrates with other social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, e.t.c. The shareability factor amplifies the reach of Spotify's brand but also leverages users as brand advocates. Quirky stats like "your most-streamed song at 2am" or "your karaoke anthem" tap into our desire for self-discovery and connection, making Wrapped a shareable window into our musical souls. The launch timing was also key since most people are in their introspective mood at the end of the year making Wrapped a kind of nostalgic look back. While Spotify Wrapped personalized data storytelling is a hit, blindly replicating it won't work for every platform. Different audiences, content types, privacy concerns, platform identities, and engagement metrics all demand tailoring, not imitation. What resonates well on a music streaming platform might not necessarily translate effectively to a photo-sharing, fitness, gaming or professional networking platform. Focus on enhancing your platform's own strengths and personalize experiences wisely to truly resonate with your unique user base. #spotify #tech #techtalk

✨ A happy Spotify wrapped day to all those who celebrate! ✨ I've been diving deep into the world of product led growth (PLG) this week. One of the core PLG tenants is 'virality'. Spotify Wrapped is the perfect case study for a viral product. It's built to be personal and to easily share. If you're a current Spotify user, you want to share your personal experience with the app. And since music can be so emotional, it represents who you are as a person. If you're not a Spotify user, your timeline is inundated with the candy colored recaps, built for social media, making you wonder if you should make an account so you're not left out next year. Spotify has built a product that feeds perfectly into this emotion driven cycle centered on 'Who am I?' and 'What's everyone else doing?' To the product team in charge of wrapped, hit me up, I'd love to learn more about how you're building products Spotify! #spotify #spotifypodcast #product #productdevelopment #wrapped #spotifywrapped #plg #productledgrowth

🎵 Spotify: The Soundtrack to Global Domination 🚀 From a Swedish startup to a global audio streaming giant, Spotify's growth story is music to our ears. Let's dive into the eight growth hacks that turned Spotify into the chart-topper it is today: 1️⃣ Freemium Magic 2️⃣ Playing the Friend Card 3️⃣ Your Daily Mixtape 4️⃣ The Exclusive Track 5️⃣ The Duet Strategy 6️⃣ Music on the Go 7️⃣ The World Tour 8️⃣ The Encore Now, what's next for Spotify? If I was their Chief Growth Officer, these would be some of the strategies I would drill down on: 🤖 AI and Machine Learning 📽️ More Video Integration 🙋 Interactive Features 🌍 Emerging Markets 🎙️ Advanced Podcasting 💰 Sustainable Artist Compensation Stay tuned for the next chart-topping hit! 🎶 #Spotify #MusicStreaming #GrowthHacks #Innovation

Spotify officially launched to the public in 2008. However, it wasn't an instant hit. They had to secure licensing deals with record labels, which came at a high cost. This led to massive losses, and the company's financial future looked bleak. But Spotify didn't give up. Playlist Power One key decision that changed Spotify's fortunes was the introduction of user-generated playlists. Personalization and Discover Weekly They leveraged data and algorithms to curate personalized playlists like Discover Weekly. Bold Experiments and Expansions They expanded their services beyond music, including podcasts and exclusive content. Lesson Learned - A strong foundation is essential for long-term success. - Understand users deeply, their preferences, and their pain points. - User Experience is a key. 

Got to love it when a CEO like Daniel Ek from Spotify posts about the value of #Community to the business. If you get inspired by the story and want to see what it takes to start your own #onlinecommunities then check out the link in the comment.