Non-stick is the new sticky

Here at Rubicon Project I've heard the complaint "we have to be more sticky!" The fear being that clients can turn us off very easily just by adjusting tags on their sites. Some people think this means they want a higher barrier to exit.

It's time to turn that idea on its head.

Now, it may be that I'm just a F.O.S.S. junkie, but I tend to avoid software that has strong lock in because I know that I'm going to be trapped if it doesn't live up to the hype. So having lowered perceived stickiness will lower the barrier to entry.

Secondly, if I see a product with low barrier-to-exit and yet it is popular and clients renew and stick with it, I know the clients are staying for quality and not due to a technical lock-in. For me, that is the real stickiness.

When I talked to Damian (Hogan) about this last month, he agreed and expanded to say how true stickiness comes from providing a value proposition where it's worth more for clients to stay than to leave.

And when it comes to that kind of stickiness, we are very, very sticky.