André Chaperon

I write about how Sovereign Creators (who are knowledge workers) can build a "Digital World" around their core idea. This new approach shifts focus from chasing audiences to attracting them, thus building trust and earning attention. Welcome to the art of building a Tiny Digital World.

Tiny Worlds: Wayfinding (email 5 of 7)

André

5 min read

Hey, it’s André…

I’ve critiqued many marketing funnels over the years.

Every single one has been some expression of a straight line between point A and a desired endpoint, typically some moves later.

Although it’s less a game of chess and more a game of chance.

But I get it.

Implicated in a traditional marketing funnel is a linear series of conversion points, each measurable, silently tracking CPA/AOV/LTV (cost per acquisition/average order value/lifetime value).

One of the problems with this approach that I never see emphasized is that these funnels are constructed on a series of “best guesses” (yes, educated guesses to the degree they can be), and when any of these guesses are off (misaligned with the needs or desires of a prospect), the performance of the funnel is undermined.

When you think of it like this, it’s not that far off buying a lottery ticket.

Each step in the funnel increases the chances of pulling the wrong number.

Imagine having to get all six numbers correct each time someone enters your sales funnel in order for them to become a customer within some narrow window on your fancy analytics dashboard.

Then having to do that every time a new prospect clicks into your hopper.

Damn!

It’s little wonder conversion rates are single-digit affairs. It’s hard to imagine it being any other way.

For the remainder of this email, I need you to suspend disbelief. 🙂

Once done, decide what you think about this.

As I said in email 1, when widely established norms, beliefs, and conventional thinking of the status quo are challenged, the default response is to react negatively or turn the other way.

Let’s revisit the ‘open world funnel’ I shared in the two previous emails:

When you first look at this illustration, the first impression is some degree of randomness — paths pointing to different pages with no clear route to the endpoint (offer/product).

I’m going to reframe what you see.

Then, like a magic trick, this illustration will never seem the same again. It’ll be like wearing magic glasses, and you’ll see what you previously couldn’t:

Wayfinding.

It’s a way in which people “orient” themselves in an open world physical space and navigate from point to point, place to place, towards a desired endpoint.

But wayfinding isn’t restricted to physical space (see How Nintendo Solved Zelda’s Open World Problem).

Website navigation, sitemaps, breadcrumbs, context + hyperlinks, and search bars help users navigate between pages and are expressions of wayfinding.

These tools guide users from one section of the website to another and help them understand where they are in the site’s structure.

Orientation.

In these examples, good digital wayfinding design makes the user experience more intuitive, efficient, and enjoyable.

Remember this image illusion?

Good wayfinding points the way ahead.

But more importantly, it orients “towards” an endpoint, but with the added benefit of autonomy, affording agency along a journey.

Remember one of the dynamics of Mechanism Design Theory from the previous email:

What’s interesting about the concept is that it involves designing a game or situation so that the desired outcomes occur when each participant acts in their own self-interest.

Unlike a traditional marketing funnel made up of a linear series of predetermined steps, a non-linear ‘open world’ funnel uses wayfinding to point the path ahead.

Part III of my manifesto drew attention to one of the principles of Tiny Worlds — Choose Your Own Adventure (CYOA).

In Lord of the Rings, Frodo Baggins was journeying towards Mount Doom (Orodruin) in Mordor to destroy the One Ring.

But it wasn’t a straight A > B > C path.

At each step along the way, “wayfinding” was used to point towards the next step, then the next, and the next.

But there was agency along the way.

The journey felt inevitable.

For example, leaving the Shire: Frodo, Sam, and Pippin need to decide whether to take the road or cut through the Old Forest to avoid the Black Riders. They choose the Old Forest.

Bree: The Hobbits have to decide whether to take the road through the Midgewater Marshes to Weathertop or to go around. They choose the Marshes.

Rivendell: The Fellowship must decide whether to cross the Misty Mountains via the High Pass or the Pass of Caradhras. They initially choose Caradhras but are thwarted by the weather and end up going through the Mines of Moria.

These “decision points” are throughout the story and a metaphor for life.

Life is naturally non-linear.

It’s a reflection of reality.

This points to how we should construct our marketing system.

Tiny Worlds is an expression of non-linear world-building, providing an ‘open world’ experience where we “guide” people between pages using the principles of digital wayfinding.

Don’t worry about ‘how’ to do this yet.

The ‘how-to’ is not important at this point.

First, internalizing ‘what’ makes up TW and ‘why’ this is a better, more natural way to build a marketing system will form the foundation of your understanding.

André

P.S.

When we’re optimizing for Happy, magic happens within our Tiny World

Engaging experiences are created when we use wayfinding to orient people toward an endpoint that feels natural, a byproduct afforded to them through the Tiny World, yet doesn’t impinge on their sense of agency and self-determination on their journey.

Illustrated below, we welcome our new denizens, expanding the World to accommodate them as we serve their needs and desires.