The Law of Reciprocity is not a law
Arlen Meyers, MD, MBA
President and CEO, Society of Physician Entrepreneurs, another lousy golfer, terrible cook
Most of us do not consciously think about reciprocity in our intimate relationships. When we do, we might say, “Of course it is important.” Like the Golden Rule, we recognize it as a valuable principle to live by.
Do people in your close or distant networks reciprocate?
The saying goes, "Engineering is simple. People are hard". It is impossible to predict with a high degree for certainty how they will think, feel, and act in response to any given stimulus.
Consider, for example, the model you use to generate non-clinical career income by being a compensated connector.
Model #1: Take advantage of the law of reciprocity. Offer your products for free with an option to voluntarily pay as an expression of thanks for their value.
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Model #2: Create a paywall so that only payers can receive or use your product
Model #3: Sample or try before you buy it. Use a freemium model (LinkedIn) and offer users to buy higher value products (Sales Navigator) or offer the first paragraph of an article as a teaser and require users to pay to read the rest.
Model #4: Some combination of the above to test to see which one works the best.
Research shows that about 10% of those who initially subscribe to a newsletter for free convert to paying subscribers. But which ones and how many depends on many factors testing and analytics should reveal but only if you bother to test and measure the results.
I hope you enjoyed this post. How does that make you feel? Are you reaching for your credit card?
Arlen Meyers, MD, MBA is the President and CEO of the Society of Physician Entrepreneurs on Substack and Editor of Digital Health Entrepreneurship