I was going through old files and found this copy of a Wicked_Edge post I made in April 2012:
I got to thinking about a comment another subscriber made, about the frequency and number of the “OMG” posts from newbies doing their first shave. First, the number is probably in part because of rapid growth (around 3,500 in October, and 12,575 today, not five months later) and also a good “closing the loop” response: the newbie gets encouragement and advice here, goes away to try it, and returns to report and thank us. That’s good. The rapid growth is probably a characteristic of the word-of-mouth way the information is spread: if one new traditional shaver convinces his friends to try it, and they convince theirs, then exponential growth sets in. (See subscriber figures above.) The acknowledgements also stem in part from this: when you get information via word-of-mouth, you feel you owe someone a thank-you when the information works out.
But as I pondered it, it struck me that perhaps something else is afoot. In addition to the delight of discovering something that’s really good, newbies also have to deal with their simultaneous discovery that what they’ve been repeatedly told, through Gillette marketing (and from the mouths of respected sports figures) that the new Fusion/whatever razor is the very best way to shave: comfortable, close shaves that feel good and are kind to your skin. The ads are ubiquitous, and when the newbie tries traditional wetshaving and discovers from his own immediate direct experience that he has been lied to for years, it’s something that he naturally wants to talk about.
For one thing, his experience is totally at variance with everything the ads have told him about how the Fusion/whatever is the greatest—it’s not only untrue, but based upon his own direct and immediate experience, it’s obviously untrue. And all the money spent for cartridges hurts, and all the shaves that provided no enjoyment hurt.
So the newbie needs someplace to go to talk about it as part of validating the experience and understanding that, yes, he’s right, it really is better and all his prior beliefs, based upon those ads, were wrong.
I think the impact is much greater because the difference is discovered not be reading a news story or a study that contradicts statements made by another party—the difference is discovered by comparing his own experience with cartridge/canned-foam shave with his own experience with traditional shaves. It becomes his own knowledge, not knowledge accepted from another source. So it hits harder.
As a result, he returns to WE to confirm that, yes, this really is better
Filed under: Shaving
