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Engineer word-of-mouth and virality using the STEPPS framework (Social Currency, Triggers, Emotion, Public, Practical Value, Stories).
Passed 20 of 23 test cases with the skill, and 15 of 23 without it.
and 7 more in the full report
6 fixed14 passed either way2 still failing1 broke
Tokens, turns and time describe resource use, not a dollar price.
One of 6 test cases the skill fixed. Same model, same prompt, with and without the skill.
We evaluated our mobile app's sharing features across the six STEPPS drivers. Social Currency scored 2, Triggers scored 1, Emotion scored 1, Public scored 1, Practical Value scored 1, and Stories scored 1. What is the raw point total out of 12, and what mapped score out of 10 does this map to?
| Checked | Without skill | With skill |
|---|---|---|
| Reports a raw total of 7 out of 12. | Passed | Passed |
| Maps the raw total of 7 to a score of 6-7 out of 10. | Missed | Passed |
The instructions your model reads when the skill loads.
A framework for engineering word-of-mouth and making products, ideas, and content contagious, based on Jonah Berger's research into why things catch on. Use it to design shareability into products, campaigns, and content instead of hoping for luck.
Virality is not born — it is engineered. Products spread because they were designed — consciously or not — to be shared. Only 7% of word-of-mouth happens online; the other 93% happens in offline conversations, so virality is about the psychology of sharing, not social media mechanics. Those psychological patterns are predictable and can be engineered into anything using the STEPPS framework.
See: references/word-of-mouth.md when the brief over-indexes on social media — it makes the offline-vs-online case, lists conversation triggers, and gives a WOM measurement/audit method.
Goal: 10/10. Score each of the six STEPPS drivers (the six Quick Diagnostic rows) — 0 absent, 1 present but weak, 2 strong and deliberate — for a raw 0-12, then map: 11-12 -> 10, 9-10 -> 8-9, 6-8 -> 6-7, 3-5 -> 4-5, 0-2 -> <=3. Bands:
Report the raw count, the mapped score, and the specific driver(s) to raise next to reach 10/10.
Not a checklist — a multiplier. Each principle independently increases sharing; the most contagious ideas activate several at once, but even one or two done well dramatically increase word-of-mouth.
| Principle | Core Question | Sharing Driver |
|---|---|---|
| S — Social Currency | Does sharing it make people look good? | Self-enhancement |
| T — Triggers | What in the environment reminds people of it? | Top-of-mind accessibility |
| E — Emotion | Does it fire up high-arousal feelings? | Physiological arousal |
| P — Public | Can others see people using it? | Observational learning |
| P — Practical Value | Is it useful enough to pass along? | Altruism and helpfulness |
| S — Stories | Is the brand embedded in a narrative? | Entertainment and identity |
Core concept: People share things that make them look good — smart, cool, in-the-know. Make people feel like insiders and they'll spread it to boost their own image.
Why it works: Sharing is self-presentation — listeners infer the sharer's traits from what they pass on, so people curate shares the way they curate clothes. Mechanism: give the sharer a payoff in status or identity and you outsource your marketing to their ego.
test cases passed, vs 15 / 23 without
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