Confound Status quo bias: People tend to prefer decisions that maintain their current state of affairs. When a potential reader is faced with dozens, even hundreds, of unread emails throughout the day, aligning to the reader’s preferences will intrigue them to open Crosscut’s emails. By suggesting a minimal time commitment with an unexpected subject, the potential reader will be more inclined to open the email to investigate the content and makes it easy for them to choose to open and read emails sent by Crosscut.

Conformity Bias: When readers see how many people are reading an article, it will show them that it’s something they need to read to keep up with others and influence them to view it. Conformity bias harnesses the power of the crowd to get an individual to act in a similar way./p>

Action cost: As the cost of taking action increases, the likelihood the reader will act decreases. Crosscut can reduce the number of energy readers need to spend on each article with quick and easy-to-digest content sent right to their mailbox./p>

Maximizing value: We help readers maximize their value. Crosscut is adding the experience of higher quality to the individual’s act of reading the news. Furthermore, for being free, the reader gets a lot of bang for their ‘non-existent’ buck. It’s a good way to encourage low-level donors. By reading Crosscut, they receive more news and better news and it’s all free./p>

Priming: A person is primed when it’s presupposed they are already an informed reader and reinforced with “right.” Exposure to one stimulus influences a response to a subsequent stimulus, without conscious guidance or intention. (Wikipedia)