Tipping on the Internet: July 20, 1998 issue of New Thinking

July 20, 1998 New Thinking:
Tipping on the Internet

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July 20, 1998

Tipping on the Internet

By Gerry McGovern

What would happen if you couldn’t tip in New York? It wouldn’t be a pretty sight so it wouldn’t.

Tipping is an interesting phenomenon. In places such as New York it is an essential part of what makes the city work. There are no rules that say that you should tip a cabby, a porter or a waiter. It’s simply expected that if they give you good service, you should. And most people do as far as I’ve noticed anyway.

My friend and business partner, Antoin O’Lachtnain, has pointed out that in a tipping economy, the worker is working as much for the person who may tip them as for their official employer. Tipping encourages people to be helpful, friendly and efficient. It’s a good thing, and it’s another reflection of the fact that most economic activity one way or another hinges around human relationships and interaction.

The day is a bit brighter when someone smiles at you. If you hear a friendly voice, things lighten up a bit. If someone pays for your coffee that can create a warm feeling. Life is busy, life can be hard, but if the environment is generous, we can smile and get by and get over things.

How do you tip on the Internet? How do you say thanks? How do you partake in the small but vital rituals of human interaction; the rituals that create a cohesive, livable society?

For well over two years now, we at Nua have given much of our best information away for free. Nua Internet Surveys has been a big success, reaching over 100,000 people every week. This piece of writing reaches fewer people, though has been successful on its own terms.

People tip Nua regularly and the tips have been essential in helping establish a successful company. People recommend our newsletters, encouraging others to read or join. Journalists quote Nua thinking and analysis and sometimes write specific articles about the models and approaches that we use.

And then we have the Nua Kudos section on our website. In every newsletter that goes out, there’s a section at the bottom where we ask people who like our work to email us telling us why. We ask that we can then use these accolades as marketing collateral on our website and in printed material.

When we’re talking to new clients, we often point them to our Nua Kudos pages. We tell them that many others have recognized Nua as an innovative company that delivers quality thinking and work.

We’ve provided value for a lot of people around the world over the last couple of years. We didn’t demand anything immediate in return. We believed that if we delivered quality then we would be respected for that quality and would get our rewards in time.

I am delighted to say that this strategy has been a huge success. We have won major clients in the United States and Europe. We have been quoted in The Wall Street Journal and the San Jose Mercury. We’re speaking at major Internet conferences throughout the world. To top it all, in the last month we’ve secured major investment that will allow us to develop further our thinking and product offering.

Editor's note: As of March 2001, Nua ceased trading.

Gerry McGovern

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How do you tip on the Internet? How do you say thanks?