Case Study: Clubhouse

About Clubhouse

Clubhouse is an audio-only, invite-only mobile app. People around the world come together whether in rooms or communities, to talk, listen and learn. Many use the app for social/professional networking but the app also has a plethora of opportunities to talk to industry leaders and learn from their experiences.

Clubhouse was officially released in the March of 2020. During the pandemic, Clubhouse became an overnight success, even with its limited availability. Business leaders entrepreneurs, and even celebrities, were hosting talks on Clubhouse and to the general public, it felt like it was only for those who had connections. Clubhouse also filled the empty space that conferences had left in the professional workplace. Users were able to interact, learn and discuss with influential people on the app, similar to what they would do in person. Clubhouse also left no space for mean comments, ads, and trolls. The audio-based app also felt less overwhelming for users as they could focus on learning and connecting, rather than the aesthetic and visual aspects we are so used to seeing on other social media apps.

Clubhouse’s Interaction/Marketing Strategies

A clubhouse user’s journey comprises 3 phases; joining, using, and staying. In each stage, Clubhouse adopts different strategies, in order to keep the user active and engaged.

1st Stage: Joining

A key differentiator of Clubhouse is its invite-only policy.

Its key marketing strategy in this stage is what experts refer to as “hunger marketing”. By making the product extremely valuable and desirable yet scarce, Clubhouse plays on the desire of consumers and their fear of missing out. One of the ways they implement this is through its invite-only policy. Those who are able to attain an invite or have been invited have the incentive to give it to others and get their friends on the app so that they can experience it together. The feeling of exclusivity also means that those who do not have it want it even more, especially if they see influential people using/endorsing it. However, Clubhouse does not solely rely on word of mouth and invites to create a hunger within its consumer base. When you first download the app, Clubhouse gives you the option to request/reserve a username if you do not have an invite. Good usernames on social media are becoming harder and harder to come by so many feel compelled to reserve a username “just in case”.

2nd Stage: Using

Once you have been invited into Clubhouse, you will immediately be able to see a list of recommended chat rooms for you to join. It’s also very convenient to search up your interest and find rooms within that niche. One of Clubhouse’s main selling points is being able to connect with industry leaders and professionals. Those engaging in these talks can not only follow up with the speakers later (on LinkedIn) but can also gain valuable insight. The ability to immediately find and connect with those in your niche enables the success of communities in Clubhouse and encourages more people to stay. There is also a button at the bottom of the screen that allows users to start their own chat room and engage with others. Another cool feature that Clubhouse has is the ability to ping other users/your connections. Inviting others again helps with the community aspect of the app but it also can help revive users who are not as active. This brings me to my next point which is Clubhouse’s strategies to ensure that you STAY an active user of the app.

3rd Stage: Staying

When joining communities or even just browsing rooms, users are able to plan to join future conversations. When the scheduled time rolls around, Clubhouse will send a notification to remind users to come back and listen to the conversation.

Why It Failed

Although its scarcity was a major selling point, in the beginning, Clubhouse should have adjusted its business model after the pandemic, seeing that people no longer had as much time to spend on the app anymore. They solved a problem that presented itself in the pandemic, hence its popularity, but failed to adapt to life post-pandemic. When a company no longer solves a big enough problem, many fail to see its needs and users become less active. Early adopters of Clubhouse such as celebrities, black creatives, entertainers and Silicon Valley insiders were able to spread awareness and create intrigue. This took clubhouse into the early stages of technology adoption, however, because the product was so limited, it was difficult for it to become mainstream and break into the late majority audience. This meant that after the early majority got a hold of the app, it began its decline without ever reaching the late majority.

In November of 2020, Clubhouse also began to see competition as established social media apps such as Twitter started rolling out similar products (Twitter Spaces). Since Twitter was open to everyone, including those on android and many already had accounts, it was more convenient and practical to use compared to Clubhouse. Although Clubhouse did have an advantage with their communities and rooms, many people felt that twitter spaces got the job done and was simpler than downloading a whole new app, just to not be able to get in.

What They Could Have Done

Expanded with their audience
- it was unfortunate that their beta version of the app blew up because that meant that it was difficult for them to accommodate everyone (hence the invites) but once the ball started rolling, they should have focused more on software development and getting it more accessible to everyone (especially those with androids). According to Statista.com Android held a share of 95.84 percent of the mobile phone market in India. With India’s population of 1.38 billion as of 2020, they could’ve tapped into a HUGE market.
Add an option to post an agenda/recap
- many of these conversations can get confusing, especially if you join halfway through
- an agenda can tell people what to expect
- a recap can be useful for those who want to retain the information after the conversation
- ensures that everyone is on the same page, even those who are not fully paying attention

My Thoughts

Clubhouse is a great platform for certain industries. It is simply not made to be used by the general public. If you wanted to learn about a topic, there are countless other ways to do so whether that is Google, a podcast, a blog etc. all of which are much faster than listening to a two-hour conversation that is not guaranteed to give you an answer. I can’t deny that its networking and community aspects are extremely valuable but for the average person, listening to people discuss a topic will not give you connections, you have to speak in the room. However, not everyone has the credentials to do that so it leaves people as just listeners. For those in Silicon Valley/tech entrepreneurs, this is a great app to connect and learn. But for everyone else, it is not worth the hype.