Technique · Influence
"We" language and shared credit
Talk about wins in a way that includes users: "You asked, we built", user names in release notes, community naming, team milestones the customer can share. People link themselves to success, and a product that shares credit gives them a reason to say "we" about it.
Plain label: credit users as part of the teamAlso known as: we vs they, reflected glory, you asked, we built, community credit
How it works
People display their connection to winners and distance themselves from losers; students said "we won" after victories and "they lost" after defeats. A product that credits users for its wins invites that identification. Using "we" only for wins and blaming "they" for the company's own failures breaks it; tracking how users refer to the product (the we/they ratio) shows whether it is working.
In the book. People bask in reflected glory: they show their links to winners and say "we" after wins and "they" after losses (Ch.5, pp.148-152). INF-T-LK-27 (Influence Ch.5, p.151) INF-T-LK-25 (Influence Ch.5, p.148)
In a product [S]. Shared credit that gives users a reason to say "we".
Evidence Evidence grade C. Limited evidence: few or small studies.. The basking findings are classic; product effects are untested.
What the research says
Students described a team win with "we" far more often than a loss; among students just told they had failed a test, 41% said "we" after a win against 17% after a loss.
Influence Ch.5, pp.151-152 (Cialdini & Thorne)
More students wore school-branded clothing on the Monday after a football win, and more still after bigger wins.
Influence Ch.5, p.150
How to build it
- Web
- In release notes, name the users or teams who requested each feature (with permission) and link to their thread.
- Email and SMS
- Send a yearly "what we built together" recap that credits the customer's feedback and usage.
- B2B
- Co-present results with the customer's champion inside their company and credit their team.
What can go wrong
- "We" for wins, "they" for outages.
- Crediting users who did not want to be named.
- Status pushes aimed at users right after a failure.
Pairs well with
- Pairs with F16 and community rituals.
- Pairs with in-t-lk-06: appreciation without an ask.
In practice
Where it shows up
Limits
What we don’t claim
- Left Brain and Right Brain are a metaphor for extrinsic and intrinsic motivation, not a claim about neuroscience.Actionable Gamification Ch.13, pp.342-343
Sources
Influence · Robert Cialdini
Ch.5, p.151 · Ch.5, p.148
Source IDs: INF-T-LK-27INF-T-LK-25
Book content is paraphrased, never quoted at length. Last verified October 24, 2026.
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