Made to Stick Framework

A framework for crafting ideas and messages that are understood, remembered, and drive lasting action. Based on decades of research into why some ideas survive and others die.

Core Principle

The Curse of Knowledge is the single greatest barrier to effective communication. Once we know something, we can't imagine not knowing it—which makes us bad at explaining our ideas to others. Sticky ideas aren't born, they're made: the SUCCESs framework provides six principles that make any idea more memorable and impactful.

Scoring

Goal: 10/10. Rate any messaging (copy, presentations, campaigns, onboarding) 0-10 against the SUCCESs principles: simple, surprising, concrete, credible, emotional, and wrapped in a story scores 10; forgettable communication scores low. Always state the current score and the specific improvements needed to reach 10/10.

The SUCCESs Framework

Simple · Unexpected · Concrete · Credible · Emotional · Stories

Not a checklist—a toolkit. Not every sticky idea uses all six, but the stickiest ideas tend to use most of them. Ethical boundary: use SUCCESs to make true ideas stick—never to make false claims memorable.

1. Simple

Core concept: Find the core of the idea and share it compactly. Simple ≠ dumbed down—it means ruthless prioritization: "if you say three things, you say nothing."

The Commander's Intent: if everything else goes wrong, what ONE thing must we accomplish? For messaging: if people remember ONE thing about your product, what should it be? The inverted pyramid: lead with the most important thing; readers who stop anywhere still got the core.

Techniques for simplicity:

Application to product messaging: