Stored value comes in four forms, and companies leverage these tiny investments to build lock-in to their service and retain users. - Creative content… Creating a network effect is not what it used to be. Today, stored value created by the users reinforces the power of the network effect to retain users and grow market share. This dynamic makes creating user habits all the more important as investments of stored value only occur through successive passes through the user experience
- Reputation…
- Usage Data…
- Influence…
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distribution is much harder on mobile than web and we see a lot of mobile first startups getting stuck in the transition from successful product to large user base. strong product market fit is no longer enough to get to a large user base. you need to master the “download app, use app, keep using app, put it on your home screen” flow and that is a hard one to master.
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Why variable rewards work
As humans, and animals, we react differently to certain patterns of rewards. Behaviorism has studies these patterns and have come to the conclusion that variable reward schedules and contingencies motivate us more than fixed schedules and contingencies.
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The infinite scroll is interaction design’s answer to our penchant for endlessly searching for novelty.
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Nothing holds our attention better than the unknown. The things that captivate, engross, and entertain us, all have an element of surprise. Our brains can’t get enough of trying to predict what’s next and our dopamine system kicks into high-gear when we’re waiting to know if our team will make the field goal, how the dice will land, or how the movie plot ends. Like a loose slot machine, the infinite scroll gives users fast access to variable rewards.
Interestingly, our brain isn’t wired to seek pleasure alone. In fact, much of our motivation comes from alleviating the pain of desire. Dopamine levels spike when we’re just about to find reward and plummet after we receive it. To get us to do just about anything, evolution uses this chemical cascade to induce anticipation, motivation, and finally pain alleviation. Somehow we call this endless merry-go-round “fun.”
Few other methods for displaying information produce the curiosity to see what’s next like the infinite scroll.
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6 key principles of persuasion
• Reciprocity
• Commitment and Consistency
• Social Proof
• Authority
• Liking
• Scarcity -
The harder it is to learn your product, the more loyal your customers will be. Could that really be true?
Sure, it meshes perfectly with behavioral economics, which generally concludes that people behave irrationally in the face of sunk costs. …
But where Nir’s idea doesn’t fit, at all, is with the existing paradigm of user experience. Software is supposed to rely on existing conventions and human nature to require as little learning as possible. …
By making your product’s sophistication match your user’s as they move along the learning curve, you can win newcomers and keep old-timers from churning, too. …
1. Keep the introductory product simple. Follow standard usability conventions for beginning or sporadic users. Keep it simple and intuitive. But…
2. Provide a return on investment for power users. Advanced features don’t have to be front and center to appeal to power users — as long as they know they exist, they’ll seek them out. -
The belief that products should always be as easy to use as possible is a sacred cow of the tech world … In fact, putting users to work is critical in creating products people love.
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We’re moving into an age where habits matter more than virality… If you can’t retain users, if you can’t engage users, growth is not enough.
Even without the viral potential you can still get big slow … through engagement and retention and habits.
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If you’re thinking people don’t like to make changes to their behaviors, just watch a teenage girl get her first cell phone.
— BJ Fogg
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In most cases, people hate change because they don’t like to suddenly become stupid.
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When the change happens, often the benefits aren’t clear or obvious. -
A mastery of the mechanics of habit design is increasingly deciding startup winners and losers …
A high DAU to MAU ratio is a great indicator of the strength of user habits[…]
Discovering non-obvious user needs and creating accompanying habits is accomplished through deep observation grounded in solid behavioral theory, followed by methodical trial and error.
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Early on, changes are expected and the risks of alienating users are often outweighed by the benefits of a better product experience for users. But keep in mind that at some point the balance may shift, and people who are happily using your product will react negatively to changes — unless you’ve planned ahead to minimize their change aversion.
Change aversion: why users hate what you launched (and what to do about it)
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Startups manufacture desire by guiding users through a series of experiences designed to create habits. I call these experiences “desire engines,” and the more often users run through them, the more likely they are to self-trigger.
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The process within our brains that creates habits is a three-step loop. First, there is a cue, a trigger that tells your brain to go into automatic mode and which habit to use. Then there is the routine, which can be physical or mental or emotional. Finally, there is a reward, which helps your brain figure out if this particular loop is worth remembering for the future. Over time, this loop — cue, routine, reward; cue, routine, reward — becomes more and more automatic. The cue and reward become neurologically intertwined until a sense of craving emerges.
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Experiments have shown that most cues fit into one of five categories: location, time, emotional state, other people or the immediately preceding action. So to figure out the cue for my cookie habit, I wrote down five things the moment the urge hit:Where are you? (Sitting at my desk.)
What time is it? (3:36 p.m.)
What’s your emotional state? (Bored.)
Who else is around? (No one.)
What action preceded the urge? (Answered an e-mail.)
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Having rolled out Timeline at the end of last year, Facebook followed up in mid January by letting third-party apps integrate with the reverse-chronological scrapbooking feature. Apps like Pinterest, Yahoo News and Fab began letting you post stories that stay as permanent reminders of news stories, designs, photos or anything else that you experience via a web or mobile app.
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As Facebook likes to say about everything it does, this is just early days for Timeline apps — in this case it’s particularly true, because the feature is so new. So developers, particularly people trying to drive traffic and sales through evergreen content that people identify with closely, think about ways to plug into this new usage.— A Month In, Facebook Timeline Brings New Growth For Myspace, Yahoo News, Pinterest, And Others
