3 Phases of an Engaging Application
And how they are connected to sales
As soon as an application is opened, the sales process begins between the user and the application.
For the sale to succeed we need to execute the following phases to perfection.
Onboarding
Besides the signup process, the goal here is to create clarity and understanding what is being sold and why would it benefit the user.
By downloading the app the user is basically begging to be sold whatever the app tries to sell.
Yet so many applications don’t take any advantage of it.
Every application that lacks onboarding is like a salesman who says “Well if you’re really interested in what we offer, why don’t you just Google it?”
Salespeople have to be successful on delivering the idea and the concept of what is being sold (reasons why this application is useful).
If done correctly the user will follow along to the next milestone.
First Goal
Don’t assume that after a successful onboard, the user is already hooked enough to make his own choices. It’s like assuming the customer knowing what specific vacuum cleaner he wants to buy only after hearing about the function of vacuum cleaners.
In this phase the user needs to have a very clear and specific goal assigned to him instead of asking “what the user wants to do”.
Read the two examples of what a health and fitness application would ask after onboarding:
- “Write down your current health details so we can assign a goal to you.”
- “First step in creating your health path is to measure your current state”
The first asks the user to do something before they can start using the application while the latter implies that the user is already using the application.
Applications of today should not be asking the users what they want to do. This phase is all about telling users what they should be doing and if done correctly, will lead the user into the next phase of making it a habit.
Transition to Habit
Depending on the solution you either want the user to start using the application intensively immediately ( games) or make him want to return to the application later (health /goal tracking applications)
The miracle solution for the first approach is fast achievements.
Whatever the user is first assigned has to be able to be completed within the first ~10 seconds and the next assignment has to follow right after the first one is completed.
Making the user want to return to the app later is harder but the key word is investment.
Investment is all about the user getting back more than he put in. That means digital currency, bonuses, advice that for him is worth more than completing the initial task.
Investment requires a very specific input with a very specific expectation of the output. The user has to be aware that by doing X the application will respond with Y and the value of it has to be clearly explained during the previous 2 phases.
Conclusion
Everything that I described here will often take place in the first 2–5 minutes of using an application and has at least 90% weight whether a new user will start using your application or not.
I wish more entrepreneurs realized that those 2–5 minutes make or break the application significantly more than the quality of the solution.
It’s hard to summarize my ideas here with so few words but I will definitely focus on all of the phases separately in my following articles.
For more on User Engagement Design read my other posts
My articles on “Analyzing Gamified Solutions”:
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