Tips from Poncho — Users are #1 priority

We recently spoke with Greg Leuch, Head of Product at Poncho, the weather cat that sends many of us a daily forecast on Messenger, as part of a series with judges of Hu:toma’s Bot Competition.

In his current role Greg works between the editorial and engineering teams building products that people enjoy. Fortunate enough to have worked with Betaworks, Greg has a wealth of experience launching portfolio & incubator company products across augmented reality, games, bots, audio and more in their earliest of stages.

Leuch joined Poncho just as Facebook asked them to be Messenger platform launch partners, which meant they had around a month to figure out how to build a bot, write content, develop their system, and launch. The next two months were just as hectic as they refactored the system, built in intelligence and iterated based on user & press feedback.

Yes, Poncho existed years prior to its Messenger incarnation as an SMS and email service. Twice daily weather notifications is the core feature of their products. This ties in well with the key theme from the conversation with Leuch: how to decide if a conversational interface is the route to go, and how to engage your users if you do.

Build wherever it makes sense for the user

“I don’t think companies should think of themselves as “bot-first”, “mobile-first”, etc. They should be “user-first” and build what makes sense for them. We are an “everywhere” company and will build on whatever platforms and systems we think having a fun weathercat makes sense.”

To that end Poncho is available as an iPhone & Android app, Facebook Messenger, Slack, Kik and Viber.

In being multi-platform this brings with it challenges and opportunities based on limitations of the platforms and the potential for different demographics using each.

When conversational interfaces?

Conversational Interfaces like Messenger differ from other UI’s in that they are dependent on enticing a conversation between the user and the interface.

If typing/tapping buttons in a primarily text-driven interface makes sense and using language to let the user express themselves and provide information, then conversational interfaces likely make sense.

Give content a personality

Anthropomorphism: the attribution of human characteristics or behavior to non-human entities.

I know it’s a mouthful but, perhaps like me, you already had a pretty good idea of what this meant even without knowing the word. It is something we do innately as humans and have done for thousands of years. The human design narrative has emerged significantly within technology and we will only see it grow through artificial intelligence and conversational / voice interfaces.

And, this is where chatbots like Poncho stand out, by giving their content a human-like personality. The Poncho cat is intelligent, clever and friendly. You could even say it’s cute. Poncho’s personality and choice of language has the ability to capture a user’s attention whilst still providing the principal information it was developed to give.

On the topic Leuch says: “We designed Poncho so that he would act like a friend. In fact, Poncho is based on our founder’s mother. When he was in college, she would text him daily reminding him to bring an umbrella or bundle up when it is cold outside. That inspired the character design to be personal, friendly, and caring. And we continue with that vision with a team of writers that craft daily forecasts, write conversational skits, and push the boundaries of the Poncho cat character.”

Push notifications based on the core product drive retention

In fact, Poncho has been able to maintain a high 7-Day retention rate, above 60%, because the company continues to build on the user experience without diverting from its “bread and butter” feature: sending twice daily push notifications updating users on the weather consistent ever since Poncho was an SMS and email service. This is the service users signed up for and so are happy to receive notifications, and you are essentially getting them to their “aha” moment again and again.

Of course there may be a tendency to send more push notifications to bring users back again and again however a key part of engagement and retention, Leuch says, comes down to respect. “We try to be respectful of users but also try to let them know that Poncho is an ever-changing app with new things happening all the time.” In order to provide what users want, it is essential to respect them and their understanding of the platform. From there, Poncho has been able to build “witty notifications and teasers to entice users to continue using Poncho.”

Not all content is shareable so create some that is

Poncho isn’t exempt from its own difficulties in social sharing and virality. “Even though our editorial content is funny, snackable, and shareable, the timely context of weather is almost exclusively dependent on time. In that regard, it “is not inherently shareable” and raises a challenge” for Leuch in keeping the product relevant on social platforms.

For Leuch and the team at Poncho, tackling this challenge comes through adding content verticals like comics, games and teasers to complement regular editorials that influence longer stays and continued use on the various platforms.