What are the best strategies for user engagement and retention in product design?

The ways of user engagement will depend on type of business. For example for a B2B company, the most effective way for user engagement could be physical conferences, on the other hand in case of retail business, we need to engage user by telling a story online which they can relate to. Customer retention is another part where we need to pay attention to the evolving customer needs and be agile to implement the changes in our products/ strategy to suit the changing environment. Also Take the feedback from the users is very important. Having membership programs will bring brand loyalty as well as retention.

Now, understanding an industry, pain point & the persona who feels that pain sharpest - is easier said than done. For most product managers & product designers, they are not living-breathing the user and her problems everyday, especially for verticalised solutions such as dev-tools, retail etc. Active listening and discovering unsaid needs become such a crucial skills to develop, almost superpowers. The more you develop the skill to start broad, and then dig in, dig in and then dig in some more - the better results you get from any interview or survey you might be initiating. And of course, live & breathe the problem! How are these users solving their problems today? What tools do they use? Research helps you map out the lay of the land.

One of the things that I often use is to segregate my users into different personas and focus intensely on the primary first and then the secondary. Deeply understanding your primary and secondary users will tell you what do they need most and if you give them regularly that in the most simplest format they will come back to you again and again. Take an example of the ‘like’ button and notifications of likes and shred in social media. People, most people, and specifically certain personas love attention, affection and love and want them to be shown publicly. The digital version of the same in the form of likes, shares and the notifications made everyone come back and check the app increasing DAU.

Customer feedback is always good to add on to the product enhancements but the primary product design needs to clearly highlight the primary purpose of the product. Talking strategically, the Must-Have features(MoSCoW), should and always be given the utmost priority and should be given podium level visibility. Users orientation and feedback on the app can be incorporated as improvements to the existing features.

User engagement and retention in product design hinge on profound user understanding. Think of it as a digital romance; you must know your users intimately. Dive deep into their desires, pain points, and behaviors. Craft a design that's like a soulmate, anticipating their needs before they even realize them. When your product mirrors their aspirations, it becomes an inseparable part of their digital life. Keep the love alive with continuous feedback loops, evolving alongside your users. It's not just a product; it's a lifelong connection.

Remember that techniques do not make the onboarding flow - the focus on the outcome does. While designing a great onboarding flow for your users, find out the answer to this million dollar question - What is the goal of your onboarding flow? For example, the goal can be to perform an action inside the app, or it can be to invite the users teammates to the same workspace. Depending on a goals, your flow has to be decluttered so that your First Time User Experience + follow up onboarding sequences are tailored to drive the user to that end objective. A bonus note here: Make the user invest something her side. Something as simple as uploading her DP to going through questions on her business - makes the whole interaction more personal.

While it's common to focus on making onboarding as quick and simple as possible, I propose that not rushing users through onboarding could be beneficial. Allowing them to explore and discover features at their own pace might foster better long-term engagement and understanding of the product.

The aim of good onboarding is to minimize confusion, elevate confidence, and retain user engagement. I wrote about the Psychology of Onboarding that explores leveraging psychological principles for effective onboarding, including: - limiting steps to reduce cognitive load - employing progressive disclosure - facilitating social sign-in - utilizing the endowed progress effect to enhance confidence through visible partial progress - acknowledging choice-supportive bias to confirm user decisions - boosting confidence - striking a balance between guiding users and enabling exploration - and gauging onboarding effectiveness via activation metrics

A seamless onboarding process ensures that users quickly grasp the value and functionality of the product, reducing the chances of early drop-off. Personalized onboarding experiences that guide users based on their needs and preferences can make a significant difference in how they perceive and use the product. By simplifying the initial interaction and demonstrating the product's core benefits, you can set the stage for long-term engagement. Continuously refining the onboarding process based on user feedback and data analytics allows you to adapt to evolving user needs, making it an essential strategy for maximizing user engagement and retention.

The onboarding should be simple, engaging and quick at the same time, a well-balanced process. It should be focused on what you want to show to the users and what the end goal of the onboarding is. Exploration and discovery of the product/features by the user should be a well strategized portion of the onboarding process. Assist the users with the product discovery to achieve the primary objective of the onboarding. Remember, it's the first impression and you want it to be seamless.

Doubling down on the right kind of reward or loyalty system for your user type can be difficult. Rewards should be more aligned towards retention and loyalty and nit acquistion. Organizations offering huge joining bonus usually loses clients when they cut down on perks realizing that the model is not sustainable. The tricky part about user feedback is that even though user wants a particular feature or capability, they may not explicitly reach out to you. Constant iteration based on user feedback is key to user retention. But at the same time the feedback mechanism shouldn't kill the user's natural experience of using the product.

Regular feedback mechanisms, such as surveys or in-app feedback forms, allow users to voice their opinions and concerns. This not only shows that you value their input but also provides insights for product improvement. Incorporating a rewards system can further motivate users to stay engaged with your product. This can include gamification elements like badges, points, or discounts for completing certain actions or achieving milestones. By recognizing and rewarding user accomplishments, you create a sense of achievement and loyalty, encouraging long-term product usage.

Community driven approach has worked for products across domains to create user engagement and loyalty. Tableau is a great example of how a B2B product can leverage community. This approach helped tableau to also reduce their customers support spend as community can take care of common issues. BoAt is a good D2C example of community driven approach as their community 'boAtHeads' is helping them create user loyalty in a tough commoditized industry like audio devices.

Creating a community is a powerful strategy for enhancing user engagement and retention in product. Building a space where users can interact, share experiences, and provide support not only fosters a sense of belonging but also enables users to form a deeper connection with the product and the brand. Through community forums, social media groups, or in-app chat features, users can help each other, discuss best practices, and exchange ideas, further solidifying their commitment to the product. Moreover, a vibrant community can also serve as a source of valuable feedback and insights, aiding in product improvement.

Casual mobile games showcase social integration done right. ?? Social features like chats, gifting, competition are central to mobile gaming, not an afterthought. This social glue drives: ?? Deeper engagement ?? Increased retention ?? Virality ?? Community commitment The strategic emphasis on social pays off big in key metrics. This exemplifies how baked-in social integration, not bolted-on social features, transforms products.

It is important for you to take the lead and keep the community active by planning a content strategy to engage its members. This could include regular posts, discussions, events, and other content relevant to your community's interests.

I absolutely agree with this but differentiating and diversifying the types of engagement is important. It can be resource intensive. Creating a network effect can only happen after reaching a certain critical mass of adoption.

One often overlooked pillar during experimentation & iteration is speed. Speed of iterations of course depend on the segment of customers you are building your product for - for say a prosumer, your iteration speed has to be near instant, while solutions for enterprise clients experiments can take weeks or even months. Nevertheless, rememeber to break down your experiment cycles to the shortest. If an experiment is going into a longer cycle, creak it down into sub experiments! Get results before investing too much time into any hypothesis.

A simple observation to start with is the 'usage pattern' or 'frequency' you have mapped for your product vs the actual pattern users tend to take. This sets the foundation for product adoption & retention. Let's say users' behavior is using the app weekly, but if you end up pushing for daily usage, then there's clear mismatch—starts with a peak in adoption, but doesn't stick long enough. When user & product frequencies match: The ideal case, where users can leverage in steps the benefits of the product and eventually get to retain. Non-match: Step back to figure out whether you've miscalculated the product or whether users' pattern is legit. Alternatively, find pockets of parallel opportunities to help the product match up with users.

Want to boost user engagement? Try these 5 proven product strategies: ?? 1?? Personalization - Tailor experiences 2?? Gamification - Add fun, incentive 3?? Push Notifications - Bring users back 4?? Feedback Loops - Show you listen 5?? Social Integration - Tap community User engagement fuels growth and retention. But it requires ongoing nurturing, not one-off tactics.

Personalization is a powerful user engagement practice that can significantly impact retention. By personalizing the experience, you can take care of the individual preferences, behaviors, and needs of your users while designing for them. Providing a Live chat is also a good practice to keep users engaged. They can connect with you and get instant help regarding their questions. This helps to earn trust of users and increases retention.

Good marketing will help you acquire users. Good products will help you keep them. Amplitude published a great article on the 3 games of engagement. As with moving any metric, you’ve got to first know why before you get to the how. Align your goals and objectives with your vision and execute with strategic intent. The 3 games of engagement are: Productivity, Attention and Transaction. Focus on what you’re trying to do achieve and guide the users to do just that. Attention game: Entertain and stimulate. Maximise time spent (eyes on/in product). Productivity game: Focus on simplicity, time to value and intuitiveness. Reduce any friction. Transaction game: Understand the JTBD and buying decision process. Focus on trust and confidence.

In conclusion, strong user engagement and retention are fundamental to the success of any product. By understanding user needs, personalizing experiences, providing excellent support, and continuously optimizing based on feedback and data, product managers can foster lasting relationships between users and their products. These strategies not only contribute to a product's success but also lead to a loyal user base and sustained growth.