Boost retention with Game Thinking, even if you aren't building a game

How do you build a high-retention product? The kind that customers are eager to come back to?

We could talk churn rate. And customer lifetime value. Like everyone does.

Or we could talk about something a lot more fun & much more powerful: a compelling core habit loop - like the one we built for Rock Band, using a process that almost drove me crazy

In our early Rock Band sessions, we didn't test the whole game.

Instead, we spent months testing & tuning our core habit loop, just making it feel good to play a song together before layering in all the progression mechanics

Tuning that loop was REALLY hard work, & I got REALLY frustrated

I wanted to design the rest of the game. The fun parts!

My boss, who was much more experienced, took me aside & said,

“Look, if we don't get this right, if it doesn't feel like they’re playing music with each other, all your fancy progression system ideas won't matter.”

Grrr... I didn't like it, but I knew he was right

Since then, I've learned that this inside-out approach to "finding the fun" is how hits often happen. And it doesn’t just apply to games.

Every high retention product is built around a strong core habit loop.

In Amazon, it’s buying products.

In Slack, it’s checking messages.

In Rock Band, it’s playing songs.

So before you refine the rest of your customer journey, try to get that core habit loop right. Otherwise - the rest won’t matter.

Want more? Here are 4 Rock Band design lessons that'll help you drive retention ??

I won't lie - Rock Band was a tough project. Many times during development, we thought it wouldn't work.

But in the end, were able to build a game that let you feel like you were truly playing music with other people – and even for a few glorious moments, live out a fantasy rock star life

Do you play rhythm action games like Rock Band or Guitar Hero?

Did anyone else get addicted to the DLC (downloadable content AKA new songs)? Just me?

We'd love to hear from you, sound off in the comments

Rock on ????????????