Creating Addictive Experiences
Recently in doing research for a new product, I have had to review and research sites that had what I would call Addictive Social Experiences. This research started by looking for what I would like to call differentiators in these sites, things that set them apart from others sites with the same category or offering similar products.
With so many new sites/apps popping up that are socially driven (coupons, deal a day, location based social sites) creating something that is unique, relevant, and more important purposeful is becoming a bit more difficult.
This is by no means a comprehensive write up but one thing that I noticed about the experience and interaction of the sites that set themselves apart was compulsion, a sense of addictive interaction, things that kept me wanting to continue to use the site or app. These interactions came in the form of competitions/game like features, achievements, goals, and levels of status (I’m sure there are more). All these features/ interactions considered a few consistent points came to the forefront in how these sites engaged their users.
Create Sense of Urgency for Users
I will admit that I can tend to be a compulsive at times; if you give me a challenge or a task to complete I tend to get obsessive about completing it or beating the challenge (especially if it appeals to or involves personal interests/fun).
Now not everyone may be as OCD as I can be at times but this idea of goals and accomplishments partnered with purpose (i.e getting something free, or out ranking a friend in accomplishments) can motivate users past their normal level of interaction.
When this type of interaction is integrated into the experience of a website or application a sense of urgency is created in users.
For example I have a free dropbox account, and from time to time I start to fill it up with goodies, so in order to get more storage, I am presented with the options of paying to upgrade or inviting more people to join and getting some free storage as a reward for them joining the service. Since I have a houseful of girls the free option is usually the way to go.
Another example is rewarding users with points/credits for accomplishing certain tasks. Homerun.com does this by rewarding users for uploading a profile picture, referring friends sharing deals from their site.
By doing this they are encouraging additional interactions from users, as well as motivating users to use their site and tell their friends.
Lead the User
So we have created a sense of urgency surrounding the experience and interaction with our site or product, now the key is to always remind the users that there is more for them to do. Linked In really got me with this one as they have a progress meter on the upper right hand side of the users profile page.
As the user connects with more people and ad’s additional profile information the progress meter shows the percentage of profile completeness. As you can see I gave in and completed my profile, the nagging progress meter just kept letting me know that something was incomplete. Even though my progress bar may be at 100% there are still other options that I can do with my profile. This subliminally conveys that the more complete your profile is the better chances you will have for successful use of the Linked In site (just my opinion… not proven).
Reward the User
Another aspect of encouraging more interaction is the use of rewards, we have seen this heavily used in the location based app such as Gowalla or Foursquare where you receive items, or mayorship after certain amounts of check in’s.
Gowalla does this well by showing you what items you have
as well as what items you are missing.
This can become very competitive between users (especially friends) to collect the rare items before they do, or beat them to a completed collection or trip.
HomeRun.com and Groupon.com also use points and credits to encourage users to continue to interact and share their product with friends.
The image to the left shows how Groupon lets me know that I can earn $10 by reffering friends, and that lots of people have saved money using their service. Then they show me that I haven’t earned anything yet… hmm seems like I should get to inviting some people so that I can earn free money for cool items.
Home Run constantly shows me the amount of points and credits I have earned, and again is the user is even relatively compulsive like me… they want to earn some of that free cash, and be able to score more points than their peers. Even if they are not a nut job like me… there is still something appealing about earning some free money.
Not only will rewarding users play on their desire for rewards, and achievements, but as rewards are tied to referrals it can really help build a community quickly.
This means that you better have your ducks in a row before the social floodgates open or you will only get a substantial amount of traffic not return users (which is another post on it’s own). The more incentive to return and continue to interact the users has they will not only keep coming, but also invite friends and introduce them to this new site or app they just can’t get enough of.
Addict the User
By combining a sense of urgency to complete and compete for goals these experiences become addictive. Even if people aren’t naturally compulsive they tend to enjoy being rewarded when participating in fun/relevant interactions with friends.
The current social paradigm is built around friends and status (whether we agree with it or not) so finding new ways to engage our users on this level and addict them to our experiences (remember kids first time is free) can definitely help differentiate the experiences we create from the rest.
I am sure there are plenty more ways to engage users in a way that sucks them in to the experience and brings them back time and time again, the key is knowing your target user base, and creating the addictive experience that will appeal to them.
What are some of the sites, apps, games that have drawn you in? and what was it about their experience that kept you intrigued?
Nice article Aaron! Love the examples! Enticing users to engage in the experience of what the site or application offers is so important. The examples you gave certainly do that well! It’s important that the user always knows what the next step, goal or level is and by making it fun or by giving a sense of accomplishment definitely is a great way to do it.
I think it’s so important though to not overplay or force these types of interactions. Sometimes you may run into the issue of creating unnecessary thought patterns for your users which could lead to an even more confusing experience as opposed to being helpful. It’s always a safe bet to keep things as simple as possible. But managing to find a way to keep that “addictive” is the key!
Nice read man!
The majority of these experiences can be defined as “game mechanics”. If you’re interested in more info ontjis type of thing I would check out Amy Jo Kim. Just google her, she has a fee YouTube presentations on game mechanics in websites.
Great writeup, I took a screen shot of the DropBox experience when I first saw that too.
Wow, Great write up and really great timing. I kid you not. Earlier today I took the same screen shot of drop box and sent it to my business partners to illustrate just the concept you are talking about here. Almost freaky!
Great write up!!! Thanks.