Creating sticky experiences

Tips and methodologies for making your service the GOOD kind of sticky

January 31, 2024

The idea of creating a ‘sticky’ product is a simple one.

If you're a product growth marketer, founder, salesperson, or other marketer, or perhaps you are working on conversion rate optimisation, you've probably heard of acquisition. This is the simple measure of the number of new customers you bring into your product or service.

But another important part of the growth of a product is retention. I like to think of it like this: if you're trying to fill a bucket, you must make sure it's not leaky first.

Filling up a leaky bucket with as much water as you possibly can is only going to get you so far - just like acquiring as many customers as possible into a product which churns toom any users is also not that optimal.

This is where we turn our attention to creating sticky experiences.

Is all stickiness good?

In a word, no.

When we try to create a sticky experience, what we want is to have people decide that they want to use our app or product over a competitor (or over no app at all). We don't want to lock them in or sit on our laurels because we have the market sewn up - or we are the only market within a product. That's not actually sticky.

We also don't want to rely on the content that is available within the product either. Apps like TikTok are only as sticky as the content that is served to users. They don't actually think about or generate Sticky experiences themselves, but they rely on content creators, who create very attractive and repetitive content.

Truly sticky experiences make the value easy to access, personalise the service as much as possible, and allow users to be drawn to the app - rather than locking them in.

So, what is a Sticky experience?

Sticky experiences have a huge range of factors, and you can spend a very long time working on many different angles to make a product Sticky. What I've done, though is find six little things which you can lay on top of each other to understand how to make a product more sticky.

  1. I get something quick.

  2. It’s worth my time.

  3. It’s easy to use.

  4. I can get started and then configure it later.

  5. I always feel progress.

  6. It works how I expect.

So, let's have a look at how you can make a Sticky experience by layering up the answers to these challenges.

Making a Sticky experience

Reduce time-to-value

When users first interact with your product, they're looking for immediate value. This is about reducing the time to value (TTV). The quicker a user can achieve something meaningful with your product, the more likely they are to stick around. For instance, Spotify allows new users to explore playlists and music recommendations even before signing up, showcasing immediate value.

Actionable Tip: Simplify the onboarding process. Provide users with a quick win as soon as they sign up, like creating their first project or completing a key task.

Solve real problems for your users

Your product must address frequent and significant problems that your users face. It's not just about having a long list of features; it's about having the right features that make users' lives easier. MyFitnessPal, for example, tackles the tedious task of calorie counting by allowing users to scan barcodes and log meals with ease.

Actionable Tip: Focus on the core issues your users face and streamline your features to address these effectively. Less can be more if it's more targeted.

Keep it simple

Complexity should not equate to complication. Even if your product has complex functionalities, the user experience should be intuitive. The goal is to make it as easy as possible for users to get started and continue using your product without feeling overwhelmed.

Actionable Tip: Regularly conduct user testing to identify and eliminate pain points. Ensure that the user interface is clean and that the user journey is logical.

Use defaults

Users love to feel like they're in control, and allowing them to personalize their experience can increase stickiness. However, it's crucial to strike a balance. You want to let users configure and personalize their experience but not force them to do so before they see value in your product.

Actionable Tip: Implement smart defaults that work well for most users while offering the flexibility to customize as they become more familiar with your product.

Show small steps, and maintain a larger goal

Users should feel a sense of progression when using your product. Like Spotify, which allows users to create and grow their playlists over time, your product should enable users to build on their experience and see tangible evidence of their investment.

Actionable Tip: Incorporate elements of gamification, such as progress bars or achievement badges, to visually represent users' progress and encourage continued use.

Always be testing

Your product should work in a way that users expect it to. This means aligning with their mental models and ensuring that interactions are predictable and satisfying. When users feel that a product is intuitive, they're more likely to use it consistently.

Actionable Tip: Invest in user research to understand how users expect to interact with your product and adjust your design accordingly. Consistency is key in UI patterns and interactions.

Stickiness isn't about trapping your users; it's about creating an environment they don't want to leave. By focusing on these six pillars, you can enhance user engagement and foster loyalty.

Remember, a sticky product is one that users come back to not because they have to, but because they want to.

This article is based on my recent webinar, which you can check out here:

I hope you enjoyed this week’s webinar! Sign up for the upcoming webinars here and I’ll see you soon.