The Personality of Your Product: Nurturing Growth for Infrequent Products

The Personality of Your Product: Nurturing Growth for Infrequent Products

When it comes to building social products, one crucial aspect that cannot be overlooked is the personality of the product. Your customers need to perceive your app as fun and engaging for it to truly succeed. Fun is a fundamental feeling that must be achieved. Interestingly, the personality of your product depends heavily on the leader of your product team. It's worth taking a moment to reflect on what you think the personality of your product is, and then seeking the opinions of your teammates.

In the realm of product development, the frequency at which users engage with a product plays a significant role in its success. Products that have a natural frequency of more than once per month fall within the "Habit Zone," making it easier to build a recurring habit with users. On the other hand, products that are infrequent, with usage occurring less than quarterly, are in the "Forgettable Zone." This is because users are more likely to forget about infrequent products due to the low frequency of their use.

It is important to note that many modern product and growth strategies have originated in companies with frequent products, such as games and social media platforms. However, infrequent products face unique challenges that require a different approach. This is where the ICED theory, which stands for Infrequency, Control, Engagement, and Distinctiveness, comes into play. The ICED theory offers a mental model that helps address the challenges faced by infrequent products and guides the crafting of a growth-oriented approach.

The degree of infrequency of a product has a direct impact on its recall by customers. The more infrequent the product, the poorer the product recall. This insight informs crucial business decisions, such as monetization strategies and the cost of acquiring traffic. In the case of infrequent products, higher engagement is essential in order to ensure customer loyalty, whether through retention or advocacy. Three factors influence engagement: the complexity of a transaction, the degree of touch with the product, and the predictability of retention.

Reducing the perceived effort required in a transaction can significantly decrease customer churn, as highlighted in the book "The Effortless Experience" by Matthew Dixon, Nick Toman, and Rick DeLisi. By reducing the effort invested, customers are less likely to become disloyal. Additionally, the distinctiveness of a product plays a crucial role in preventing customer acquisition strain. For infrequent products, achieving product-market fit relies heavily on market penetration, as the time gap between transactions is wider compared to frequent products.