May 16th, 2008
More on the Usage Lifecycle: Lifecycle Messaging
by Joshua Porter | 
16 Comments | shortlink: http://bokardo.com/p/771
A great example of the Usage Lifecycle in practice.
The other day I wrote about the idea that people go through a progression as they use your software, what I call the Usage Lifecycle. I described how Tripit.com was doing a good job at getting people over the hurdle of Sign-up with several really nice features on their site.
Here’s an example of a design team doing a good job of getting over a different hurdle, the hurdle of Return Visits.
Half.com founder Josh Kopelman wrote a great post on what he calls lifecycle messaging. He wonders why this technique isn’t used more:
“I’m surprised how little pro-active messaging/communication most Internet companies do. And if they do send me an email, it tends to be a generic weekly promotional email that they send to all users. One thing that I learned at half.com is the importance of lifecycle messaging — in which you deliver different messages to different users based on where they are in their lifecycle.”
Josh gives several examples of how they used lifecycle messaging at half.com. They paid very close attention to new users, in particular, sending them emails at very specific times in order to keep their attention and time their next action. They found out that two weeks is very important in the lifecycle of book readers:
“The average fiction book is read within two weeks of purchase. So if you purchased a John Grisham book for $8.75 on Half.com, chances are that you will finish it within 14 days. We decided to implement an auto-email that was sent 17 days after purchase that said “Want your $8.75 back, click here to list your Grisham book for sale”. We found that the open (and conversion) rate of that email was amazing — and it greatly added to our ability to “turn” the same book multiple times.”
This is fascinating in its simplicity. Once you know the day that someone receives a book, you know a lot more about them…they’ll probably read that book within two weeks and will be ready to get rid of it after that. And it doesn’t have to be email-based, either. It could be something embedded right into the dashboard of users that changes based on some metric, say how many times the person has logged in.
As some readers pointed out, the usage lifecycle isn’t a novel idea. Some industries have been using lifecycle messaging for a long time. Take, for example, this insightful post by Andrew Chen (both Josh and Andrew are excellent bloggers), who writes about how the casino industry in particular is fond of the lifestyle framework.
Why, then, are web applications so far behind? I think it may have to do with how we’ve approached web apps. For a long time we treated web applications as products, akin to physical products that are produced and used. We also treated them as publications in a way. But web apps are more like services delivered over time, or perhaps more descriptively tools that talk back.
So the overall value of the usage lifecycle is to really dig into the steps it takes for someone to become a passionate user of your software. The crazy thing is that you probably already have the information you need, but just aren’t surfacing it in your interface design. The important thing to remember is that people don’t become passionate overnight or without cause.
And, for the folks who asked why I organized my book around the usage lifecycle? Well, that’s easy. I tried to identify the problems that designers and developers were having over and over and write a book to help address them. The problems I kept seeing became the hurdles in the usage lifecycle: Gaining Awareness, Getting people to Sign-up, Coaxing Return Visits, and Eliciting Emotional Attachment. I’ll be writing more and more about these things over the coming weeks.
Now that I’ve fleshed out the usage lifecycle and lived with the idea for a year and I’m starting to get feedback from folks reading the book, I’m confident that these are indeed core challenges that many folks are dealing with. They aren’t easy, but they’re not black magic either. We simply need a framework that puts them in perspective. That’s what I’ve tried to do with the usage lifecycle.
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Comments
1. Paul Hart 8:23am, Fri 16th, 2008
Fantastic set of posts, I’m waiting for my copy of the book to arrive
2. Zephyr 1:07pm, Fri 16th, 2008
Surprising that it doesn’t happen more often, indeed.
3. Austin Govella 2:57pm, Mon 19th, 2008
Most good product teams are probably very aware of the lifecycle implications. I don’t think that’s as much the issue.
Really, good lifecycle messaging should happen with the brand messaging. When the customer is done with their book, the experience should have been pleasing enough, the brand promise should’ve have been clear enough, that they automatically think about going back for that next step. (Or for other services, going back for the next step in the cycle.)
If your lifecycle messaging strategy depends on *sending* messages, then you’re experience needs work. Messaging is a contingency.
4. James Creare 4:39am, Tue 20th, 2008
The software usage cycle is very interesting, With the internet and email paying an ever greater role in people’s lives, systems like on half.com are very appropriate and ‘modern’.
However surely if all online applications adopt this process, it will become saturated and lean into the spam category.
I think taking advantage of usage cycles, will have to keep evolving to stay unique and appropriate.
5. Brant Emery 6:17am, Tue 20th, 2008
I agree strongly with Austin’s comment, and in addition in order to do this you need to be able to effectively track your users’ progression through the stages of adoption / usage, so you can spot exactly when they drop off and then apply the *sending* messaging – but essentially you ned to know why the process stopped, causes and establish solutions.
6. Josh 6:27am, Tue 20th, 2008
@Austin – I’m not sure I follow. You’re saying in an ideal design situation that the experience should be good enough as to make sending messages (like the half.com reminder message) unnecessary?
But, it seems to me that *any* situation will be leaky, meaning that no matter what you build the experience won’t be 100% perfect. People will drop off no matter how good your experience is, as all experiences are different.
I would argue that those great experiences are the ones that recognize the ebbs and flows of activity, and does whatever it takes to remind people of the good experience they’re getting.
In other words, the ideal case as you describe just doesn’t exist. In practical terms, if there is a way to improve the experience, whether or not it’s called branding or happens to be a reminder email, it’s adding value, is it not?
7. Sonciary Honnoll 1:34pm, Tue 20th, 2008
Very good points. I play at a web startup – BizUnite, the Independent Business Platform – we launch this June. It’s important to me that we get the ‘lifecycle messaging’ right from the start.
8. billhd 10:13am, Thu 22nd, 2008
@Austin
I have to take issue, too, with the idea that messaging is a contingency. This is almost always a goal that benefits sellers or service providers (talk to customers as little as possible because it’s cheaper that way) and only occasionally synchs with users’ goals. While “leave me alone” is always something we should consider a viable user goal, it should be seen in the context of maintaining a working relationship. Not messaging, then, becomes a communication strategy as well as messaging does…it’s just when and how that we always need to consider.
9. Graham Strong 1:31pm, Thu 22nd, 2008
Messaging is an important part of any marketing campaign. Even if you offer a specific service with extremely loyal clients, it is still good to touch base with them if you haven’t heard from them in a while. More often than not, they have a project on the backburner they haven’t gotten around to contacting you about yet.
The same is likely true for products. If you can identify patterns in the average user’s interaction with your products, you can craft your message to meet any particular situation. Maybe they “plan” to get your new product or upgrade a current one, but just haven’t gotten to it. This has nothing to do with the customer experience, but everything to do with life getting in the way.
Another thing I’ve found is that you don’t usually get it right the first time. It takes a few tries to get the messaging and the timing right. Like any direct marketing campaign, tweaking to find what works and what doesn’t is always the best way to go.
Great post!
~Graham
10. Austin Govella 1:08pm, Fri 23rd, 2008
@Josh, Bllhd,
I think we’re pretty much on the same page. Maybe some examples?
My grocery store doesn’t email me a week after I’ve purchased milk and bread to remind me that I might need more.
Twitter doesn’t remind me to check tweets or to post tweets. (Though I can *ask* it to nudge me.)
MySpace, Livejournal, and Facebook don’t remind me to sign in and see what my friends are up to. But I do.
Amazon doesn’t remind me to buy another book. But I do anyway.
Defining “lifecycle” messaging as “contingency” doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it. It just means it’s a contingency based on customers who have fallen through the cracks.
Framing it this way is important because perhaps the best way to catch those people isn’t an email. Maybe it’s a billboard. Maybe it’s physical mail. Maybe it’s encouraging their friends to do the reminding for you. (E.g. in twitter I can nudge people to post something.)
That you need contingencies, I totally agree. But executing the primary experience is still more important. Once that’s covered, then how you affect contingency scenarios should be a wide-open field.
11. billhd 9:07pm, Fri 23rd, 2008
@Austin Thanks for the clarification! Excellent points, all.
12. Josh 5:06am, Sat 24th, 2008
@Austin: I see several points here. First, recognize whether there is a lifecycle worth designing around. Second, recognize when there are points in the lifecycle when you’re seeing drop off/opportunity. Third, consider sending contingency messaging at those points.
Your examples are good ones. However, I can easily imagine Amazon having some threshold at which they’ll send you a message, such as 3 months without any activity or something.
But your point is well taken…this sort of messaging isn’t the core value proposition. This is tactical stuff for specific times in the lifecycle. Thanks for pushing further with this.
13. Sam Design 7:56am, Sat 30th, 2008
Really interesting post, you made some valid points about brand marketing and how to secure return visits.
I strongly agree with Austins first comment that messaging is a contingency.