Your product needs to understand what users want

• Sukanya Bharati
• August 21, 2024
• Blog
• #productmanagement, #productmarketing
• 0 Comments

I hate interruptions

Especially from my phone

Most apps seek to annoy you with notifications

Everytime you install a new app

You have to be sure to read the prompts carefully

And there are intentionally hard to understand

Or once you starting seeing the annoying notifications

Go to settings and turn those off

Most of the apps on your phone measure their “engagement”

They use metrics like DAU- daily active users, MAU – monthly

They look at how many times you opened the app

And notifications are a way to get you to open the app

How do you balance what the creator of the app wants and what the user of the app wants?

If you want someone to use your product, tool, app regularly

Provide something of value

Something that user wants

Bugging users beyond a certain point

Has diminishing returns and sometimes even negative returns

Users tend to shut off notifications or simply delete the app

Once in a while some of the tools get this right

And it is not by chance

It can be done with intent and careful consideration

First understand what users want

What would please, help, or delight the users

Not just understand what users want, but what would they like

What are their underlying interests, motivation, emotions..

That is truly understanding users.

Not just tasks users want to do, but what is driving them.

For me that is #designthinking

For me that is #productdesign

And this is not just for #productmanager or #designer of the product.

But for everyone who is responsible for building, marketing and selling.

Recently I installed a cloud storage app on my phone.

It also stores my photos.

Everyday it shows me photos on the same day from a year or more ago.

I enjoy that.

It’s nice to look back and be reminded of some happy memories.

For once the app designers got it right.

What is an #app or #tool that you love?

Something that uses notifications or alerts wisely.

To benefit the user and not the tool creator..