why checking-in is so addictive
DESCRIPTION
An evaluation of the persuasion Foursquare uses in order to get new users to create a habit of opening the Foursquare iPhone app.TRANSCRIPT
Why Checking-In is So Addictive
by Max Zamkow
habits.stanford.edu
How Foursquare gets new users to repeatedly open their app
Lets Examine…
We’ll look at the process by which a first time user is persuaded to open the app a second time…
User finds out about
Foursquare
User visits the AppStore and
downloads app
User opens Foursquare for the first time
User connects friends to their
Foursquare profile
User gets push notification from
friend
User sees badges and points
User sees someone else as mayor of
somewhere important to them
User checks in
User wants more badges and
points
User wants to be mayor
User gets a badge and/or
points
User must open app later to
achieve their goal
User opens app again
Now let’s look at the different types of behaviors that the new user goes through.
Legend:
For this we’ll classify each behavior into one of the 15 behaviors in the Fogg Behavior Grid (see http://behaviorgrid.org)
Legend:
- Green Behavior
- Blue Behavior
- Purple Behavior
- Action (not a behavior)
- Spot Behavior
- Span Behavior
- Path Behavior
User finds out about
Foursquare
User visits the AppStore and
downloads app
User opens Foursquare for the first time
User connects friends to their
Foursquare profile
User gets push notification from
a friend
User sees badges and points
User sees someone else as mayor of
somewhere important to them
User checks in
User wants more badges and
points
User wants to be mayor
User gets a badge and/or
points
User must open app later to
achieve their goal
User opens app again
So the Route to the User Opening the App again is (on average)…
This is the key, motivating the first time user to want more
User gets a push notification from a
friend
User wants to become a mayor
User wants a new badge / more points
User checks in daily
User opens app
Cue
Cycle
Looking just at the behaviors that influence the user to return to the app…
Synopsis
Foursquare’s trick is to influence new users to create purple span behaviors which then lead to the blue path cycle behavior of opening the app often.
Additionally they utilize blue spot cue behaviors to further increase the frequency of users opening the app, re-presenting them with the purple span behaviors which, as above, lead to the creation of the blue path cycle behavior.