Building an Enduring Product

How to build an enduring product? Great insights that Sarah Tavel provides in her list of frameworks.

Today I learned about Hierarchy engagement framework. I will try to clarify the ideas briefly in an edtech setting. (App like Coursera/Udacity)

How do we maximize user engagement? There is a 3 level hierarchy to do this:

• Improve initial engagement: Here we need the user to finish a core action. Core action for an edtech product: finish the 1st video or 1st assignment. Assist with forums/tips and push the learner to complete.

• Increase Retention: The product gets better when more people use it. A key factor for success: enable seamless collaboration so that more people complete the assignments. The problem here is: As assignments get harder; motivation goes low. Low motivation leads to low completion rates leading to low retention.

• Self-sustaining loops: Once a course is finished, we can push the user to do another course. Or we can get the user to refer another friend to do the course. Once the user gets a job, he churns. This is different from other products where the user keeps coming back for more. The user's job is done. The key design factor for the loop to enable the churning user to get more users smoothly.

In edtech, the core action - assignments get harder in time as the course progresses. How to keep the engagement going is a hard problem? That's why the miserable completion rates in self-paced courses.

Live courses are slightly better off. More engagement with a vibrant community leads to more completion. The challenge is to scale sustainably. I will write more about cohort led courses and self-paced courses with my thoughts soon. Applied learning helps clarify the concepts better instead of simply taking the principles as is.

Here is the original article to learn and apply for other domains - The Hierarchy of Engagement.