Driving Engaged service use
I’ve been toying with a model for user engagement that I call 5E. The idea is to give a production focused 5S or lean model a run for it’s money when designing services. The argument is that the focus on efficiency and waste reduction in production can all too easily miss the point in the context of a service. The value for a customer is often located precisely in the deeper engagement that can look like waste from an efficiency perspective.
The model is loosely inspired by the Defra 4E model but developed before I knew that model existed and intended to be used in a slightly different way. Each of the components should be seen as interdependent and non-linear characteristics that are continuous throughout the lifetime of a user’s experience of the service.
Quickly running through it, 5E aims to create Engagement through Education, Empowerment, Enablement and Encouragement. It works as a checklist for services. Get something going for each component and the sum of the parts is engagement. Miss a component and you lose segments of your user community for whom that component is a necessary part of the experience.
It starts with Education. This covers: awareness in the marketplace; any information and decision-making help that potential users require; the entry and learning process to using the service; and ongoing learning towards mastery of the service. Beyond simply attracting new users to the service and getting them signed up, this should be seen from the start as the development of an active user base. The greater a user’s investment in learning your service, the less likely they are to disengage. It should go without saying that this learning should be intuitive and fun and that a large upfront investment without immediate reward should not be required to get started.
Once users pass through a trust barrier and go from simply wanting to try your service, without any sense of commitment on their part, through learning their way around and figuring out how well the service meets their needs, they will begin to develop a sense of belonging and ownership. This is due to the investment they have made and for which they will now begin seeking a return. In order to ensure that they feel their time, attention, and possibly money, was soundly invested, they need to be Empowered. This means reassuring them that their feelings of ownership and belonging are justified and that their investment is worthwhile. Empowered users participate in the decision making process and need to see responses to their developing needs and requirements. This is a significant challenge for service provider but it is essential for engaged users to feel that they have real ownership of their experience in return for their investment.
At it’s core, the service must Enable users to fulfill their needs more easily and more enjoyably. The service should aim to constantly increase the ratio of people making the most of the service by lowering the barriers of entry to advanced use and giving users the capability to optimally design their own level and style of use. Enabling users to meet their needs in their own way will help them stay engaged in the service even as their needs change.
Finally we must remember the hard slog of Encouraging users to maintain active use of the service. Remember: this isn’t hard sell to take up the service or to hand over a credit card number. That has hopefully happened already. This is about maximizing engagement. It’s about motivating users to keep learning, reminding them of their goals and rewarding them for achieving deeper involvement. Think personal trainer, rather than sales man. What are the incentives that drive deeper engagement with your service instead of other competing ones?
Look to tick off each of these elements when designing a new service or improving an existing one, and keep working at each. They address different components of a user’s experience and the greater sum of the parts is engaged and active users.
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