Finest-5 Product reads #7
Weekly product newsletter bringing you the best of the internet
Happy Saturday,
Whoa!! It has been one hell of a taxing week. I have been shifting and the amount of stuff my parents have accumulated over years is mind boggling. I certainly feel like a minimalist today. Hence, no new experiments today.
But, from last week’s test, where I altered the content format with highlights and personal touch, average Clicks increased by a whooping 40%. I am more than pleased to follow the path. Also, now, I am more determined to keep improving and help you become better at product.
If you believe this Newsletter can help others too, please share.
How people discover new products
Once in a while you come across a product and you realize this shit is amazing. We must know how: you, I and our users discover the product and consider the same while enabling onboarding from our product. It can help to give a direction on what mood, trust and intent the user has while onboarding the product. Continue reading..
Highlights:
There are 7 sources of product discovery combined of Social, ads and organic.
Discovery through social circles is by far the cheapest and best way to grow if you can pull it off.
Figure out your segment and where you can find them and other things will start making sense.
Choosing colors for mobile app design (5 key principles)
Colors play a vital part in our life and more if you, like me, lie in the category of color blind. We, over time, have associated colors with emotions, personality, and risk, among other things. With any product, if you mis-align your brand proposition and colors, your user is definitely going to get mixed signals. Continue reading..
Highlights:
Colors can impact mood, behavior, and stress; thus, foster or distort your brand messaging.
Look at your competition and understand their color scheme
Align your brand’s design to the 4Cs: Consistency, Clarity, Content and Color
Variable Rewards: Want To Hook Users? Drive Them Crazy
I am always intrigued by what all a reward can be: ranging from money to a share from Shreyas. However, there is another angle to the story which makes it all the more interesting is how life is full of variable rewards. People love the inconsistency and deducing cause and effect. Maybe a reason why we prefer home made tea to Chai Point. Continue reading..
Highlights:
Feedback loops are evolving and Variable Rewards are taking the centre stage.
Lab mice responded most voraciously to random rewards. Humans behave likewise.
Variable rewards come in three types: rewards of the tribe, the hunt, and the self.
User retention at Pinterest: tackling an ambiguous problem
Retention is a sure shot path to any successful product . However, to kill the ambiguity, one has to look for a leading metric that can predict these burns. What you need to figure out is, ‘who is churning’ and why, and whether we can interfere in the flow of existing to reduce significant churn? Continue reading..
Highlights:
We need to address ‘who’ and ‘how’ before ‘what will solve the problem’.
There are typically only two reasons to invest in an area: paranoia or opportunity.
It’s important to show progress with small wins.
How to Validate Your Product Ideas Cheap and Fast
As a product manager, if I had a wish, I would say, a way to test my hypothesis with no time and money. Well, that’s a wish for a genie. What we can always strive for is to find a way that’s cheaper and faster to test before building. Continue reading..
Highlights:
Idea validation has three Main Questions: Can it be built?, Should it be built?, Will people be able to use it?
Generate a minimal product: quality landing page and engaging content.
Use different platforms to sell and see how user receive your idea.
Product of the week: Maze
I found another way to do cheaper and faster evaluation of ideas, Maze. It is a user testing and usability research platform that turns your prototype into actionable insights from real users. If nothing else, visit the website for its color combinations and aesthetics.
PS: Please connect with me on mail or LinkedIn, if you have any feedback or want to chat. Would love to hear from you.