In my previous post I talked about the 5 stages of the user engagement lifecycle. Now that we understand each stage, and the fact that the user’s needs and expectations vary at each stage, let’s delve a little deeper into how you as the service / app provider should deal with each stage:
1. Onboarding : Week 1
User Count: High – new users have just joined and will stick around for some time.
Abandonment Risk: Low. You have only happy users here !
Revenue: Probably not.
Your user is just starting off – mostly looking around. Make singing up easy and quick. Show on explainer videos, screens or text. Focus on giving the user some quick wins. Make the user comfortable with your site, service or app. Don’t introduce any complex features yet.
2.Honeymoon : Week 2-6
User Count: Starts to fall. At least a few users will not find your site, service or app useful.
Abandonment Risk: Moderate but important to keep the user engaged.
Revenue: Probably not.
The user is now starting to explore. Delight her with some more quick wins, show off unexplored features and help the user around a bit. Very important to start engaging the user. Analytics play an important role now – you want to know what features the user seems to like / use more than others, how much time does she spend with you service / app, is she inviting others users to try it out too? Users at this stage are the ones who can make it all viral. Pamper them !
3. Inertial : Week 4-8
User Count: Will surely see a fall. At least some users will not see value or simply dislike you service or app.
Abandonment Risk: Highest – focus on showing value to the user. The user is investing time and needs some RoI – even if it is a large number of likes/ shares.
Revenue: Probably not, but some users might start considering your premium services or converting from trial to paid users.
The user is now looking for value, so put all that fluff away and give her that value. Abandonment rates will likely be the highest at this stage, so constant, interactive engagement is important. Analytics play an important role in measuring abandonment rates, and predicting abandonment.
4. Stable : Week 6-12
User Count: Fairly stable now.
Abandonment Risk: Low. Some users even start praising your service publicly. Not just viral – actual testimonials.
Revenue: Now is the time to start introducing those premium services and features. At least some users will sign up for them.
The user has already decided to stay. Its time to make the most of it, but analyzing what features she uses more than others and pitch some in-app purchases or premium features. She will at least try them – so its worth throwing some limited period trials her way.
5. Power User : Week 8 Onwards
User Count: Stable
Abandonment Risk: Low
Revenue: Absolutely. You should have paying users by now.
You should have several paying users in this lot. Make the right pitch and they will open their wallets. Don’t get too greedy though – price it right and continue to show value.
You will notice some overlap in the timeline above. It all depends on why the user signed up in the first place, and demographics. Analytics are important at each stage and you should be able to measure for every user, what stage she is at. Personalize your offerings as much as possible, for each stage, if not for every user.
Final Word: Take the user through Stage 3 and you will have a long-term user.
Nirmal Shah's Blog 
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