New users do not yet have the vocabulary to understand the appNew users do not yet have the vocabulary to understand the app
Imagine that you are in a foreign country where you don't speak the language. You're hungry and you need to ask someone on the street where to buy some food. You don’t have the words to say it, but you can probably rub your stomach and people will know where to point you.
If the app has sufficiently unique features or design, then encountering those will be like hearing words from a foreign language. If the features or design are familiar carryovers from other products that people are used t.... They understand the product through the lens of their own goals and what's familiar to them. The company will generally have its own goals, like increasing the frequency of engagement. However, we can't just tell people to use the app every day. The user needs to have a reason to do so, articulated in terms of the user's own goals.
When working with clients, I often Use a badging system as a method of actionable user researchUse a badging system as a method of actionable user research
If you have a high quality badging/achievements system, then that means you know what the user goals are, you can recognize when those goals are accomplished, and your app notices when the user behavior is bringing the user closer to accomplishing their goal.
The three most important questions to ask of a badging system:
What are the user's goals?
What signals progress to the user/company?
What signals failure along the process of goal achievement?
What signals success to the user/c... to gain that shared vocabulary. When I started working with Fabriq, they had a badging system that was essentially, "use Fabriq multiple times this week, x weeks in a row." That's the company's goal, not the user's goal. The user's goal is more like "connect with my loved ones." The trick is to find the instances where you can translate company goals into user goals. In this case, if the user successfully accomplishes their goal, then Fabriq's goal is a byproduct.