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IntercomExplainer
How to Educate & Persuade Customers - The Intercom Blog
Summary
The post presents a framework for product messaging that categorizes user tasks by ease of execution and user desire, using a quadrant to determine whether to educate, persuade, or nudge. Tasks that are desirable but daunting require education to simplify the concept, while easy but low-value tasks need persuasion to highlight benefits, and tasks in between may only need a nudge. The author warns against simplifying tasks users do not want, citing failed startups, and references Ev Williams’ formula of removing steps from long-standing human desires. The post also discusses the cost-benefit trade-off in user decisions, distinguishing honest growth hacks that alter the trade-off from dishonest ones that deceive users or move goalposts. It advises against building a business around complex unwanted tasks and notes that Intercom itself uses this approach by teaching customers about drip-feed marketing.
Context
Intercom observed that effective customer messages either educate or persuade, leading to a framework for deciding which approach to use based on task ease and desirability.
Approach / What changed
Plot user tasks on a quadrant of ease versus desire; for desirable but difficult tasks use education to simplify, for easy but low-desire tasks use persuasion to highlight benefits, and for tasks in between use a nudge. Avoid simplifying tasks users do not want to do.
Takeaways
The quadrant framework: tasks that are desirable but daunting require education; easy but low-value tasks require persuasion; tasks in between may only need a nudge.
Ev Williams’ formula for billion-dollar companies: take a long-standing human desire and use modern technology to remove steps.
Honest growth hacks alter the cost-benefit trade-off by decreasing cost or enhancing perceived benefit; dishonest ones deceive users or move goalposts.
FAQ
When should I educate vs persuade customers?
Educate when the task is desirable but daunting, to make it seem simple. Persuade when the task is easy but low-value, to highlight benefits. For tasks in between, a simple nudge may suffice.
What is the bottom-left quadrant and how should I handle it?
The bottom-left quadrant contains tasks that are complex and unwanted. The post advises against building a business that relies on such tasks, and brute force is the only way to get them done.
What are dishonest growth hacks?
Dishonest growth hacks deceive users by spamming their address book or auto-tweeting without telling them, or move goalposts like forcing sign-up to watch a demo, which only inflates vanity metrics.
Source and freshness
- Source
- intercom.com
- Published
- Added to Yomu
Summaries are generated from the original by a language model. Check the original before relying on it.
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