The First 15 Seconds

How do you build a product that engages a user quickly enough to engage them over time?

In the first 15 seconds of every new experience, we are all lazy, vain, and selfish.

How do you build a product that engages a user quickly enough to engage them over time?

I’d propose that, in the first 15 seconds of every new experience, people are lazy, vain, and selfish.

This is not intended as cynical jibe at humanity. It is an essential insight for building great products and experiences both online and off. It is a humbling realization that everyone you meet — and everyone that visits your website or uses your products — has an entirely different mindset before they’re ready to make the effort to care.

Allow me to explain…

We are lazy in the sense that we don’t want to invest time and energy to unwrap and understand what something is. No patience to read directions. No time to deviate. Life has such a steep learning curve as it is, with seldom enough time for work, play, learning, and love. And so, when something entirely new requires too much effort, we just let it pass. Our defaul…