We had the pleasure of attending the Mind the Product conference at the Barbican this year, a day full of inspiring talks from the world of product development. In one of the keynote talks by Product Coach, Nesrine Changuel, she spoke about how tech products don’t just need to solve problems but can also forge deep emotional connections with their users. 

Neserine explored the art and science of delight in product design, she delved into its crucial role, emotional requirements, and the tools necessary for crafting products that resonate with people on a deeper level. Naserine’s personal anecdotes and real-world examples made me reflect on the elements of delight I have appreciated lately, both in our own work and the wider landscape.

Why is designing for delight important?

Emotionally connected users are 50% more likely to be retained as users, they are also twice as likely to purchase/subscribe, and 60% more likely to refer others to the product or service. So appealing to the user's emotional side is critical.

An emotional connection can be invoked using a variety of methods. From small gestures to big strategic initiatives, every touchpoint can in theory offer an opportunity to resonate with users on a deeper level. 

Motivating moments

A product's lifecycle is filled with moments where users interact with or think about it. The key objective of these moments within user journeys is to make users feel valued, noticed, motivated, understood, and listened to, typically achieved through experiences that are reliable, usable and convenient. However, delivering a truly significant and shareworthy experience requires more than just basic functionality. To achieve this, a product must intentionally integrate moments of delight into the user experience.

Perfect timing and the right mindset

Not everyone finds the same things delightful, and what pleases one person may annoy another. Furthermore, individual preferences are not only subjective but also situational and temporal - what pleases someone in one context may irritate them in another, or even at a different time. Therefore, a one-size-fits-all approach isn't effective. It's crucial to carefully consider when to introduce these "delight moments" during the user lifecycle. 

Take Slack, you start a Huddle but no one joins for a while, it starts playing jazz. The timing here is perfect, playing the music immediately and you might hear an abrupt piece of music before someone joins, too long and the feature may not be heard at all. Instead, Slack waits 5 seconds or so and then introduces the music with a fade, making its arrival feel smooth and the experience, uninterrupted. And that's not all, don’t like Jazz? Well you can change to a nice whistle tune or just turn it off altogether. In contrast to the typical expectations of a B2B platform, the accompanying text invites me to ‘enjoy the tranquility,’ and a playful musical note appears to dance as I listen.

Now, would I still use the ‘Huddle’ feature if this aspect wasn’t included? - absolutely, but now I secretly enjoy it if people are late for my catch ups.

Rewarding the completion of a task

On a recent project for data.org, we wanted to inject a little fun into the user experience. So, when users complete a set of tasks, they're surprised with a badge recognising their hard work. To top it off, some confetti explodes onto their screen. This unexpected celebration is our way of acknowledging their achievements.

Getting the balance right

Duolingo is an interesting example, while the user is doing well it uses positive reinforcement through quirky characters, rewards, sound design and animation, but it also often employs negative reinforcement mechanics. For example, the app icon used to change depending on user behaviour. If it had been a while since logging in, the icon would develop a withering expression, in an attempt to guilt the user back to the app. 

While Duolingo's structure and rewards system can effectively gamify language learning, making it fun and motivating, designers should be wary of overdoing it. User reactions, as seen in these Reddit threads like “Just looking at his face hurts the soul. I had to uninstall” and  “It should be celebrated that you’re even trying, not disappointed with you, just because your life gets busy once in a while…” – illustrate the potential for negative consequences.

Whether the goal is to cultivate user habits, onboard individuals to a new platform or feature, or simply establish a playful atmosphere, it's crucial to recognise that successful digital products and services don't need to be devoid of personality. At Furthermore, our strategies and frameworks, refined through years of experience, intentionally incorporate creativity in unexpected areas. As Nesrine Changuel aptly stated, "When you talk about emotion, there is no such thing as B2C vs B2B, it’s all B2H - business to human, as long as there is a user involved."