We’re thrilled to welcome Ben Foster to the TrackMaven Board of Advisors!
Ben is passionate about building great products that exceed expectations. Throughout his 15+ years of Product Management experience he has been a part of major product-driven success stories, including eBay and Opower.
This week, Ben stopped by the TrackMaven HQ for a “Lunch & Learn” with Team TrackMaven. Ben shared his insights on how to leverage technology, design, and behavioral science to build the product your customers want (but might not know they want).
Here are a few of Ben’s key takeaways:
- “Design is a strategic matter. The companies that change the world in the modern era do so by focusing on design – and thus the user – first.”
- “Gamification is really all about trying to drive engagement. Why would somebody use a gamification technique? It’s to try to engage your customers or engage your users better. I think that’s applicable, whether you’re designing a B2C product or B2B software.”
- “Think about a crossword puzzle. There’s a reason they are so addictive — they reward the completion of one answer, but every answer unlocks next steps. Make insights translate to action. Present solutions in a way that triggers more questions. Answers lead to next questions.”
- When you design your product, you can utilize natural human tendencies to drive the behavior change you’re looking for. My Engagement Framework is to: 1. Prime the user. 2. Provide a path to success 3. Highlight the accomplishment 4. Re-prime the user.”
- “At the end of the day, everybody who’s using your software is a real person and designing for real people is going to matter.”
Ben also shared a few of his favorite books, authors, and resources for more in-depth study of behavioral science and its influence on the design process. Read on for Ben’s reading recommendations!
- THINKING FAST AND SLOW by Daniel Kahneman
- PREDICTABLY IRRATIONAL: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions by Dan Ariely
- INFLUENCE: Science and Practice by Robert Cialdini
- B.J. Fogg’s Website behaviormodel.org
- Institute for Government’s MINDSPACE