How 1999. I have always felt (and continue to opine, in seminars, etc.) that if a user can get what they need on your site in 30 seconds, in a way that channels them towards some favorable business or branding outcome, then that is surely preferable to someone who spents 45 minutes on the site without so doing.

Stickiness strikes me as a terribly simpleminded metric.

Posted by: Adam Greenfield on November 27, 2002 03:00 AM

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In reply to Adam:
When seen as you describe it, stickiness is very 1999 and extremely simpleminded as a metric! :-)

My personal point of view is much like yours, that it is not preferrable to create 'walled gardens' from which your users can't escape. Instead you should focus on creating a pleasent and valuable experience for your users, however this does not exclude the use of sticky features.
Think of Amazon's 1-click ordering, which is very much a sticky feature, but also lets you buy what you want in less than 30 seconds. Furthermore it also creates an relation which is hard (or expensive in terms of switching costs) to break for the user.
If you use the number of return-visits which results in an transaction, stickiness is a very valuable metric.

Posted by: Carsten Holst on November 27, 2002 07:57 AM

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Fast in - fast out might lead towards favourable business outcome for the user - short-termed. The point of stickiness is not to make people linger pointlessly on portals or e-commerce sites but to make them stay just that little longer so they might purchase more. One can compare it with the way a supermarket is build. The aisles are placed in such a way that the customers have to walk through most of the shop to get to the register.

Another aspect on the stickiness is to get the user return for further shopping. The stickiness on the site must assist and guide the user when s/he returns to the site. Look at Amazon; they understand what stickiness is all about. If you search for a book they tell you what kind of books other customers with the same interest have bought. Furthermore they give you an offer on the searched book plus another with complementary content. A more straightforward example is on this page; just below this box I'm writing in is a field you can tick off if you want the site to remember your personal information next time. This alone does not make the site sticky, but along with other sticky features: usable features, usable design, and a content of your interest this takes part in making it a sticky community.

Of course there will always be users - like you it seems - that do not want any help or assistance and do their e-shopping from scratch every time. The more normal user behaviour is to accept the help and guidance that (the best) portals and e-commerce sites provide.

Posted by: Soren Sorensen on November 27, 2002 08:39 AM

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The more normal user behaviour is to accept the help and guidance that (the best) portals and e-commerce sites provide

Care to show me some numbers on this? I find that very, very hard to accept without some kind of substantiating evidence.

Posted by: Adam Greenfield on November 27, 2002 10:05 AM

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The more normal user behaviour is to accept the help and guidance that (the best) portals and e-commerce sites provide

Care to show me some numbers on this? I find that very, very hard to accept without some kind of substantiating evidence.

Posted by: Adam Greenfield on November 27, 2002 10:06 AM

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I tend to agree with Adam here - "stickiness" can't simply be measured by the length of time spent on a site. It has to be measured not just by how long you stay, but also by how often you return and how often you do business there (however you define business). The Amazon features which Soren discusses don't just make me stay longer on the site when I visit, they also make me come back and spend money with them. Too much money, as it happens...

Posted by: Alan Fisher on November 28, 2002 04:29 AM

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Hi
I would just like to emphasize that sticky features is all about making your users return! Research has shown that habitual users are much more likely to spend money on a site than first-time users. When using sticky features on websites you try to make loyal users in order to make a economical profit.
money on the site than first-time users.

Posted by: Inge on December 2, 2002 09:06 AM

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