Find Your Core Loop
There are four techniques, influenced by game thinking and design, which product developers can use to get them to a minimum viable product to test faster, says Amy Jo Kim. The most critical step of the four is finding your Core Loop.
What is the core loop? It’s the heart of your product, a series of actions that engages and delights your users and makes them want to return. A successful core loop drives long-term user engagement with a product.
So, how do you find it? Design your experience to evolve over time. This isn’t about designing how the product looks, but rather systems. Ask yourself what the customer’s experience with your product will be like, and how it will grow and evolve. Define what fun looks like for your audience. (It can mean different things to different people.) Then find and court early, passionate adopters of your product and seek their opinion. That early feedback will be crucial to your product’s development. If you can nail these early customers, who are not always representative of your ultimate end-market, they become partners and collaborators in your product as it develops.