Why 'Invite Your Friends' Should Wait: The Misplaced Priority in Early Stage Product Design
In the journey of building a digital product, excitement and anticipation often pervade the atmosphere. "What if it goes viral?" is the whispered dream of every product designer and entrepreneur. But in this heady mix of aspiration and anticipation, it's essential to realize that not all features are created equal—especially the notorious "Share" or "Invite Your Friends" function.
The AARRR Funnel and Its Last R
To understand the dilemma, one must first comprehend the AARRR funnel, a commonly used model in the digital product space that outlines five key metrics: Acquisition, Activation, Retention, Revenue, and Referral. Each metric serves as a stage in the user journey, from becoming aware of your product to becoming a vocal advocate for it.
The 'Invite Your Friends' or 'Share' feature falls under the last 'R' for Referral. Here lies the problem: The 'Referral' stage is last in the funnel for a reason. It comes after your users have been acquired, activated, retained, and perhaps even monetized. In short, nobody is going to share a product unless they find value in it, use it frequently, and trust it enough to recommend it to their network.
Misallocation of Resources
As product designers and managers, time and resources are finite. The excitement around the potential virality of a product can mislead teams into prioritizing sharing features during the initial design phases. At this stage, these features end up being a drain on resources that could be better used elsewhere.
Imagine the scenario where the product team spends weeks perfecting the sharing functionality, only to find that the initial user base isn't even sticking around long enough to share anything. Those weeks could have been better spent enhancing core features or improving user experience to increase activation and retention rates.
Feedback Loops and Actual Usage
A product with zero or low monthly active users is essentially a product without enough feedback loops. Active users help you iterate on your product design. They're the ones who tell you what's essential, what's lacking, and what's superfluous. Without this feedback, focusing on sharing features is akin to shooting in the dark—you won't know what you're hitting or missing.
What Should You Focus On Instead?
In the early stages of a product's life cycle, the emphasis should be on:
- **Acquisition**: Attracting initial users through targeted marketing or partnerships.
- **Activation**: Creating a compelling user experience that prompts interaction and initial use.
- **Retention**: Adding enough value to keep users returning to your product.
These are the pillars upon which your future 'Referral' strategy will eventually rest. Once you have a product that people love to use and keep coming back to, that's the time to consider implementing sharing features.
When to Groom "Share Feature"?
A practical guideline for product teams is to postpone even discussing the inclusion of 'Share' or 'Invite Your Friends' features until the product has maintained at least 100 Monthly Active Users (MAU) for three consecutive months. Why this specific benchmark? Consider this: industry data often points to a referral rate of approximately 1% for many digital products. Even if you've achieved 100 MAU for three months, that translates to just one referral per month under a 1% referral rate. Jumping the gun on implementing sharing features before reaching this level of consistent engagement can easily become a resource-intensive distraction with little to no immediate payoff.
Summary
Let's set our aspirations for vitality aside for a moment and recognize that 'Share' and 'Invite Your Friends' features should not be an early-stage focus. Before you start thinking about referrals, ensure that you have a product compelling enough to engage and retain your user base. If you build it right, they will not only come but bring their friends along—no "Invite Your Friends" button needed.
