What is an Aha Moment?
An aha moment is the realization by a new user that a particular product is the one they need and have been looking for. It is a significant turning point in the customer journey where they realize the potential and value of the product. The aftermath is marked by increased engagement and loyalty.
It often occurs during the onboarding flow at the early phase of the customer lifecycle. The aha moment thus provides an important boost to conversion rates, user lifecycle and customer retention. An example of an aha moment is a customer making a second order on an ecommerce app days after receiving delivery of their first order.
Whereas it is referred to as a moment, it is rarely a sudden or singular event. Neither is it the same for every user. It does however provide an important barometer over what milestones and situations have the greatest long term impact on end-user behavior.
By identifying, analyzing and understanding aha moments, businesses can design products and user journeys that increase exposure to these moments. Driving users toward and/or catching engaging them at these Aha moments leads to increased customer satisfaction and retention.
To identify AHA moments:
- Gather detailed data of product use including from interviews, usability testing and customer feedback.
- Identify patterns of user behavior. Determine what features users started using earliest and kept using. Also, take note of features users stopped using.
- Develop hypotheses guessing multiple potential aha moments based on features customers use most frequently. Customer feedback could provide useful pointers on potential aha moments.
- Evaluate the detailed data to establish your hypothesis’ accuracy.
- Stress-test the findings during onboarding to confirm causation and impact. Correlation is not causation.
Instead of leaving user engagement to chance, tapping into aha moments takes advantage of proven experiences to drive the outcomes you hope for.
