Game Technique #4 for visual achievement tracking
Core Idea: Progress bars are visual indicators that show users how far they have advanced toward completing a goal or task, creating a sense of development and accomplishment while reducing abandonment.
Key Elements
Implementation Approaches
- Completion Bars: Show percentage toward finishing a defined task
- Example: LinkedIn's profile completion bar
- Milestone Indicators: Mark significant achievements along a journey
- Multi-level Progress: Track multiple goals simultaneously
- Categorical Progress: Show completion across different categories
Psychological Mechanisms
- Creates clear visualization of advancement
- Triggers completion tendency (desire to finish what's started)
- Reduces ambiguity about current status
- Provides immediate feedback on actions
- Connects directly to Core Drive 2: Development & Accomplishment
Effectiveness Factors
- Granularity: Small, frequent updates provide ongoing motivation
- Meaningful Segments: Progress should represent actual value creation
- Balanced Difficulty: Initial progress should be easy to achieve
- Visual Design: Clear, intuitive representation of progress
- Endpoint Clarity: Clear definition of what "complete" means
Application Examples
- Onboarding: Guiding users through initial setup steps
- Example: LinkedIn increasing profile completion rates
- Learning: Tracking course or skill development progress
- E-commerce: Showing checkout process advancement
- Health Apps: Visualizing progress toward fitness goals
- Project Management: Illustrating task completion status
Additional Connections
- Broader Context: Win-States in Gamification (creates clear path to achievement)
- Related Core Drive: Core Drive 2 - Development and Accomplishment (primary motivation leveraged)
- See Also: Product Gamification (common implementation context)
References
- Chou, Yu-kai. "Actionable Gamification: Beyond Points, Badges, and Leaderboards."
#gamification #user_experience #progress_tracking #visualization #engagement
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