The Most Ignored Growth Lever: “Don’t Make Me Think”

“Don’t Make Me Think” is one of the most underrated & ignored growth levers.

It’s not “just” a UX concept.

It’s an investment program — that’s about minimizing cognitive load for users and prioritizing UX from a first-principles.

But how do you implement it?

I broke it down with Director of Product Growth at Houzz, Kunal Thadani.

To go deeper with case studies and more, check out the deep dive.

There are 5 key principles:

𝗞𝗲𝘆 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝟭 — 𝗦𝗼𝗹𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺, 𝗡𝗼𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝘆𝗺𝗽𝘁𝗼𝗺

Sometimes, solving the core problem means doing less, not more.

Remember Dropbox’s legendary MVP? It wasn’t even a product. Just a video showing the solution. Overnight, 75,000 people signed up for a product that didn’t exist.

Why? Because it solved their core problem: seamless file syncing.

𝗞𝗲𝘆 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝟮 — 𝗧𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗜𝘀𝗻’𝘁 𝗮 𝗕𝘆-𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁. 𝗜𝘁’𝘀 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁

In an era of data breaches and privacy scandals, trust isn’t just nice to have. It’s your product.

Though, this doesn’t mean you just slap a “We value your privacy” banner on your site and call it a day.

Users are too savvy for that.

𝗞𝗲𝘆 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝟯 — 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗨𝘀𝗲𝗿’𝘀 𝗕𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗶𝘀 𝗮 𝗭𝗲𝗿𝗼-𝗦𝘂𝗺 𝗚𝗮𝗺𝗲

Here’s a hard truth: Your user’s mental energy is finite. Every bit of cognitive load you add in one place is stolen from somewhere else.

But don’t get it twisted. This isn’t always about dumbing things down. Notion’s blank canvas might seem overwhelming at first. But for power users, it reduces cognitive load in the long run by enabling hyper-customized workflows.

The takeaway? Sometimes you have to add complexity in one area to simplify the overall experience.

𝗞𝗲𝘆 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝟰 — 𝗗𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗝𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘇𝗲. 𝗣𝗿𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗰𝘁.

Forget reactive personalization. That’s so 2010. The future is predictive UX.

You need to fundamentally rethink user flows based on predictive modeling.

Google Maps doesn’t wait for you to ask for directions to your next meeting. It proactively alerts you about traffic based on your calendar.

Instead of responding to a query, it anticipates a need.

The challenge? This often requires more user data. And in a privacy-conscious world, that’s a tricky tightrope to walk.

𝗞𝗲𝘆 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝟱 — 𝗢𝗻𝗲 𝗦𝗶𝘇𝗲 𝗙𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝗡𝗼𝗻𝗲

Here’s where even seasoned PMs stumble: Treating simplicity as a universal constant.

Newsflash: What’s simple for a tech-savvy millennial might be frustratingly bare-bones for a baby boomer.

Your “Don’t Make Me Think” strategy should be as segmented as your user base. A B2B SaaS tool needs different approaches for admins vs. end-users.

Implementing these 5 Key Principles is synonymous to rewiring your product DNA.