Identify Emotional Demotivators First

When building products that users connect with emotionally, it's often easier to identify what frustrates or stresses users than to discover what brings them joy. This insight offers a practical shortcut for product teams struggling to identify emotional motivators.

During Nasreen's work on Google Meet during the pandemic, her team identified three key emotional demotivators:

• Boredom during video calls
• Low interaction between participants
• "Zoom fatigue" (interestingly named after a competitor)

By focusing on these specific emotional pain points, they developed targeted solutions:

1. Self-view minimization: Research from Stanford showed that constantly seeing yourself on camera was a major cause of video call fatigue. The team created a feature to let users broadcast their video without having to see themselves.

2. Reaction emojis: To address low interaction without forcing people to unmute and interrupt speakers, they introduced non-verbal reaction options like waving hands and thumbs up.

This approach demonstrates how identifying emotional demotivators can be a more straightforward path to creating delightful experiences than trying to guess what might bring users joy. It provides a concrete starting point for teams that might otherwise struggle with the abstract concept of "delight."

The strategy works particularly well for addressing existing pain points in established products, where users can articulate what frustrates them about their current experience.