If Your Product Is Truly Going to Stick, Your Thinking Can’t Be Slippery
“Let’s increase stickiness in the product.”
I’ve heard this statement countless times in meetings with product teams. It sounds bold, but when you dig deeper, it often crumbles under scrutiny. What does “stickiness” even mean? For whom? And why should they stick? Without clarity, you’re chasing a bar of soap in the bath—the harder you grab, the faster it slips away.
Stickiness isn’t a goal. It’s a reward.
Congruence Matters
People stick with a product because it delivers something they can’t easily replace—it solves a problem, creates value, or makes their lives better.
But here’s the deal: stickiness thrives on congruence. The tighter your product, experience, and messaging align with your brand promise, the stickier it becomes. When your brand feels like a cohesive, trusted system, users don’t just return—they tell their friends.
Statisticians would call this a strong positive correlation: as brand congruence increases, so does stickiness. The reverse is just as true—a fragmented or inconsistent brand erodes trust and sends users to the arms of your competitors. Focus on the customers who are churning as much as—or even more than—those you’re courting.
Alignment matters, all the time. Deliver what you promise, and users won’t just stick—they’ll become your loudest advocates. Ignore it, and they’ll drift to something that feels right. Congruence builds loyalty. Loyalty builds stickiness.
Clarity Over Vanity
Talking about “stickiness” without definition sets teams up for failure. Stickiness for whom? What behavior are you targeting? How will you measure it? Without clear answers, you risk chasing irrelevant metrics or building vanity features that solve nothing. Just ask your users.
Stickiness thrives on clarity. The sharper the problem, the sharper the solution. If you don’t know, trust yourself enough to say so. Your customer will thank you.
The Inevitable Outcome of True Value
Stickiness isn’t something you chase; it’s something you earn. It’s the residue of real value, the kind that solves a problem so well it rewires the way people think, work, or live. Forget gimmicks or shortcuts—those might get you attention, but they won’t win you loyalty. True stickiness happens when your product becomes a trusted partner in your user’s life, seamlessly integrated into their routines and decisions.
It’s not just about the user. If your team doesn’t believe in the value you’re delivering—if they don’t feel it in their bones—your product will lack soul. And a soulless product? That’s a commodity, not a cornerstone.
As Schumacher said, consciousness is the energy that holds it all together. If your organization isn’t united by a clear sense of purpose and value, your product won’t stick because your team doesn’t stick to it either. So, commit to the hard work of building real value—for the user, for the team, for the mission.
Because when you get that right, stickiness isn’t just a byproduct. It’s inevitable.
—Gunny