Let your users reset

I wish that more products had an option to reset to factory settings. Whether I'm using a product I haven’t used in a long time or just finding a new way to set things up, there are plenty of reasons to go back to square one. In a world where more and more content is driven by recommendation and AI, being able to undo and start over is even more relevant.

The trigger for this post wasn’t me wanting to reset an app. It was a customer I’d been working with who asked for a reset. They were testing our product, and something clicked for them. They wanted to set up and structure things in a different and very particular way. We don’t have a button for this in the app, so we reset stuff behind the scenes. Providing things functionality sparked my thinking and, in this case, helped close a sale.

I’ve had similar experiences with tools like Notion, Twitter and Spotify. I stopped using Notion for a while and came back to it. When I did, I had notes everywhere from the last time I used things. Creating a new workspace with nothing in it felt like a fresh start. I probably wouldn't have returned if I had to work through all my previous notes.

On Twitter, before I ultimately decided to bail on it, I often felt it would be great just to remove everything and start over. Similarly with Spotify, after being fed the same half dozen songs and playlists, I felt a strong desire to say, ‘Hey, just forget all of that; let's start again’. I've had this same desire with so many content platforms recently, especially those I've used for a long time. The topics I was interested in on Youtube five or ten years ago are not the same as those that interest me now.

A platform wouldn’t want you to do this for many reasons. Recommendation-based systems keep users around by feeding them more of what they like. Many systems have lock-in effects from having many connections or content on the platform. I get all of that, but I can’t help but feel there is an opportunity to reduce some segments of churn by giving your users a chance to start fresh.

Similarly, you could create a new account. Most platforms are totally happy for you to increase your user count with a fresh sign-up, but that’s not always what I am after. Returning to the social media account example, I might want to purge the app of old posts but keep my followers and those I follow. Setting up a new account that way would be almost impossible.