Let your users start over

I wish that more products had an option to reset to factory settings. Whether I haven’t used a product in a long time or have found a new way to set things up, there are plenty of reasons to return to square one. In a world where more and more content is driven by algorithmic recommendations or AI, being able to wipe the slate clean and start over is even more relevant.

The trigger for this post 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 realise there are many reasons a platform wouldn’t want you to do this. Many systems have lock-in effects from having many connections or content on the platform. Others, like short-form video apps, strive to keep you flicking through by feeding more of what keeps you engaged. I get all of that, but I can’t help but feel there is an opportunity to reduce churn by allowing your users to start fresh.

I’ve had my own share of fresh start experiences, too. 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. Those notes no longer felt relevant, and I felt friction in the idea of picking up where I had left off so long ago. Creating a new workspace with nothing in it felt like a fresh start. 

Before I ultimately decided to bail on Twitter, I often felt it would be great to remove everything and start over. At that time, I followed over a thousand people, and the only option to remove them was to go through them all one by one. Similarly, on LinkedIn, there are names of people in my ‘500+’ connections that I’ll likely never speak to again. Their posts fill my timeline with stories of how missing their bus taught them a lesson about B2B marketing, while the algorithm buries posts from people I care about.

Similarly, after being fed the same half-dozen songs and playlists on Spotify, I want to yell, ‘Hey, just forget all that; let's start again!’ I can say the same for Netflix, YouTube, Instagram, and other algorithmically driven content feeds. Recommendation-driven systems keep users around by feeding them more of what they like, but they need to realise that what we want can change over time.

Sure, I understand you could create a new account. Most platforms are happy for you to increase your user count with a fresh sign-up, but that’s not what I am after. I might want to purge the app of old posts on a platform but keep my followers and those I follow. I might want to tell Spotify to pretend I am brand new when recommending things, but keep all my playlists. Setting up a new account that way would be almost impossible.

I suppose if there’s a lesson in any of this, it’s to give your users more control. Keep your recommendations and forever history by default, but give them the control to occasionally wipe the slate clean.