Hierarchy of Engagement

What It Is

The Hierarchy of Engagement is a three-level framework for building consumer products that retain users and create defensibility. The core insight: retention comes from making the product better the more you use it, so users have more to lose by leaving.

Most consumer products fail not because they lack users, but because they lack retention. Getting someone to sign up is one thing; getting them to stay is everything. This framework provides a systematic approach to building products where engagement compounds over time.

The key shift: Move from asking “How do we get more users?” to asking “How do we make each user’s experience improve the more they use us?”

When to Use It

Use the Hierarchy of Engagement when you need to:

• Define your North Star metric (what action matters most?)
• Improve retention in a consumer or social product
• Build product stickiness beyond features alone
• Create switching costs that protect against competitors
• Design your onboarding/activation flow
• Evaluate product-market fit through engagement quality
• Prioritize features that drive compounding value

When Not to Use It

Don’t apply this framework when:

• Building B2B enterprise software (different retention dynamics)
• The product is transactional by nature (one-time purchase)
• There’s no meaningful “use over time” pattern
• You’re optimizing for viral acquisition before proving retention

Resources

Writing:

• The Hierarchy of Engagement by Sarah Tavel (Medium)
• The Hierarchy of Engagement, Expanded by Sarah Tavel