Also in contrast to the action phase, the investment phase increases friction. This certainly breaks conventional thinking in the product design community that all user experiences should be as easy and effortless as possible. This approach still generally holds true, as does my advice in the action phase to make the intended actions as simple as possible. In the investment phase, however, asking users to do a bit of work comes after users have received variable rewards, not before. The timing of asking for user investment is critically important. By asking for the investment after the reward,
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