Maslow’s demand hierarchy behind product design

American psychologist Maslow once put forward the theory of human needs hierarchy. He divided human needs from low to high into five categories: physiological needs, safety needs, social needs, respect needs and self-actualization needs. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs has pointed out an effective way for us to analyze the needs behind the product.

For any product to be deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, it must have a deep understanding of human nature. It is necessary to distinguish clearly between human surface needs and potential needs. Only by grasping the deep needs of human nature, can the product be implanted in the depth of the user’s soul and can’t stop it.

American psychologist Maslow once put forward the theory of human needs hierarchy. He divided human needs from low to high into five categories: physiological needs, safety needs, social needs, respect needs and self-fulfillment needs.

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs has pointed out an effective way for us to analyze the needs behind the product.

Next, I will make a close analysis of product demand and Maslow’s demand hierarchy.

Current application product category

From the functional point of view, the functions provided by the product are nothing more than the following: tools, entertainment, reading, social, etc.

Tools : Such as providing convenience and convenience for daily life, such as food, renting, public transportation, travel and other applications.

Entertainment : daily leisure and entertainment such as music, video, and photography. In addition to satisfying the basic functions, many of these applications have made personalized explorations, making the entertainment more lively and interesting. Such as the Moman camera, which has significantly surpassed simple taking pictures, but presented the photos in a more humorous and interesting way;

Reading categories : such as various media, technology blogs, news clients, information aggregation applications (today’s headlines, WuMi reading, etc.)

Social : such as QQ, WeChat, Weibo, Momo, Linkin, Linkin, dating and dating, for different types of social networking.

The fit of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and product functions

Physiological needs : Meet people’s daily basic needs for survival and life, such as food, clothing, housing and transportation.

Like the food-based public comment, the public transportation guide of Baidu Bus, and the 58 city providing comprehensive services for life, they all provide convenience for our lives. Products that meet physiological needs are usually not tepid, and there are almost no topics that can be hyped.

Security needs : Such needs, such as concerns about health, fear of poverty, and worry about ignorance, are all manifestations of a sense of insecurity. When a sense of security is lacking, the inner drive will prompt the satisfaction of the need to obtain a sense of security.

For example, because of the fear of poverty, there will be financial-related needs, hoping to quickly use money to make money to achieve the goal of wealth. As a result, various investment and financial management software emerge in endlessly.

Social needs : social networking includes multiple levels of friendship, love, family affection, etc. Or it can be divided into acquaintances, strangers and so on. Of course the two can also be transformed into each other. Communication and communication are the eternal themes of mankind.

Respect needs : Everyone has a need to be respected, and they want to show themselves and be recognized by people. Trust and recognition are more reflected in the social process. Everyone’s respect and being respected exist in the exchanges and interactions in social networks. Therefore, the need for respect can be deeply hidden in the needs of social interaction.

Self-fulfillment needs :

This is the highest level of demand. At this level, people are very satisfied with their performance or achievements. To a certain extent, showing off can also be understood as an external manifestation of self-realization, although this may be very subjective. To meet this need, such as sending the photos after the Meitu show to Moments or showing some things that can improve the quality, it can be understood as an external display of self-realization needs.

Between Maslow’s above level of demand and product demand, there are the following laws:

The closer to the underlying demand, the more rigid the demand

The core of an application product is whether the demand it solves is rigid. The so-called rigid demand is rigid demand, that is, demand is rigid and necessary; it corresponds to elastic demand, which is only needed in certain scenarios, and is optional and non-essential.

Maslow’s lowest level of this need is a physiological need, such as daily needs for food, clothing, housing and transportation. The security requirements and lack of security at the upper level are also common. And the higher it goes, it becomes more and more unnecessary, such as self-realization, becoming dispensable, becoming different from person to person, becoming selective, and no longer a necessity for everyone.

The closer to the underlying requirements, the more instrumentalized

Almost the more low-level things, the more bland, and the more tepid to use. Just like gourmet food, renting a house, bus application, etc. Only open and use when needed, has become a tool. For other demand based on freshness, when the usage peaks, there are tens of thousands of people empty, and when the usage is low, it can be very difficult. The final destination may be that the fireworks dissipate, and nothing will be done. Therefore, based on the needs of the underlying tools, the stickiness may not be the highest, but it must be the one that survives the longest.

The closer to high-level demand, the more obvious the drive for freshness

To put it better, things driven by freshness are more prone to spread and fission. You can acquire a huge user base in a very short period of time; in the worst case, it is difficult to form strong stickiness, and user retention cannot be guaranteed at all. Many are like a flash in the pan, and die in a flash. Such applications abound.

The product based on the demand for freshness, how to attract users in the future, can retain them through other tool-based basic needs, is the key to sustainable and stable survival in the future.

In general, an excellent product must be a product that is well-versed in human nature and can consistently generate user stickiness.

A good product needs to be: simmer slowly on a low fire, steadily and steadily, step by step; if the step is too large, it is easy to pull the egg.

Whether it is a tool product that meets the underlying needs or a product that meets the needs of self-fulfillment, the most essential thing is to combine certain social attributes to form a strong user stickiness. And it is the kingly way to meet the core essential needs of users based on the scene of user needs.

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