Every product is playing one of three games in its customer engagement strategy. Either you are playing to win attention, transactions or productivity.

The Attention Game
In the attention game, products are trying to maximize the amount of time your end users spend on your platform. In return, you offer the customer entertainment, information, stimulation and/or emotional relief. The easier and better you offer this value, the more time customers spend. Industries that typically play this game today are media, gaming and any one else showing you advertisements.

The Transaction Game
The transaction game requires products to help customers make purchase decisions with confidence. How much time time they spend in your product is barely relevant. Endless browsing or comparison shopping might boost your vanity metrics but don't add value to your business if you are playing the transaction game. Companies you will often find playing this game are ecommerce platforms.

The Productivity Game
The productivity game requires products create an easy and reliable way to complete an existing task or workflow. This means that product and growth teams need to optimize for rapidly getting users successful in their ability to navigate and get value. Time spent can sometimes correlate negatively to this value of efficiency. This game is predominant in B2B software but played all around us.