Good Products Are Like Movies

When lifting the lid off an Apple box, you'll notice there’s a consistent and deliberate resistance.

It’s thanks to a carefully designed vacuum effect, which makes the unboxing process last a few seconds longer in order to enhance this moment of anticipation.

How ironic that in our world of instant gratification - creating small artificial delays can help you stand out and make an impression.

Suspense is an intensely stimulating experience in the brain that significantly improves engagement and attachment to the subject.

It’s a complex interplay of emotional arousal, cognitive anticipation, and reward mechanisms.

Emotionally it involves a mix of fear, anxiety, hope, and excitement (mostly in the amygdala region of the brain).

Cognitively the brain is absorbed trying to predict what comes next (involving the pre-frontal cortex).

And the tension, created by the suspense, feels satisfying to resolve (releasing dopamine).

Taking into consideration above, it’s clear suspense works best under 3 conditions: 

1. Uncertainty
2. When the subject is inherently interesting
3. Resolved in a timely matter

My suggestion is to look at ways of amplifying each of these conditions when onboarding new users and when introducing new product features. That's where I've observed suspense works best.

You know you’re using suspense right when it leads to a moment of obvious anticipation, not annoyance.