Invite friends
Design Pattern
Free weekly newsletter
Real UI patterns and design psychology in your inbox
Learn how successful products use UI patterns and behavioral design. One email a week from UI-Patterns.com and Learning Loop.
SubscribeAlternate titles: Find Friends.
Problem summary
The user wants to experience the application with their friends.
Example
▲ Slack’s invite dialog lets you add addresses from Google Workspace, invite people as guests or external partners, and pick channels they will join.
Usage
- Use when the value experienced by the user will increase once the ability to interact with friends is possible
- Use when you want to provide an easy way for users to invite friends.
In the card deck
Invite friends is one of the cards in the UI Patterns card deck
A collection of 60 User Interface design patterns, presented in a manner easily referenced and used as a brainstorming tool.
Solution
Provide a way of letting users share an experience with similar others. Make the process of inviting other people to use the application simple and easy to complete.
We are more likely to agree to a request or invitation to perform an action from people we know and like than from strangers. Providing users with a way of connecting with and sharing the app with friends give them a better, more immersive experience even if just in terms of more content.
The Invite friends pattern is often built into an onboarding process or even as the Blank slate design.
Rationale
If an experience is enjoyable or useful enough, users will want to share it with friends and similar others. If users aren’t connected to the experience already, they will need to be invited through an invitation.
More examples of the Invite friends pattern
