Sandbox Specificity

Add constraints to vague goals to make them concrete and actionable

Crystal Widjaja
Consumer growth lessons from Gojek and Kumu

Sandbox Specificity

"Think of everything in the world that is orange. And you're like, 'An orange. What else?' And then if you change that structure with sandbox to think of everything orange that's in a construction site, then you really start to realize and grasp at concrete concepts, and can actually action on them in real life." - Crystal Widjaja

What It Is

Sandbox Specificity transforms vague, overwhelming goals into actionable targets by adding contextual constraints. Instead of tackling broad objectives like "improve retention," you narrow the scope to specific situations, user segments, or contexts where you can actually take action.

The framework is based on cognitive research about how humans generate ideas and solve problems. Unconstrained thinking produces generic, unhelpful answers. Constrained thinking produces specific, actionable ones.

How It Works

The Orange Test

  • Unconstrained: "Think of everything orange" → "An orange... uh..."
  • Constrained: "Think of everything orange in a construction site" → "Cones, vests, barriers, signs, hard hats..."

The constraint (construction site) activates concrete memories and associations that the open-ended question couldn't access.

Applied to Metrics

  • Unconstrained: "Improve retention" → Vague initiatives, unclear priorities
  • Constrained: "Improve retention for users who have completed one purchase but not two, in Jakarta, during their first week" → Specific tactics, clear success criteria

How to Apply It

  1. Start with your broad goal - What are you trying to improve? (retention, conversion, engagement)

  2. Add context constraints:

    • User segment: Who specifically? (new users, power users, churned users)
    • Location: Where? (specific city, region, platform)
    • Time: When? (first week, first month, specific season)
    • Behavior: What have they done? (completed X, not completed Y)

  3. Make it narrow enough to visualize - Can you picture this specific user in this specific situation?

  4. Identify the decision point - What choice is this constrained user making that you want to influence?

  5. Design for that moment - What would change their behavior in that specific context?

Example: GoFood Trust Problem

Unconstrained goal: "Increase retention on GoFood"

Adding constraints:

  • User segment: New users trying food delivery for the first time
  • Behavior: Not ordering from new restaurants, only from ones they already know
  • Root cause: Lack of trust in unfamiliar merchants

Specific solution: Show what friends have ordered from each merchant using Facebook connection data. Users were "twice as likely to purchase from a brand new restaurant" when shown friend activity.

The constraint (new users ordering familiar food because they lack trust) led directly to the solution (social proof from friends).

When to Use It

  • When retention or conversion goals feel too abstract
  • When teams are generating generic ideas without concrete next steps
  • When you need to prioritize between many potential initiatives
  • When brainstorming sessions produce obvious or unhelpful suggestions

Common Mistake: Stopping at Metrics

"A lot of people thought that I had meant retention sucks, don't care about it at all. But in reality it was really when you think about retention, that's just not specific enough."

Retention is an outcome metric. You can't directly improve "retention"—you can only change specific user experiences that lead to retention. The framework forces you to identify those specific moments.

Source

  • Guest: Crystal Widjaja
  • Episode: "Consumer growth lessons from Gojek and Kumu"
  • Key Discussion: (00:20:41) - The "Made to Stick" orange example applied to retention
  • YouTube: Watch on YouTube

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