How it works
Engagement Tax develops when platforms treat routine activity as permission to generate additional contact: notifications, recommendations, reminders, promotional prompts, “you may also like” messages, and similar re-engagement mechanisms.
The defining feature is accumulation. The tax emerges because ordinary actions create more future demands than the customer reasonably expected when performing them.
Recognition checklist
What to look for
Small actions create follow-on contact
Routine engagement triggers additional notifications, suggestions, or prompts.
The burden accumulates
The platform creates many small interruptions across multiple channels or sessions.
The platform benefits from re-entry
The follow-on activity is designed primarily to bring the customer back into the product or commercial funnel.
Where it appears
Associated companies
Important distinction
Useful follow-up is not automatically an engagement tax.
A notification that directly communicates something the customer requested can create genuine value. Engagement Tax concerns the cumulative burden of unsolicited or weakly relevant follow-on contact generated primarily to increase return visits or commercial activity.