Hooked- How To Build Habit-Forming Products by Nir Eyal co-written with Ryan Hoover is about how successful companies design products to hook us by tapping into human psychology/ behaviour. Most products/ apps we use are addictive and have us wanting more. It is designed to take advantage of our triggers and psyche to build successful habit-forming products that might be either good or bad for us. So, this book is about how businesses and start-ups can tap into user behaviour to help create better products/services that will hopefully help themselves and the users to better their lives; to help build good daily habits.
* HOOKS ARE EVERYWHERE:
"The technologies we use have turned into compulsions, if not full-fledged addiction."
Hooks are in the form of apps, games, sports, and even our day jobs. In a 2011 university study, the results show that people check their phones 34times a day; from the impulse to check a message notification to the pull to visit Facebook/ Twitter- the urge/ compulsion we feel is because of the way the products are designed to tap into our core psyche/ stressors/ triggers to build STRONG USER HABITS.
This is why habit-forming companies link their services to our daily routines/emotions.
* CONSUMER PSYCHOLOGY:
"Habits are automatic behaviours triggered by situational cues: things we do with little or no conscious thought."
Us humans are creatures of habit. This is because habits make our lives easier and reduce the strain on the brain to perform the necessary daily tasks. And a habit is not formed overnight but rather through a series of repetitions. As each day begins we go through various triggers- be it internal triggers/external triggers. And these triggers urge us to take certain actions which creates an association between the trigger and the act, which on repetition forms HABITS. These habits when practiced day in and day out create STRONGHOLDS/ADDICTIONS.
For instance, most of us when we get any time to ourselves forage through the various social media platforms just because we are either bored or lonely. This is done frequently enough to form a habit that is so strongly ingrained in us. Now, every time we feel alone/bored/stressed we scroll through these sites idly without any reason/purpose. Why? Because our brain has associated being lonely/bored/stressed with the act of scrolling through social media.
This is exactly what the product designers had in mind while creating the product. To hook you in by manipulating your mind and engineering your behaviour. This helps them to build successful companies with little or no marketing dollars spent because they have habituated us users to form habits around their products which make their business sustainable and massively successful. But on the flip side, businesses can use this to create good/healthy habits in users to better their lives.
* THE HOOK MODEL:
The Hook Model is a 4phase process that companies use for UNPROMPTED USER ENGAGEMENT. It makes their products indispensable and has the edge over other less successful ones. It gives the blueprint for businesses to design habit-forming products that are aimed to do good.
So, THE 4PHASES ARE:
1. TRIGGER:
A trigger is like an ITCH. It's what starts a behaviour; it can be internal/external. The best technology companies/ products scratch the itch of either:
seeking pleasure
avoiding pain
EXTERNAL TRIGGERS- Reminders that motivate you to take action- be it a mobile notification or an ad. These external triggers encourage you to try their product on a regular basis. It can be via:
Paid trigger- paid ads/marketing.
Earned trigger- favourable press mentions.
Relationship trigger- through word of mouth or electronic invitation.
Owned trigger- such as seeing an app icon on the phone screen or receiving an email/newsletter.
"New habits are sparked by external triggers, but associations with internal triggers are what keeps users hooked."
INTERNAL TRIGGERS- Emotions, in particular, negative emotions such as:
boredom
loneliness
frustration
confusion and
indecisiveness
are powerful internal triggers. As these feelings are tied to random scrolling/ usage of social media platforms/ eat-out apps. The brain has connected the trigger(boredom) with the act(scrolling social media) without your consciousness.
2. ACTION:
Action is the result of trigger/ triggers and is done in anticipation of a reward. The way companies drive our actions can be better understood by the Fogg Behaviour Model. Dr. B. J. Fogg, Director of the Persuasive Technology Lab at Stanford University came up with this FORMULA FOR BEHAVIOUR.
THE FOGG BEHAVIOUR MODEL:
** B = M A T **
B- behaviour M- motivation A- ability T- trigger
For successful behaviour change, motivation, ability, and trigger should be present at the same time and in sufficient degrees.
MOTIVATION- the energy for action motivated by
seeking pleasure
avoiding pain
Dopamine is the neurochemical responsible for pursuit. It gives the drive and motivation to actively pursue tasks in anticipation of the reward. For instance, when we get a WhatsApp notification we want to know who texted us or what they have sent. This curiosity in anticipating a variable reward that might be entertaining or might be plain and boring is the motivating factor.
ABILITY- easier equals better. Doing should be easier than thinking for high adoption rates of the product. So here's what we need to do
Understand the reason people use a product or service.
Lay out the steps the customer must take to get the job done.
Simply start removing steps until you reach the SIMPLEST POSSIBLE PROCESS.
For instance, most websites have stopped asking for a long list of customer/ user details to sign up, but rather allow you to log in via Facebook. This reduces the steps for the users to use the site/ service which makes it a hit.
"Make your product so simple that users already know how to use it, and you've got a winner."
FOGG'S SIX ELEMENTS OF SIMPLICITY:
1. Time- how long it takes to complete an action.
2. Money- the fiscal cost of taking an action.
3. Physical effort- the amount of labour involved in taking the action.
4. Brain cycles- the level of mental effort and amount of focus required to take an action.
5. Social deviance- how accepted the behaviour is by others.
6. Brain cycles- how much the action matches or disrupts existing routines.
3. VARIABLE REWARD:
By introducing a variety of rewards the user is intrigued and does not get bored with repeated usage. Predictable rewards do not create a desire/craving, but variable rewards bring about the shiny object syndrome in us. Hence, companies use this hack to hook us to their products so that we continue engaging with their products. The three variable tribe rewards are:
1. The tribe- rewards that make us feel accepted/important/included. For example- In Quora, answering a question that is helpful to someone is appreciated by upvotes.
2. The hunt- hunting for variable rewards with the anticipation of getting the rewards. For example- scrolling through Pinterest.
3. The self- fueled by intrinsic motivation. Deriving pleasure from doing the task. For example- solving a puzzle.
4. INVESTMENT:
The last phase of the hook model is essential as it involves an investment of either the user's
Time- time invested in creating content on social media platforms.
Effort- effort put into creating the product. For instance, IKEA, the world's largest furniture retailer requires the customer to assemble its affordable furniture. This makes the customer value the product more because of the effort the customer has put in.
Social capital- social networking.
* HABIT TESTING:
"When harnessed correctly tchnology can enhance lives through healthful behaviours that improve our relationships, make us smarter, and increase productivity."
Habit testing should be done by all businesses to create successful products that will trick their users to form good habits using the above-mentioned HOOK MODEL. The following steps will help you to test your products/ services on what makes them tick or what needs work based on user engagement and feedback.
1. IDENTIFY- Identify who the habitual users of your product are and how often should they use your product. For instance, Any.do is a task management app that allows you to write your to-do list and can be used on a daily basis by anyone and everyone who follows a to-do list.
2. CODIFY- Find out who uses your product and how they engage with your product. This data will give you clues about your audience, their wants, and how they engage with your product. Let’s take the same example of Any.do.
Anyone who wants to stay organized and follows a to-do list will engage with this note-taking app. And the added features of reminders, calendars, and being able to sync with all devices are what make the app tick with its users.
3. MODIFY- Now that you know more about your audience and their behaviour pattern use it to better your product/service. Example- Any.do has a fine-tuned app design for easy navigation and operability and provides its users with various note-taking categories.
* THE MANIPULATION MATRIX:
The manipulation matrix is a set of two questions business owners/ product makers need to ask themselves to identify what type of creators they are. The questions are:
Would I use the product myself?
Will the product help users materially improve their lives?
Now, let's get into the TYPES OF CREATORS:
1. THE FACILITATOR: A facilitator is someone who would
use their own product and
believes it would make the user's life better by facilitating a healthy habit.
Example- the bible app.
2. THE PEDDLER: The peddler is someone who
does not use their product
but talk themselves into thinking that the customers might like it.
They lack an understanding of their user's needs and hence it turns out that no one truly finds the product useful.
Example- high-calorie drinks with artificial flavouring and colouring.
3. THE ENTERTAINER: The entertainer is someone who
create products/services that are fun, but
not necessarily improve the user's life.
Often it turns out to be addictive and also makes it difficult for the creators as they constantly need to innovate their products/services to engage with the ever-changing demands/trends.
For example- addictive technology like YouTube.
4. THE DEALER: The dealer is someone who
creates a product that they themselves would not use and
that does not improve the user's life.
In fact, their products/services exploit the users.
Example- casino owners/drug dealers.
In closing, any work that we do is like a sales job. Be it working as a teacher/ doctor/ engineer, we all offer some type of service to others. And to be the best, to be successful we need to help the users improve their lives by providing the best service and satisfying their needs. By using THE HOOK MODEL we can be better FACILITATORS of good daily habits in the user's lives. And by creating HABIT-FORMING products/ services we can do more good by hacking into the user's psychology and tricking them into adopting healthy daily habits.
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