Hooked

Triggers come in two types: external and internal.8 Habit-forming products start by alerting users with external triggers like an e-mail, a Web site link, or the app icon on a phone.

Viral Cycle Time is the amount of time it takes a user to invite another user, and it can have a massive impact.

A company can begin to determine its product’s habit-forming potential by plotting two factors: frequency (how often the behavior occurs) and perceived utility (how useful and rewarding the behavior is in the user’s mind over alternative solutions).

Some behaviors never become habits because they do not occur frequently enough.

Painkillers solve an obvious need, relieving a specific pain, and often have quantifiable markets.

Vitamins, by contrast, do not necessarily solve an obvious pain point. Instead they appeal to users’ emotional rather than functional needs.

A habit is when not doing an action causes a bit of discomfort.

Because paying for reengagement is unsustainable for most business models, companies generally use paid triggers to acquire new users and then leverage other triggers to bring them back.

For earned triggers to drive ongoing user acquisition, companies must keep their products in the limelight—a difficult and unpredictable task.

Proper use of relationship triggers requires building an engaged user base that is enthusiastic about sharing the benefits of the product with others.

While paid, earned, and relationship triggers drive new user acquisition, owned triggers prompt repeat engagement until a habit is formed.

New habits are sparked by external triggers, but associations with internal triggers are what keeps users hooked.

The ultimate goal of a habit-forming product is to solve the user’s pain by creating an association so that the user identifies the company’s product or service as the source of relief.

“When the research focuses on what people actually do (watch cat videos) rather than what they wish they did (produce cinema-quality home movies) it actually expands possibilities.”

External triggers tell the user what to do next by placing information within the user’s environment.

Internal triggers tell the user what to do next through associations stored in the user’s memory.

Fogg posits that there are three ingredients required to initiate any and all behaviors: (1) the user must have sufficient motivation; (2) the user must have the ability to complete the desired action; and (3) a trigger must be present to activate the behavior.

Fogg states that all humans are motivated to seek pleasure and avoid pain; to seek hope and avoid fear; and finally, to seek social acceptance and avoid rejection.

Fogg describes six “elements of simplicity”—the factors that influence a task’s difficulty.6 These are:

For companies building technology solutions, the greatest return on investment generally comes from increasing a product’s ease of use.

The study revealed that what draws us to act is not the sensation we receive from the reward itself, but the need to alleviate the craving for that reward.

Our brains are adapted to seek rewards that make us feel accepted, attractive, important, and included.

Their self-determination theory espouses that people desire, among other things, to gain a sense of competency. Adding an element of mystery to this goal makes the pursuit all the more enticing.19

Only by understanding what truly matters to users can a company correctly match the right variable reward to their intended behavior.

When there is a mismatch between the customer’s problem and the company’s assumed solution, no amount of gamification will help spur engagement.

Rewards must fit into the narrative of why the product is used and align with the user’s internal triggers and motivations.

The phrase “But you are free to accept or refuse.” The “but you are free” technique demonstrates how we are more likely to be persuaded to give when our ability to choose is reaffirmed.

Companies that successfully change behaviors present users with an implicit choice between their old way of doing things and a new, more convenient way to fulfill existing needs.

To change behavior, products must ensure the users feel in control.

Experiences with finite variability become less engaging because they eventually become predictable.

In the investment phase, however, asking users to do a bit of work comes after users have received variable rewards, not before.

As Fogg describes it, non-routine is a factor of simplicity, and the more familiar a behavior is, the more likely the user is to do it.

Habit-forming technologies leverage the user’s past behavior to initiate an external trigger in the future.

Fundamental questions for building effective hooks: What do users really want? What pain is your product relieving? (Internal trigger) What brings users to your service? (External trigger) What is the simplest action users take in anticipation of reward, and how can you simplify your product to make this action easier? (Action) Are users fulfilled by the reward yet left wanting more? (Variable reward) What “bit of work” do users invest in your product? Does it load the next trigger and store value to improve the product with use? (Investment)

Facilitators use their own product and believe it can materially improve people’s lives. They have the highest chance of success because they most closely understand the needs of their users.

Peddlers believe their product can materially improve people’s lives but do not use it themselves. They must beware of the hubris and inauthenticity that comes from building solutions for people they do not understand firsthand.

Entertainers use their product but do not believe it can improve people’s lives. They can be successful, but without making the lives of others better in some way, the entertainer’s products often lack staying power.

Dealers neither use the product nor believe it can improve people’s lives. They have the lowest chance of finding long-term success and often find themselves in morally precarious positions.

First, define what it means to be a devoted user. How often “should” one use your product?

You are looking for a Habit Path—a series of similar actions shared by your most loyal users.

First, dig into the data to identify how people are using the product. Next, codify these findings in search of habitual users. To generate new hypotheses, study the actions and paths taken by devoted users. Finally, modify the product to influence more users to follow the same path as your habitual users, and then evaluate results and continue to modify as needed.