Did you know that people check their phones at least 34 times a day and possibly up to 150 times a day?
While that might seem surreal, technologies like cell phones, on-demand music and streaming services, and many more have pulled us in to create daily product usage habits we didn’t even realize we were forming.
Have you ever wondered what makes some products so habit-forming and how you can make your product or service the first that comes to mind when the need is presented?
Author Nir Eyal in his book, “Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products,” walks you through how to manufacture habits in your target audience by linking your products and services to your users’ daily routines and emotions rather than relying on expensive marketing.
The Hooked Method
Eyal’s Hooked Method focuses on four main components: the Trigger, Action, Variable Reward, and Investment.
1. Trigger
Triggers cue a user to act and can be either external or internal.
External triggers tell users what to do by providing information within their environment, such as an email, website link, or app icon on a phone.
An internal trigger tells users what to do next by using associations stored in their memory. For example, Instagram helps people calm their fears of “missing out,” or FOMO, and helps build new habits by using internal triggers. Instagram aims to eliminate boredom by connecting people with others through sharing photos and exchanging banter.
2. Action
After the initial trigger comes action.
Actions are the simplest behaviors done “in anticipation of a reward.” To increase desired behaviors, marketers need to ensure a clear trigger is present, make the action easier to do, and align the action with the right motivator.
The most common motivators that drive action are: “seeking pleasure and avoiding pain; seeking hope and avoiding fear; seeking social acceptance while avoiding social rejection.”
3. Variable Reward
The Hooked Method is set up to create a craving in your audience using intrigue.
If you open your fridge, you always get the predictable reward of the light turning on. But what if you got a new, random treat every time you opened the door? It would “hook” you into opening your fridge much more often simply out of intrigue.
There are three main types of variable rewards: the tribe, the hunt, and the self. Take some time to brainstorm how your product or service could heighten your users’ search for variable rewards.
4. Investment
Finally, the last step in the Hook Model is investment.
This phase focuses on the anticipation of rewards in the future and comes after the variable reward phase, when users are most likely to reciprocate.
Investment doesn’t necessarily mean people paying for your services. Investments might be inviting friends, stating preferences, and learning how to use the site more. With Pinterest, for example, the person saves the pictures they like on their “board.” This gives the site information about her likes and dislikes, increasing the likelihood that they will come back again.
“Investments increase the likelihood of users passing through the Hook again by loading the next trigger to start the cycle all over again.”
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