helping users create good habits @ altconf 2017

HELPING USERS CREATE GOOD

HABITS@MOSTGOODSALLY SHEPARD

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I play Candy Crush for research purposes

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IS THIS TALK ABOUT ENGINEERING OR DESIGN?

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1) BASICS OF HABITS 2) IMPLEMENTING HABITS 3) TESTING HABITS

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BASICS OF HABITS!

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WHY BUILD HABITS?

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Downloads do not equal users.

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Downloads

Opens app

1 day later

1 month later

1 week later

2 weeks later

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What makes these apps so successful?

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Successful apps develop habits with users.

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WHAT IS A HABIT?

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A habit is created when a behaviour is repeated.

Behaviour = Habit

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Motivation

Trigger Action

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Behaviour

Motivation

Trigger Action

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= HabitBehaviour

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Habit Hook1) Trigger 2) Action 3) Reward 4) Investment

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ACTIONTRIGGER

REWARDINVESTMENT

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👋

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What brings users to your app?External trigger:

1MAIL

I’m a new message!Read me! Read me! Read me!

32m ago

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What brings users to your app?Internal trigger:

I should check my email

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Internal triggers

External triggers

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ACTIONTRIGGER

REWARDINVESTMENT

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Action: The thing a user needs to do.

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Action ⬌ Ability

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“the greatest return on investment will generally come from increasing a product’s ease-of-use.”

-‘Hooked’ by Nir Eyal

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List every step then remove as

many as possible

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ACTIONTRIGGER

REWARDINVESTMENT

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Possible rewards: Unlocking in-app content Awards Sense of completion Status

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❤Variability

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ACTIONTRIGGER

REWARDINVESTMENT

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💰 📊 🕑 🔨

Investments

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Investment should work towards improving the

users experience.

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IMPLEMENTING HABITS!

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Build habits around goals.

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Start with the goal the user

wants to achieve.

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I want to run 5k I want to be healthier I want to sleep better I want to be less stressed I want to improve my singing I want to lose weight

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List possible reasons why they want to achieve their goals.

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“I want to improve my singing”

Karaoke Night

Sing in choir

Band wants to record

Professional singer To serenade someone

Reunion performance Improve confidence

Performing in musical

Why might you want to improve your singing?

Love singing

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Thinking about the ‘why’ behind a goal,

how can you motivate users?

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Triggers need to include a motivation.

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Actions should be simple to understand and easy to complete.

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Rewards should align with motivations from the trigger,

and contribute to the users goal.

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The size of investment you can ask for, is

proportional to how long they’ve used the app.

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Ask for investments right

after rewards.

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STREAKS & HABITS

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⌚What’s your longest move streak?

(Check in the activity app on your phone, in the Achievements tab)

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Hard streaks: Requires completing an action in every 24h period.

🤓

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Soft streaks: Requires completing an action in a less strict timeframe.

😎

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Dangers of Hard Streaks: Missing a day means starting over. You might never get that user back. The very happy user can become very angry. Not everyone responds to streaks.

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You can soften a hard streak by better defining what a day is.

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Who goes to sleep after midnight?

✋

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People do not magically reset at midnight!

🕛👸🐸

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Don’t be lazy about date calculation in streaks.

Time zones exist and you need to account for them.

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We place significance on doing something a

certain number of times.

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If you place significance on doing something a

certain number of times, make sure it’s consistent.

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HABIT EXAMPLE

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Goal: “I want to improve my singing”

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External trigger: Push notification

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Action: Complete daily vocal exercises.

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Reward: -Completion of action -Grading -Points to level up -Data about my performance -Streak

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Investment: Review the app…

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TESTING HABITS!

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ARE MY HABITS WORKING?

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Analytics are your friend.

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Analytics are like crash reports for user habits.

They help you analyze and debug what’s going on.

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Analytics are only helpful if they give you a complete picture.

Track events that verify the success as well as the failure of each part of a habit.

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Define what an ideal user is, then look for patterns.

Use these patterns to create more ideal users.

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Twitter: follow 30 people and you’re

likely to stick around.

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WHY ARE MY HABITS FAILING?

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Where in the habit hook are users leaving? Find the leaks and fix them.

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Analytics are not always the answer.

Sometimes you might need to dig deeper.

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-Battery drain -Crashes -Uses too much data -Doesn’t work offline

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Are triggers being triggered?

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1st hurdle: enabling the trigger

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Make triggers easy to turn on and off.

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Are actions able to be completed?

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🕓💸💪🎓👮💾

Root of action failure

Time Money Physical Effort

Brain Cycles

Social Deviance

Non-routine

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Is the reward strong enough? Is there variability in the reward?

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Is the investment too expensive? Are you asking just after the user received a great reward?

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Thanks for completing your first day! Please fill out this 75-page long survey!

🙅

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HABIT TIME MACHINE!

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How does the habit time machine work? - Timescale - Questions - Empathy

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DAILY 1 Day 7 Days 14 Days 21 Days 1 Month 2 Months 4 Months 6 Months 1 Year

WEEKLY 1 Week 2 Weeks 3 Weeks 1 Month 2 Months 4 Months 6 Months 1 Year 100 weeks

Timescale: -Regular intervals -Any milestones

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Questions: 1) Are my triggers motivational? 2) Is the action too difficult? 3) Is the reward strong enough? 4) Has the investment improved their experience?

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Empathy: What state will the app be in? What will happen if I miss a day? What kind of pressure do I feel? Am I closer to achieving my goal?

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Trigger:

Where’s our motivation? Is this the same message I get everyday?

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Trigger:

1 day in - this is fine 7 days in - I’m not motivated by this 2 months in - I’m turning off notifications

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Trigger:You could include streak information - ‘Complete today’s training to increase your streak to 8 days! You could include information about the exercises - ‘Todays training includes Foundation, Agility and Head Voice’

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Action:

Is the action too difficult?

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Time Money Physical Effort

Brain Cycles

Social Deviance

Non-routine

🕓💸💪🎓👮💾

Root of action failure

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Action:1 day in - I’m still getting the hang of this 7 days in - this is helping me 2 months in - this is taking too long! 4 months in - this is taking too long and the exercises are repetitive

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Action:The more I practice, the more I increase my singing range. This means it takes longer to complete my exercises. This can result in me not wanting to expand my singing range 😞

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Action:

Time Money Physical Effort

Brain Cycles

Social Deviance

Non-routine

🕓💸💪🎓👮💾

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Reward:

Is the reward strong enough?

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Reward:1 day in - Woo! I’m awesome :) 7 days in - Yay, I levelled up! 2 months in - I don’t remember the last time I levelled up 4 months in - I wish it did more analysis for me

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Reward:Levels are meaningless and it takes a super long time to level up. I want more than just basic stats. I don’t have any way to measure my overall success.

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Investment:Has the investment improved their experience?

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Investment:1 day in - Hmm 7 days in - Rate the app - OK 2 months in - Nothing… 4 months in - Nothing…

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Investment:I’ve reviewed the app. I sent some feedback. It should prompt me to recheck my singing range at certain times. I don’t get any emails, I wonder what’s going on with the development?

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HABITS & HEALTH

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Habit

Addiction

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@mostgoodE V I LDON’T BE

👹

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Manipulate for good.

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THANKS FOR LISTENING!@MOSTGOOD

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QUESTIONS?(I MIGHT HAVE SOME ANSWERS)