‘Hooked’ ConferenceBy ‘Nir Eyal’Author, Consultant SpeakerContributer to Tech crunch, Forbes, Psychology today

Addiction vs. Habit

Addiction

A persistent compulsive dependence on a behavior or substance

Habit

A behavior that occurs nearly or completely without cognition

How habits are good for business

Higher Life time value – stay longer

Greater price inelasticity – can charge more

Lower Marketing Costs – unprompted engagement

Word of mouth

= Higher ROI

Activity 1 – Definition

Does your business model actually require habits? Why?

How frequently do you expect users to engage?

What problem are they coming to solve?

How do they currently solve the problem and why does it need a new solution?

The Hook

For big businesses, user psychology is a good place to look for secrets about how user’s behave.

Habits generate an unprompted engagement (similar to an itch)

New habits cannot form unless a behavior fulfills a user need and occurs frequently

Repeatedly connecting your solution to the user’s problem is called a ‘Hook’

Hook Model

Triggers: External and Internal

Internal Trigger:

“What to do next is in the user’s head”

Internal triggers are emotions:

Lonely, Hungry, Unsure, Anxious, Lost, Mental Fatigued

External Trigger:

“What to do next is in the trigger”

Icons, email, notifications

SEO, Ads, PR, Free Media

Word of mouth, affinity groups

First Step: Connect a solution to the user’s problem

Example for External Trigger

Examples of Internal Triggers

When I feel…

Lonely

Hungry

Unsure

Anxious

Lost

Mentally Fatigued

I use…

Facebook

Yelp, GrubHub

Google

Email

GPS

ESPN, Glam

Know your User Narrative

Find Internal Trigger to attach solution to.

“Every time you (Internal Trigger) use (Product).”

Narrative Gone Bad

Betty Crocker introduced Instant Cake Mix in 1952

Assuming the Trigger was hunger, the narrative included making a complete meal quickly

It turned out to be a marketing disaster

What customers really wanted was to feel and show love. “Instant” did not cut it.

The narrative was then changed to ‘Add an Egg’ (for no functional reason) and the sales rocketed

Instagram Triggers

External

Facebook, Twitter

App Notifications

App Icon

Internal

Fear of losing the moment

Bored

Lonesome

Fear of missing out

Summary – For Triggers

Answers the question “What does the user really want?”

The designer informs what to do next with external triggers

The user informs what to do next through internal triggers

Emotions provide frequent internal triggers

Activity 2 – Internal and External Triggers

Refer to your problem and come up with 3 Internal Triggers (emotions, routines, situations…)

(Hint: If stuck ask ‘why?’ until you get to an emotion.)

Build a Narrative using the most frequent internal trigger (Who is the user? What are they doing just before they use your product?)

Set External TriggersWhere can you place external triggers?

How can you be in front of the user when he feels internal trigger?

What is the right place and time?

Come up with 3 rational and 3 crazy ideas.

Hypotheses check: Is your narrative really happening?

Test your biggest assumptions first and cheaply

Hook Model

Fogg Behavior Model

Product Design

Motivation

Seek:Pleasure

Hope

Acceptance

AvoidPain

Fear

Rejection

Examples for motivation (marketing)

Ability

“How to increase the capacity to do something?”

Focus on ability first, then motivation

Factors of abilityTime

Money

Physical effort

Brain-Cycles

Social Deviance

Non-routine

Examples: Simple online actions before

rewardLog In – Facebook, Wordpress

Search – Google, Expedia, Yelp

Open – Twitter, SMS, Email

Scroll – Pinterest, Instagram

Play – YouTube, Online Games

Focus on Simplicity - Twitter Home page

Example

Quora Mobile App Example

Internal Trigger – Bored + Curious

ActionClick App Icon

Sign-In (if not already)

Scroll

Am I bored anymore? (If not, then that’s the reward) Reward = See interesting questions

Biases

Scarcity

Value Attribution

Halo effect

Anchoring

Completion

Sequencing

Hidden ways to increase action

Choice Architecture, Nudges, Biases, Heuristics

Social Proof, Framing, Reciprocity, Relevance, Status Quo, Loss Aversion, Familiarity Bias, Regret aversion, Peak-end effect, Money proxy, Authority Bias

The user cannot articulate the effect, but they make the action much more likely

Summary – For Action

Action is the simplest behavior in anticipation of the reward

To increase Behavior:Ensure a clear trigger is present

Increase ability by making it easier to do

Align with the right motivator

Activity 3 – Action

Map the steps users take to solve their problem with your product

Start with off-line internal trigger…through your interface…to the reward, the point where the ‘pain’ is alleviated a bit

Review the flow: Where is the action most difficult?

Which resource is lacking (time, money, too confusing, too new, too outside the norm)

Brainstorm 3 testable ways to make this action easier

Hook Model

Variable rewards

The unknown is fascinating

Our brains are prediction machines

Variability increases focus and engagement

Variability is also habit forming

Variable Rewards

Tribe

Hunt Self

Search for Social Rewards

“Social rewards come from people, not machines.”

Cooperation

Competition

Recognition

Acceptance

Empathetic Joy

Tribe

Examples of Social Rewards

Search for Resources

Food

Money

InformationHunt

Examples of the Hunt

Pinterest Example

Search for sensation

Mastery

Consistency

Competency

Completion

Self

Examples

Summary of Variable Rewards

You still need to give the user what they came for

Maintain the feeling of autonomy

Keep the rewards highly variable, Alleviate user pain

Finite Variability

Single-player Games

Consumption of media

Running a race to finish it

Infinite Variability

Multi-player games

Creation of content

Communities

Running for pleasure or competition

Activity 4 – Variable Rewards

Look at the user flow. Is the reward fulfilling, yet leaves the user wanting more?

Brainstorm 3 ways you could add variability to the reward. Consider the search for rewards of the:

Tribe (social rewards)

Hunt (resource rewards)

Self (personal mastery, consistency, completion)

Hook Model

Investment increases likelihood of next passDone in anticipation of future rewards

Investment makes the next pass through hook more likely by:

Loading the Next Trigger

Storing Value

Creating preferences

Loading the Next Trigger, WhatsApp

Pinterest (Consumer)

Pinterest (Curator)

Storing Value

Content Data

Storing Value

Followers Reputation

Creating Preferences

Investments make us value things more

We change our tastes accordingly

Find ways to get the user to invest often, no matter how small

Activity 5 - Investment

In your user flow, what is the ‘bit of work’ done to increase the likelihood of a user returning?

Brainstorm 3 ways you could add small investments into the user experience:

loading the next trigger

store value

create preference

Subsequent Hook Cycles

Suggestion for Wolfram|Alpha

Killer feature of step by step but people not aware of this capability

The broad range of areas in home page is cognitive overload

Create a separate student focused website channel

Thank You