Book Byte #81 "Hooked" by Nir Eyal

How to Build Habit-Forming Products

?? Curious Quotes from the Author

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

“Variable rewards are one of the most powerful tools companies implement to hook users;”

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

“79 percent of smartphone owners check their device within 15 minutes of waking up every morning.”

“Users who continually find value in a product are more likely to tell their friends about it.”

“Gourville claims that for new entrants to stand a chance, they can’t just be better, they must be nine times better. Why such a high bar? Because old habits die hard and new products or services need to offer dramatic improvements to shake users out of old routines. Gourville writes that products that require a high degree of behavior change are doomed to fail even if the benefits of using the new product are clear and substantial.”

“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.”

“Buffett and his partner, Charlie Munger, realized that as customers form routines around a product, they come to depend upon it and become less sensitive to price.”

“Many innovations fail because consumers irrationally overvalue the old while companies irrationally overvalue the new.”

“One method is to try asking the question "why" as many times as it takes to get to an emotion. Usually this will happen by the fifth “why.” This is a technique adapted from the Toyota Production System described by Taiichi Ohno as the “5 Whys Method.” Ohno wrote that it was "the basis of Toyota's scientific approach ... by repeating ‘why?’ five times, the nature of the problem as well as its solution becomes clear.”

“Habit-forming products often start as nice-to-haves (vitamins) but once the habit is formed, they become must-haves (painkillers).”

“products that require a high degree of behavior change are doomed to fail”

“To change behavior, products must ensure the user feels in control. People must want to use the service, not feel they have to.”

“The study demonstrated that people suffering from symptoms of depression used the Internet more. Why is that? One hypothesis is that those with depression experience negative emotions more frequently than the general population and seek relief by turning to technology to lift their mood.”

?? Cognition of the Book’s Big Idea:

Habit-forming products are the Holy Grail of consumer companies, as they attract a loyal following and essentially sell themselves. People create habits using the so-called Hook model, in which a trigger causes them to act, which results in a reward, after which the user begins to feel invested as a result of the time and effort spent, and the cycle repeats again. Pick up habits Many people struggle to adopt new behaviors. However, the key to developing a new habit, whether it's flossing or working out, is repetition. Whatever daily habit you want to adopt, simply repeat it regularly when you first start, and it will quickly become integrated into your everyday life.

Learn to identify habit-forming products. To understand how habit-forming products exploit your basic psychology, attempt to discover all of the many triggers that cause you to use items on a daily basis. Is it an external or internal trigger that alerts you? If you think about it rationally, do these products manipulate you into doing something negative, or do they enhance your life?

???Fixing the Tech Industry

They say people with depression use the internet more and speculate that’s because is a fascinating place and tends to overcome loneliness and boredom. But we all know that it never lasts, there’s a reason we all browse the Internet each time we have a spare minute. It’s a habit we’ve been forming since the early 2000’s. But I would go further and make a statement, that we think a lot of negative things, and we look to the internet for some form of connection.

We may find it in a Youtube Video or on a Live Stream, but the connection is not real, it’s just easy to have. You are not risking any relationship when you watched that video, you think you connected with someone, but they have no idea you exist. You may comment to see if you get noticed, but most of the time, people will not care. If we are to connect at a real human level, we need to put our efforts in reading and doing things that make a difference, and for the most part, watching a youtube video isn’t going to get you there.

??Collaborate with others with this Social Media Prompt:

What area in your life do you feel you are lacking in right now? Look deep and ask yourself “Could I get better at this with the help of someone else?”