Hooked

How to Build Successful Products and Services That

Form Habits (Spanish Edition)
Nir Eyal
Sunshine Business Development, LLC2014
Also available in:English
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What is the reason for the enormous success of companies like Twitter and Facebook? For
Answering this question requires understanding how new ones are formed.
consumption behaviors. Companies are using different tools
technologies to shape the lives of their users, encouraging them to acquire new
habits. In this revealing book, Nir Eyal, a consultant from Silicon Valley and professional
of behavior design, with Ryan Hoover, an expert in new development
trends, expose the process through which this objective is achieved. The book
provides numerous examples and practical exercises, ideal for guiding those who
they want to venture into product development and evaluation, which makes it very
useful, although the translation into Spanish could have been
better.getAbstract recommends this work to designers, directors of
marketing, product managers, entrepreneurs, and those interested in
understand how companies are transforming people's behavior.

Fundamental ideas
Technology allows for the development of products and services that form
habits.
Products that form habits gain significant advantages
competitive.
The Hook Model describes the process of consumer habit formation.
through successive 'hooking cycles'; it consists of four phases: 'trigger',
“acción”, “recompensa variable” e “inversión”.
The 'triggers' are all those stimuli, external or internal, that
they lead to interaction with a product.
The action that the user takes after responding to the trigger must be
as simple as possible and leading to the attainment of the 'reward.'
The reward is the gratification that the consumer obtains from using the
product. This must be variable, in order to maintain interest and the
expectation among users.
The investment of time or effort that consumers make after
obtaining the "reward" increases the intrinsic value of the product and reinforces the
habit.
Manipulating people's habits has moral implications that
developers must take into account when creating new products.
Products can be evaluated through an identification process.
coding and evaluation, to understand its potential in training
habits.
Starting from one's own needs and experiences is an excellent beginning for
recognize new areas of opportunity in habit formation.

Summary
Habit-forming products
New technologies have changed people's habits worldwide.
Check your social media multiple times a day, constantly use a
mobile application or regularly checking email are
customs that society has adopted globally. Many companies
They take advantage of technology tools to develop and perfect.
products that are integrated into the lives of consumers and form habits: the
people who visit Amazon when they want to make a purchase, or Google to do
a search, he does it almost unconsciously. He does not ask himself what the place is
more convenient to meet this need, simply access them without
to think. The companies that manage to generate these behaviors in their users
they obtain important benefits: more flexibility to raise their prices,
less dependence on advertising, customer loyalty, less vulnerability to
the competition and sustained growth.

Cognitive psychologists define habits as 'automatic behaviors triggered

by situational cues: things we do with very little or no
conscious thought.
In a highly competitive environment, attracting new customers is not enough,
It is also necessary for them to build a relationship with the product. To achieve this
To achieve this objective, companies must seek to make the consumption frequency as high as possible.
possible high, otherwise it will not form a habit or it will disappear with
ease. Services that are not frequently used by their nature must
maximize the perceived utility by the customer. Studies have shown that a
an adequate balance between perceived utility and frequency of use is essential
to form a new habit.

Instead of large marketing expenses, companies that build habits

they relate their services to daily routines and emotions.
The products that aim to create habits are consumed by motivations that are more or
less aware. People discover that a product improves their life when the
makes it simpler or enriches it. The product satisfies a need, alleviates a
"pain" or an "itch". Users get used to obtaining the "relief" that
provides the product daily. This consolidates the new habit. What is
it originates as a voluntary behavior, usually motivated by a 'trigger'
external" becomes an automatic behavior through which the
consumers receive a reward. The companies that have succeeded
positioning products that create habits know that this is achieved through a
process of 'successive hooks' through which the consumer goes, until creating the
new habit. This process is known as the Hook Model and consists of four
fases: “gatillador”, “acción”, “recompensa variable” e “inversión”.

Trigger

The emails inviting us to use a service, the notices we receive

on social media and advertising act as triggers. Any
generator of a desired behavior in our interaction with a product
it is a trigger. When triggers occur inside the consumer, in
forms of thoughts, emotions, or pains, are referred to as "internal triggers."
The fear of missing an important message leads people to check their email.
Electronic; the feeling of loneliness can make someone check their Facebook.
On the other hand, external 'triggers', such as advertising, present
information that guides consumer behavior. The triggers
externals are divided into four types:

1. "Paid Triggers" - Refers to the advertising that appears in

various means to attract consumers. They are usually very effective, but
they have a high cost. As one progresses through the hook cycles, the
companies must use other types of triggers to stimulate the action of their
users and keep them in the engagement cycle.

2. "Earned Triggers" - These are the mentions in mass media that

companies obtain at no cost, thanks to their reputation. Their impact tends to be
short-term.

3. Relational Triggers - The product promotion they carry out

the users of the products themselves.

4. Property Triggers – The notifications and messages you receive

a consumer after having initial contact with the service. His
the function is to reinforce the cycle.

When users automatically start to signal their next

behavior, the new habit begins to be part of your daily routine.
When designing or evaluating a product, it is essential to reflect on
background on the reasons that lead customers to use it. Understanding emotions
that function as internal triggers will improve the design and redesign of
product. The question you should answer here is: what is the "pain" or
"itch" that your product relieves?

Action

The second phase of the Hook Model is action. If the trigger has been successful, the
the user will act. According to the 'Behavior Model' by Dr. BJ Fogg, director of
Persuasion Technology Laboratory at Stanford University, there are three
requisitos para que una acción se realice: “motivación”, “habilidad” y “gatillador”.
If the first two are not given in sufficient degree, the 'Action Line' does not
It will cross. Therefore, the action should be as simple as possible and require little skill.
to make its compliance more likely. Register for a service or access
A product must be a simple process that does not generate rejection or impatience.
the users. Developers must simplify the action that leads the user to
the variable reward in the next phase. The physical and mental effort, the time and
the money required to carry out the action affects the ease with which it is done
and therefore, the user's decision to continue with the process. You must
consider that habits are the set of operations done in a way
unconscious or semi-unconscious. It is beneficial that the action is carried out from
the least complicated way to form new habits.

"What distinguishes the Hook Model from the simple continuous circuit that rewards with the
vanilla ice cream is its ability to create intense desire.
According to the Behavioral Model, there are three basic motivations for a
behavior: to seek pleasure or relieve pain, eliminate fear or generate
hope, seeking the acceptance of others or avoiding contempt. Identify which ones.
what are the key motivations that influence the consumption of your products, and
orient them in that direction. Faced with the dilemma of investing in motivation or in
skill, choose this last one. By decreasing the difficulty, the possibility of
that the action takes place. On the other hand, increasing motivation is usually more
costly and demands more resources.

Variable rewards

The products seek to satisfy a consumer need, promise something or

They offer to solve some problem. If the product does not meet what it offers, it must be
redesigned. After the user has been motivated to take an action,
must obtain the reward it seeks. These rewards can be of three
types:

Tribe Rewards" - They are obtained in relation to the

group to which one belongs: reputation, importance, popularity, or acceptance.
Most social media platforms offer this type of rewards.
Hunter's Rewards" - refers to physical resources or to the
information that is desired. Amazon, for example, offers rewards of
hunter.
Self Rewards" - They refer to personal satisfaction that one
obtained after an effort. For example, when winning in a video game or mastering
a complicated computer program.

Companies that successfully change behaviors present users with a

implicit choice between their old way of doing things and a new, more
convenient to meet existing needs.
As predictable rewards ultimately lose their impact on the
Habit formation requires that you design variable rewards in order to
maintain the user's curiosity and interest. Although the task is not easy, it
it must avoid "Finite Variability"; that is, that the rewards end
becoming predictable. The variability of the reward will favor continuity
of the consumer.
Investment

After receiving the reward, it is followed by an investment of time or effort of

user, with the aim of obtaining a new reward in the future. This will close
the first hook cycle and will prepare the next one. When the user has invested
their effort in the product or service leads to an increase in commitment. The
the product acquires greater value for the consumer. People have a
natural tendency to value and overvalue their work. The investment made by the
user reinforces habit formation and improves service thanks to their own
intervention. The 'storage value' gradually increases and is presented
in different forms:

Content - The photos, videos, audios, and other information that the
users strengthen the relationship that is established and make it less likely
his desertion.
Data – Many products are capable of learning preferences and
user preferences as they use the service. Thus, the time
reversed favors product optimization. This reduces the possibility of
that the habit disappears.
Followers - Friends and followers, in the case of social networks,
they have an invaluable value for the users; the possibility of
Losing the established networks or giving up the gained reputation is not acceptable.
for them.
Skill - The time invested to acquire the abilities that certain
demanded products is another source of value. Meanwhile, the user has
acquired skills that only make sense in the circumstances of the product
or service, the possibility of leaving it is reduced.

Ethical considerations

The potential impact and the manipulative power that the Hook Model can have on
the lives of people, makes it essential for entrepreneurs to question the
moral implications of the products and strategies they implement. Do
some questions are necessary to face the ethical implications of the
formation of habits. There are two essential questions to guide you in this reflection:
Does my product improve people's lives?

User retention is a challenge for all businesses, but especially

for mobile application consumers. According to a study
made in the year 2010, 26% of mobile applications were downloaded and
used only once.
When the answer to both questions is no, the entrepreneur finds themselves in a
poor moral situation. In the long run, its product will fail due to its deficiencies
own. Those who assume that their product improves the lives of their customers, but do not.
they often face a lack of authenticity in their services and do not
They manage to meet the expectations of their clients, as they lack understanding.
true of its users. The products that do not improve people's lives, although
are used by their creators, are just entertainment, which ultimately ends up
result ephemeral and fails. Finally, if your answer to both questions is
positive, you are in the best position to understand your consumers, respond to
your expectations and generate new habits.

Habit Tester

As seen, the Hook Model allows for the design of products that form
habits. At the same time, it facilitates the establishment of parameters for evaluation
existing products. A proper evaluation of the services they are looking for
forming habits must go through a process called 'Habit Tester', which
it is divided into three stages:

Identification - First, an analysis of who your

main clients and how they use your product. The goal is to define what is the
optimal frequency of use of your services.
Coding - Based on the data obtained, patterns are identified in
regular users. Finding these similarities helps to define the
shared characteristics of users. Identifying the "Pattern Habit" is
I need it for the next stage.
Modification – It consists of identifying strategies to encourage
users to follow the Habit Pattern of regular consumers,
while the product is modified and "tested".

Identifying areas where a new technology makes the Model cycle

Hook moves faster, more frequently, or provides more rewards.
creates a fertile ground for developing new products that form
habits.
Starting from your own experience and questioning what problem you would like to address.
that someone will solve it for you, is a good starting point to recognize new
areas of opportunity in habit formation. The reflection on our
behaviors can generate authentic ideas and benefit the development of solutions and
services. The spaces where a new interface or technology appears represent
opportunities to improve a product or propose a new solution to a
problem. Distinguishing emerging behaviors that begin in small groups,
will allow you to discover services of enormous potential that could have an impact
massively the lives of people.

About the author

Nir Eyal has been a consultant for numerous companies in Silicon Valley.
the intersection of technology, psychology, and business is your main field of
action. Ryan Hoover is a columnist and observer of new trends in
services and habit creation.