Short Notes from Hooked by Nir Eyal — Chapter 1

Introduction

This is one of the most awesome books I have come across. Highly recommended for people learning to build/building products or starting up.

While I am reading this book, I am creating some handy notes for anyone to get benefitted from.

Habits are defined as behaviors done with little or no conscious thought

75% of smartphone users check their phone within 15 mins of waking up every morning.

• Habit forming companies link their services to the user’s daily routine and emotions.
• Startups can profoundly change behaviour by guiding users through a series of experiences called hooks.
• Through consecutive Hook cycles, successful products reach their ultimate goal of unprompted user engagement, bringing users back repeatedly, without depending on costly ads or aggressive messaging.
• Business that create customer habits gain a significant competitive advantage.

The HOOK Model —

1- A trigger is the actuator of behavior - the spark plug in the engine. It can be external and internal.

2 - Following the trigger comes the action - the behaviour done in anticipation of a reward.

3 - Variable reward - What distinguishes the hook model from a plain vanilla feedback loop is the Hook’s ability to create a craving. Introducing variability multiplies the effect, creating a focused state, which suppresses the areas of the brain associated with judgement and reason while activating the parts with wanting and desire.

4 - Investment - The investment occurs when the user put something into the product of service such as time, data, effort, social capital, or money. It isn't about the users paying for the product. It implies an action improves the service for the next go-around.

Will be publishing my notes on the next chapter soon..

Disclaimer — The thoughts shared in this article are taken from the book Hooked — How to build Habit forming Products by Nir Eyal. This book explains user psychology quite well and is a very practical guide for anyone learning to build/building a product. Highly recommended!