How to design habit-forming UX?
Eighty-four percent of smartphone owners check their devices within ten to fifteen minutes of waking up every morning. As per some surveys conducted in 2020, the top 20% of smartphone users spend 4.5 hours on their phones during weekdays. So, on average people pick up their phones 58 times per day. Ugh! we’re hooked to our smartphones and mobile apps.
According to us, we visit some apps like YouTube, Instagram, Twitter for just a few minutes only but if we notice, we spend hours tapping and scrolling. It seems that these products control users’ minds and make the products habit-forming.
If we want to keep our users in the center, we must not forget that the habit must be voluntary and in line with want, ‘Users’ Want’. Users are not powerless slaves to instinct. They make well-thought, careful, and well-planned decisions, and based on that they take purposeful actions to interact with products. So it is important to discover users’ habitual patterns and track their behavior to create better User experiences.
As mentioned in ‘Atomic Habits’ by James Clear, any habit is created in four basic steps:
- Cue
A notification pops up which says: “Get 100 Coins for free in XYZ Game”
2. Craving
The user wants to get the free coins. Because they’re free coins obviously ;)
3. Response
The user then opens that notification instantly goes to the App, and performs whatever action the App asks for (E.g. Watch 2 Ads)
4. Reward
The user satisfies craving by receiving 100 coins for free. Responding to such notifications becomes associated with the user’s phone buzzing.
If you want to provide good UX for your product, you must ask yourself these questions:
1.Would I use the product myself?
Imagine yourself using the product and think of at what scale you will put the product in terms of easy-to-use, enjoy the experience, and most importantly, will you continue using the product?
As per the above example: It will be a ‘Yes’ to this question as who doesn’t like to play games and get free coins as rewards. We simply have to think about such ways to keep the users connected to the product.
2. Will the product assist users materially improve their lives?
Obviously, everyone wants to create something to make people’s lives better and this includes facilitating a healthy habit for a product that you would want to use.
As per the above example: It will be a ‘Yes’ to this question as the user likes to receive free coins as rewards and it gives them happiness.
3. What do you want your users to do?
It is your business, so you lead the way, but make sure you bear in mind what users are trying to achieve. A ton of sites and products are too busy pushing their own agenda to help users reach their goals. Instead, we should look for opportunities to link our goals with their goals.
As per the above example: The answer here would be that you want the users to watch ads but it would be irritating for them to watch ads continuously if there is no such reward like coins. Without running ads, one door for revenue generation will be closed for the product. So as mentioned above, a win-win situation can be created for the Product and the users as the product is generating revenue from Ads and coins are allowing users to use more game features for free.
4. How can I make this simpler or easy to use?
UX Designers should work hard (hard work here does not mean spending hours and hours and in the end make things more complex ;) ) to create simple, easy-to-use, intuitive experiences that people will use and love. Eventually, a good design is all about simplicity, removing or combining elements to make the information more concise and easier to digest.
Imagine providing an experience where users need to spend more than 2 days in order to get 100 free coins. Will the users like that experience? Well, they can uninstall your App and never look back! :D
As stated in ‘Hooked’ by Nir Eyal, habits are defined as “behaviors done with little or no conscious thought.” The Products and Services Users use — habitually alter their everyday behavior, just as the designers intend to do. Companies influence two basic pulleys of human behavior to improve the probability of any action occurring:
1. The ease of performing an action
The user just needs to tap on the notification which will redirect to the App, and watch ads, and bam! 100 coins are added to their game wallet.
2. The psychological motivation to do it.
What can be a more motivational thing other than getting things free? And what can be a simpler way than just watching ads to earn money(Virtual though ;) )
Keep in mind that users’ perception matters more than yours. However, you need to be centered on how the user perceives the product you deliver and see if your perception matches theirs. Understanding this habit-forming cycle can help you get a better idea about User Behaviour and how they take action, as well as help you gain knowledge on what you should think before creating a User experience and how much it will affect your product.
