#173 Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products with Nir Eyal

Psychological Triggers and Rewards 📲 To build a habit-forming product, you must understand the customer's internal trigger and attach your product's use to it. 💡 The more we do a particular behavior, the easier it becomes and the more likely we are to do it in the future, which is why habits have a repeater effect. 🧠 The nucleus accumbens does not activate pleasure per se but rather activates the stress of desire, creating an itch that we seek to scratch. 🐦 B.F. Skinner's experiments with pigeons showed that variable rewards are a powerful motivator, leading to habit-forming behavior. 🎯 Skinner observed that the rate of response increased when the reward was given on a variable schedule of reinforcement, creating a desirous response and craving reflex. 🎁 The point of the variable reward phase is to give the user what they came for to scratch their itch and yet leave a bit of mystery around what they might find. 💡 "The most important question when building a habit-forming product is do we understand the internal trigger." Strategies for Building Habit-Forming Products 💡 "A hook is an experience designed to connect the user's problem to your product with enough frequency to form a habit." 💰 The investment phase is crucial in increasing the likelihood of the next pass through the hook by loading the next trigger, not through immediate gratification or rewards. 🔄 Building habit-forming products requires understanding internal and external triggers, anticipation of reward, and the investment of effort to increase the likelihood of the next pass through the hook. 💡 Using the five-wise technique can help designers dig deeper to understand the internal triggers behind customer behaviors, leading to more effective solutions. 🎯 The four ways to capture the competition's customer habit are greater velocity, greater frequency, making the reward more rewarding, and easier entry into the hook. Impact of Habit-Forming Products 💡 Habit-forming products can be used for good, as demonstrated by an app providing effective therapy to those in need. 📬 Netflix's innovation of delivering DVDs through the mail shortened the distance between recognition of the need and satisfaction, changing consumer habits and ultimately leading to their success. 💰 Instagram's value has skyrocketed, showing the power of understanding and capitalizing on consumer habits.