Title: Hooked

Recommendation: 8.7/10

Summary:

Nir Eyal delivers a practical, and ethical, product design toolkit to build habit-forming tools.

(I find the ethical part extremely important, after all, habits aren’t inherently positive.) 

Every company needs to create an association in the minds of users between a pain and solving that with the company’s product.

Habitual association is crucial for products that are intended to solve frequently faced problems. 

For example, Instagram has tried to attach their product to solve the internal trigger of fear, that a special moment will be lost forever.

Instagram has been wildly successful. Yet, few users said, “I need a digital app to document my life with friends and strangers.” This is where declared preference, what people say they want, and revealed preference, what people do, are often in conflict.

Whether you’re looking to build an app, or simply understand how product design impacts your habits, this is an informative read. 

Highlights:

Emotions, particularly negative ones, are powerful internal triggers. 

Ask “why” until you get to the users’ emotions. 

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

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

Denis Hauptly deconstructs the process of innovation 1) understand the reason people use a product 2) outline steps customers take to get the job done 3) start removing steps until you reach the simplest possible process.