Nir Eyal’s book Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Goods not only explains why it’s important to create products with the potential to foster new habits but also provides concrete examples of what it takes to create such products successfully.
In this article, we will provide a summary of Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products, discussing its main points and letting you know whether or not you should go on to read the whole book.
Book Summary
How to Create Products That Become Addictive and Rewarding to Use effectively in pointing out that a business book can be well-written without being overly generic. There will always be recurring topics, but it’s nice to pick up a book that’s not trying to cover everything. All throughout Hooked, he discusses his experiences with and the methods for creating commercially viable goods like smartphones.
A discussion of the book’s major learning focus, the 4-step approach, follows. The gamification of life and the resulting human dependence on these products can only be understood through the lens of this theoretical paradigm.
He now knows to invest in and develop technologies in such a way that users become emotionally attached to them, rather than treating them as mere tools. As indicated above, Kahoot! has become a verb, a noun, and the go-to solution for team building and learning through trivia as a result of the recent trend toward remote learning and work.
Best ideas from the marketing book, Hooked
Let’s review the book’s three most important themes:
Successful Products Create Habits
The iPhone remains the most popular and well-known smartphone on the market, despite the proliferation of other options. Nearly 15% of the global population is active on Facebook and Instagram, making them two of the most popular social networking networks.
Eyal claims that the reason we have such a strong attachment to these items is that they condition us to behave in certain ways, for better or ill. Putting an end to a habit is notoriously challenging. As Eyal explains, these routines begin with the products themselves.
- If we’re talking about smartphones, you might have bought an iPhone the day it came out. You probably persevered with the iPhone for all these years, or you had a bad experience with Apple and made the transition to a rival brand (Android) and haven’t looked back.
- Do you ever ponder the launching of a new phone model every year… , just to find out that there aren’t even any new features? Smartphones will continue to sell every year since people have developed habits around them and are loyal to their favourite brands. Both the impending doom of owning an outmoded gadget and the user’s habit of constantly updating their devices guarantee that “upgrades” will occur sooner or later.
- There was a time when upgrading your plan meant waiting a few years before getting a new phone. New releases from Samsung and Apple’s iPhone, on the other hand, cost anywhere from $800 to $2,000. Customers that are dependent and accustomed to a company’s practises are less likely to react to pricing changes.
Four-Step Model of Adaptive Payouts
This 4-step strategy deserves more than a superficial overview. Eyal’s own explanation in Hooked does a better job at elucidating the idea. Variable rewards are emphasised, and this idea is the main lesson from this section. Consider all the iterations of Facebook throughout the years. There is a good chance that readers will recall the different versions and possibly even have a preference. In the past, when Facebook was first designed for desktop use, features like push notifications and in-app messages were novelties.
It was like getting a note in the mail from a good friend. Emails were quite prevalent before instant messaging became popular, and they rarely caused any excitement or concern. The initial iterations of Facebook’s prominent red notice and message number were associated with an increase in the feel-good hormone serotonin. Facebook has undergone many transformations over the years, including the maintenance of the original “reward” mode alongside the addition of games that can be played with friends, a standalone messenger app, and, most recently, a news feed and video feed that integrates YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram. The user can spend hours per week “rewarding” herself on Facebook due to the abundance of options available.
The Two Questions You Must Answer to Ensure Your Product Is a Success
The title of this book is not “Habit” without good reason. Eyal takes a more ethical perspective, urging the reader to address tough issues before releasing a product that would shape users’ routines. For instance, while it may seem desirable to waste a few hours each night mindlessly scrolling through social media in order to unwind after a long, busy day, doing so regularly can lead to major anxiety issues brought on by excessive exposure to and comparison with others’ online lives.
When discussing the potential introduction of this product, Eyal notes that the habits it fosters must be at least neutral, if not favourable. Keep in mind that not all items lead to habit formation, so determine whether or not your product does this before deciding whether or not to ask yourself these two questions. Consider if you would actually buy and use the product yourself and if it improves the user’s quality of life.
Many of the behaviours engendered, for instance, by smartphones and social media can be beneficial. A user may plan their day, stay in touch with loved ones anywhere in the world, and brag about their accomplishments all in one convenient place. While items that cater to a wide range of unhealthy addictions may bring in a healthy profit, they may also be breaking the law.
Should You Read the Whole Book of “Hooked”?
Hooked can mean a lot of different things. Things to ponder in the business world, philosophically, socially, and technologically. Tech entrepreneurs who wish to make viral software and goods, and consumers of popular habit-forming products, will find its focus on habit formation and the questions around it to be particularly useful. T
Reading the book in its full will teach you the 4-step framework, the loops that keep customers buying, and the psychology underlying habits.
Summary
The novel Hooked is one of the few that has held up remarkably well over time. The terms “telework” and “remote study” have entered the vernacular in recent years. As a result, technology has had to rapidly advance to meet the surging demand in fields like industry, education, entertainment, and communication.
Hooked: The Science of Creating Addictive Products is the full title of the book. The synapse and its development are described in detail throughout the text. Simply picking up your copy will have you captivated by its message.
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