Hooked

Chapter 1: The Habit Zone

• Getting consumers to form habits related to their products can be critical for many companies to succeed, but it is not necessary for every single company.
• But people are creatures of habits, and creating new ones requires them to forget certain old ones.
• The benefit is that once you have succeeded in turning your product into a habit, another competing product will find it tougher to displace your product, e.g. Google’s ubiquity and synonymity with Internet search has meant that products that are not particularly bad, like Bing, have failed to become as popular.

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Chapter 2: Trigger

• Habits, much like pearls, need a foundation and layer upon layer (of continued behavior change) to be completely formed. Triggers are the cue or the foundation for this behavior change.
• Triggers can be of two types: external and internal.
• For a product to truly become a habit, its triggers need to move from the external forms to the internal.
• Trying to rid oneself of negative emotions like boredom and loneliness are powerful triggers for using a particular product.

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Chapter 3: Action

• Therefore, for a clear trigger to be effective, the user should be motivated enough and should be able to perform the action with minimal effect.
• The lower the time, money, physical effort or mental labor involved, or the more socially acceptable it is, or the least deviation it requires from a user’s existing routine, the easier it is for him to perform an action.
• Consequently, the greater is the likelihood of the product becoming a habit.
• Between motivation and ability, it is easier to target the latter. Design your products such that it reduces the effort involved for the user, instead of trying to build motivation levels.