Hooked - Nir Eyal

We have a lot of habits that we do every day, such as checking our messages. These activities are performed automatically. Incorporating products and services into your usual routine is the primary goal of any company. Nir Eyal will teach you how to do it through the book "Hooked".

In this work, consumer psychology expert Nir Eyal explains the "Hook Model" with the intention of getting developers to create products that can become habits.

His four-step method was created based on research on the peculiarities that successful articles have in common, listing knowledge on behavioral psychology and neuroscience, drawing on his experience in advertising.

Got interested in increasing your sales? Stay with us in this summary!

The book "Hooked"

Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products (2014) explains through anecdotes and scientific studies how and why we integrate certain products into our daily routines and why these products are the Holy Grail for any consumer-oriented company.

The author gives us concrete advice on how companies turn their products into habits in the lives of their consumers.

Who is Nir Eyal?

Nir Eyal is a writer, teacher and consultant, who has long advised beginning and even experienced companies to design successful products. In addition, he is the founder of two startups and contributes regularly to magazines such as Forbes, TechCrunch and Psychology Today.

Who should read the book "Hooked"?

This book is recommended for people who want to understand how habits are formed, for those who want to create a thriving product or improve an existing product, and for everyone who wants to understand how some products have become habits trainers.

These skills certainly help individuals in all kinds of market areas to improve sales and marketing.

What are the key points of the book "Hooked"?

• Habits are behaviors that you do practically without thinking about it;
• Companies that produce habit-forming products reap multiple benefits;
• The Hook Model is a four-step process that advertisers use to "catch" consumers;
• The four stages of the model are: "triggers", "actions", "variable rewards" and "investments".

Let's present this summary in three parts: "products that create habits", "model hook" and "evaluate and follow".

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Products that Create Habits

First, Nir Eyal explains what the habit is and how it impacts business.

You have habitual behaviors that you do practically without thinking, and when the use of a product or service - such as smartphone and social media - becomes a habit, the company behind it can celebrate.

Marketers try to create a consumer experience that is pervaded by their routine, because the success of a product requires loyal and repeat customers.

The Hook Model

In this part, Nir Eyal teaches everything about the Hook Model.

Any kind of business can make use of this process to "catch" consumers in their offerings. People who are hauled will repeatedly use the product, making marketing and advertising less necessary.

The four phases of the model are:

1. Trigger: the actuator of behavior

Triggers fuel your behavior. They are suggestions telling people how they should act. They can be internal or external.

When you see, smell, taste, hear or touch an external trigger, it induces a reaction and clearly points to a particular action. For example, a login button on a page is an online trigger.

External triggers can be divided into four categories:

1. Payments: Advertising consists of paid triggers. Companies buy advertisements to attract new consumers and convert them into loyal customers;
2. Conquered: companies invest the time and energy to ensure the achievement of triggers. To publicize an event or produce a video with the expectation that they virilize are ways to conquer triggers;
3. From relationships: word-of-mouth recommendations from one person to another, or via social networks, are relationship-based triggers;
4. Allowed: With the user's permission, a company can provide reminders. As an example, the owner of a smartphone may allow a company to send notification about an update in the application.

Internal triggers are associations in the subconscious between an action or thought and an emotion. For example, boredom causes you to check your mailbox for emails. People form habitual reactions to the "small stresses" they experience during the day.

Consumers usually look for products and services that offer comfort or solve their problems. Companies must understand the internal triggers that make people use their products to be able to create effective external triggers.

2. Action: the behavior performed before a reward

Action is what a trigger seeks to boost. An action is how you behave given that you expect a reward. In the context of habits, people act according to instinct, almost without deliberate thinking.

Advertising capitalizes on these motivators. Images of men gathered drinking beer and cheering for their team demonstrate social acceptance.

Actions that form habits require little or no mental effort. The action that the trigger causes must manifest itself in its simplest form. Many successful digital networks, such as Twitter, Facebook and Google, have understood the importance of making the user experience as simple as possible.

Evan Williams, one of the founders of Twitter and Blogger, summed up this approach:

"Take a human desire, preferably one that is already commonplace for quite some time. Identify that desire and use modern technology to slow down a few steps".

A great example of this is the action of doing a search. In the old days, a large and heavy encyclopedia was needed. Nowadays, just use Google, quickly and effortlessly.

Simplifying the decision-making process through mental shortcuts enhances the habit-forming nature of your product. The marketing heuristic includes insinuating scarcity, placing promotional items, and tailoring the sales environment to create an appropriate context.

3. Variable Rewards: The Ability to Create a Wish

Once people act, they experience the relief of having their problem solved or their craving satiated. Research on rewarding behaviors shows that her anticipation activates the "pleasure center" of the brain.

However, as people expect rewards, incentives begin to lose their ability to attract. Introducing variable rewards revives activity in the brain "pleasure center" again.

This type of reward can be divided into three types: "the tribe, the hunt and the individual". Tribal gratuities achieve the desire to connect socially and feel included. Social media sites like Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter, and computer games like League of Legends use much of this universal will.

Hunting for food and shelter is deeply ingrained human behavior, so the rewards for hunting are satisfactory. Betting online or eyeing Pinterest offers gratifications related to the acquisition of resources or information.

People feel compelled to overcome obstacles. This generates a self-assessment in the form of feelings of achievement and satisfactory performance. Playing video games is a clear expression of this need.

However, few products offer "infinite variability". Even the best and most popular products become trivial with use and repetition. Keeping the variable rewards up to date requires the continual introduction of new ideas, experiences, and content.

4. Investment: the user does a little of work

When you make an effort, you become more committed to your purchase. People are more likely to develop a habit about a product or service when they invest in its use. Even small investments of time and energy are able to form strong bonds.

Once people commit to behavior, they tend to repeat it in the future. As an example, a person may initially reluctantly stick on his car an adhesive from a politician, but over time that resistance falls substantially.

In terms of product investments, people tend to experiment with something that other people like, such as drinking coffee or alcohol, even if they initially find it bad.

The longer the time and energy that users invest in a product, the greater the possibility of continuing to use it. The accumulation of stored value in the form of content, data, reputation, followers and skill keeps them engaged.

The Hook Model is circular - built-in external triggers encourage users to return, strengthening their habits.

Evaluate and follow-up

To conclude the book "Hooked", the author Nir Eyal explains how to evaluate and analyze your reasons for using the Hook Model.

If you use the Hook Model, analyze your motivations to make sure your purposes are altruistic and that you are not exploiting others at your own advantage.

The "manipulation matrix" is a four-part chart that helps you analyze your reasons for using the Hook Model. Which quadrant best describes you?

• Facilitator: Creators who believe that your product or service makes a positive contribution and would use them;
• Beggar: sellers who believe the product has value but do not use it themselves. Propaganda is an example of petition;
• Animator: It does not hurt anyone to create art and distraction for people to enjoy, but animation is a business that depends on "hits";
• Negotiator: manipulators who use their products as a way to earn some money.

Assess whether your product has the potential to create a habit by testing your idea according to the Hook Model. Continuously evaluate your tactics to review your performance.

Experiment with new ideas and strategies, and evaluate how they promote the buying behavior you are trying to evoke.

Use the habit test by following the three steps. Initially, consider how often you expect a consumer to use your product and characterize what you understand as normal use and overuse.

So categorize this usage by estimating how many users you need to make your business successful. Finally, modify your tactics to make casual consumers into devotees with a habit.

Books about habits

In "Buyology", the author Martin Lindstrom presents the idea of Neuromarketing, showing the importance of the brain in a buying decision, and strategies to improve your sales considering those factors.

The author Charles Duhigg states in the book "The Power of Habit" all the concepts behind habits, how they work and their influence in people's life. This can be useful if you are looking forward to applying this strategy to grow your business.

In "Mental Triggers", the author Gustavo Ferreira shows what these triggers are, and how to use them to activate customers' main emotions, increasing your chances to be successful.

So, how can I form a new habit?

To understand how habits-building products take advantage of their basic psychology, try to identify all the various triggers that lead you to use the products for a single day.

Also, keep in mind that the secret to forming a new habit is repetition. Whatever the daily routine you want to follow, repeat it often and when you figure it out, you will be doing it automatically.

Did you like this summary of the book "Hooked"?

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