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Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products
Goodreads Choice Award
Nominee for Best Business Books (2014)How do successful companies create products people can’t put down?
Why do some products capture widespread attention while others flop? What makes us engage with certain products out of sheer habit? Is there a pattern underlying how technologies hook us?
Nir Eyal answers these questions (and many more) by explaining the Hook Model—a four-step process embedded into the products of many successful companies to subtly encourage customer behavior. Through consecutive “hook cycles,” these products reach their ultimate goal of bringing users back again and again without depending on costly advertising or aggressive messaging.
Hooked is based on Eyal’s years of research, consulting, and practical experience. He wrote the book he wished had been available to him as a start-up founder—not abstract theory, but a how-to guide for building better products. Hooked is written for product managers, designers, marketers, start-up founders, and anyone who seeks to understand how products influence our behavior.
Eyal provides readers with:
• Practical insights to create user habits that stick.
• Actionable steps for building products people love.
• Fascinating examples from the iPhone to Twitter, Pinterest to the Bible App, and many other habit-forming products.
Why do some products capture widespread attention while others flop? What makes us engage with certain products out of sheer habit? Is there a pattern underlying how technologies hook us?
Nir Eyal answers these questions (and many more) by explaining the Hook Model—a four-step process embedded into the products of many successful companies to subtly encourage customer behavior. Through consecutive “hook cycles,” these products reach their ultimate goal of bringing users back again and again without depending on costly advertising or aggressive messaging.
Hooked is based on Eyal’s years of research, consulting, and practical experience. He wrote the book he wished had been available to him as a start-up founder—not abstract theory, but a how-to guide for building better products. Hooked is written for product managers, designers, marketers, start-up founders, and anyone who seeks to understand how products influence our behavior.
Eyal provides readers with:
• Practical insights to create user habits that stick.
• Actionable steps for building products people love.
• Fascinating examples from the iPhone to Twitter, Pinterest to the Bible App, and many other habit-forming products.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published December 25, 2013
About the author
Nir Eyal
10 books31.2k followersNir Eyal is the bestselling author of "Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products" (a finalist for the 2014 Goodreads Choice Awards) and "Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life." (nominated for the 2019 Goodreads Choice Awards)
He has taught at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and Hasso Plattner Institute of Design. His writing on technology, psychology and business appears in the Harvard Business Review, The Atlantic, TechCrunch, and Psychology Today.
Nir blogs regularly at NirAndFar.com
He has taught at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and Hasso Plattner Institute of Design. His writing on technology, psychology and business appears in the Harvard Business Review, The Atlantic, TechCrunch, and Psychology Today.
Nir blogs regularly at NirAndFar.com
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 2,374 reviews
July 18, 2018
Update: I ended up publishing a longer version of this - with a discussion of the trend towards more addictive technology in the tech industry more broadly - on the Huffington Post. It covers a lot of the same stuff in this review, but is likely a bit more polished: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ted-mcc...
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I’ve heard a great deal about this book in the past month - first, I saw Eyal give a talk here in San Francisco (I hadn't heard of him, but someone recommended I go - the talk was sold out and a spot opened up), then someone at a meeting mentioned the book/talk and said it was 'amazing', then the other day I heard him featured on an episode of Planet Money. At least within the tech scene, it seems this book is very well-known, and that, to some extent, scares me. (And to put that into context, I'm a technology designer/researcher - i.e., I'm the kind of person who should be absolutely frothing at the mouth (happily) about this thing.)
Most of the reviews I've been seeing have been addressing Eyal's execution of the 'Hooked' concept, which I'd give something like a 2.5 - the ideas are clearly expressed, but the writing is fairly dumbed down, and the book's ideas could (and given his writing style, should) have been expressed in about a quarter of the length.
My biggest problem with the book is its basic premise, that 'hooking' people - that is, making them compulsive users of your technology product - is something worth doing. Eyal makes a number of assumptions about the benefits of technology here - he commonly alludes to Facebook, Instagram, et al as 'solving' our feelings of loneliness, for instance. Among many other occurrences, a line in the book says Instagram "helps users dispel boredom by connecting them with others." Everything about technology use is placed in a positive light - 'solving' problems, 'connecting' users. It's the standard litany of Silicon Valley Tech Speak, but bumped up a great many RPMs and set on continuous repeat.
The idea of 'hooking' a user to your product is strikingly similar to that of causing a user 'to be addicted' to your product, including use of the same mechanisms to do it. The third piece of the 'hook' cycle is the use of variable rewards to help make users habitual users of your product, for example - this is the exact mechanism that makes gambling so potentially addictive. Even the book's cover art shows a mouse pointer clicking somewhere near the nucleus accumbens of a brain, the dopamine center manipulated by variable rewards that help fuel behavioral addictions. Eyal discusses how, in the 1950's, Olds and Milner would stimulate mice in this region, and see them forgo food and water in exchange for more stimulation. (Think 'Infinite Jest', with mice in cages.) If his book espouses manipulation, at least he's (relatively) honest about it.
Eyal discusses - very briefly, at the very end of his talk/book - the morality of manipulating people in this way, and of causing, if you successfully carry out his formula and do everything else right, your users to develop behavioral addictions to your product. But his discussion of morality is too little, too late - during his talk, he spends forty minutes discussing how his model will allow audience members to build the next Facebook, and then five minutes pleading with them to use this information only to improve the world. "Basically, I want you all to use this for good," he begs, and then quotes Gandhi (yes, really), "Be the change you wish to see in the world." (The Mahatma, by the way, apparently never actually said this.) That's about it. When I saw the talk, I suspected he added this bit at the end to appease sane-minded audience members and prevent heckling.
In the book, at least, Eyal includes a short chapter near the end discussing the morality of this approach, and, perhaps as a way of showing how his 'hooked' formula can be used for good, a case study illustrating how a Bible app - YouVersion - carries out (more or less) the four steps of the hooked model. (The chapter also employs a nauseating number of religious puns: "Switching to a different digital Bible - God forbid..."; "Gruenewald's app is a Godsend", etc.) But it's unconvincing; and it's perhaps telling that the best positive example Eyal can find of a technology product achieving good with his model is 'getting people to read the Bible more', which is dubious at best.
I understand that this kind of thing happens all the time - you'd better believe that Facebook, Google, and many other technology companies are many steps ahead of even Eyal in this game. But it bothers me to see it filtered down and formulatized in a set of followable steps. It might bother me less if Eyal emphasized the ways in which this could be used for good throughout the book - for health behavior change, for instance, an area of technology design that's quickly growing and has shown potential for doing actual good. Eyal references Sunstein and Thaler's 'Nudge', another book I just finished (and one that I highly recommend). Those authors also present methods that could be seen as manipulative, but are careful to include frank and lengthy discussions on how to morally employ these techniques - not a hollow plea to 'only do good' with the methods followed by a flippant reading of a Gandhi quote. The authors of 'Nudge', moreover, fill the book with case studies in which their concept has - or at least, can - produce real, substantial benefit for great numbers of people. That book deserves attention and praise - people should be paying attention to *that* one.
Paul Graham has somewhat famously said (Eyal even references it) that "The world is more addictive than it was 40 years ago.... and the world will get more addictive in the next 40 years than it did in the last 40. We'll increasingly be defined by what we say no to." It bothers me greatly to see a book outlining *how* to make the world more addictive - and weakly excusing itself for doing so - seeing such success, especially here in Silicon Valley, where people designing products that 'touch people's lives' are only learning how to do so more effectively, more thoroughly, more persistently, more addictively.
----------------
I’ve heard a great deal about this book in the past month - first, I saw Eyal give a talk here in San Francisco (I hadn't heard of him, but someone recommended I go - the talk was sold out and a spot opened up), then someone at a meeting mentioned the book/talk and said it was 'amazing', then the other day I heard him featured on an episode of Planet Money. At least within the tech scene, it seems this book is very well-known, and that, to some extent, scares me. (And to put that into context, I'm a technology designer/researcher - i.e., I'm the kind of person who should be absolutely frothing at the mouth (happily) about this thing.)
Most of the reviews I've been seeing have been addressing Eyal's execution of the 'Hooked' concept, which I'd give something like a 2.5 - the ideas are clearly expressed, but the writing is fairly dumbed down, and the book's ideas could (and given his writing style, should) have been expressed in about a quarter of the length.
My biggest problem with the book is its basic premise, that 'hooking' people - that is, making them compulsive users of your technology product - is something worth doing. Eyal makes a number of assumptions about the benefits of technology here - he commonly alludes to Facebook, Instagram, et al as 'solving' our feelings of loneliness, for instance. Among many other occurrences, a line in the book says Instagram "helps users dispel boredom by connecting them with others." Everything about technology use is placed in a positive light - 'solving' problems, 'connecting' users. It's the standard litany of Silicon Valley Tech Speak, but bumped up a great many RPMs and set on continuous repeat.
The idea of 'hooking' a user to your product is strikingly similar to that of causing a user 'to be addicted' to your product, including use of the same mechanisms to do it. The third piece of the 'hook' cycle is the use of variable rewards to help make users habitual users of your product, for example - this is the exact mechanism that makes gambling so potentially addictive. Even the book's cover art shows a mouse pointer clicking somewhere near the nucleus accumbens of a brain, the dopamine center manipulated by variable rewards that help fuel behavioral addictions. Eyal discusses how, in the 1950's, Olds and Milner would stimulate mice in this region, and see them forgo food and water in exchange for more stimulation. (Think 'Infinite Jest', with mice in cages.) If his book espouses manipulation, at least he's (relatively) honest about it.
Eyal discusses - very briefly, at the very end of his talk/book - the morality of manipulating people in this way, and of causing, if you successfully carry out his formula and do everything else right, your users to develop behavioral addictions to your product. But his discussion of morality is too little, too late - during his talk, he spends forty minutes discussing how his model will allow audience members to build the next Facebook, and then five minutes pleading with them to use this information only to improve the world. "Basically, I want you all to use this for good," he begs, and then quotes Gandhi (yes, really), "Be the change you wish to see in the world." (The Mahatma, by the way, apparently never actually said this.) That's about it. When I saw the talk, I suspected he added this bit at the end to appease sane-minded audience members and prevent heckling.
In the book, at least, Eyal includes a short chapter near the end discussing the morality of this approach, and, perhaps as a way of showing how his 'hooked' formula can be used for good, a case study illustrating how a Bible app - YouVersion - carries out (more or less) the four steps of the hooked model. (The chapter also employs a nauseating number of religious puns: "Switching to a different digital Bible - God forbid..."; "Gruenewald's app is a Godsend", etc.) But it's unconvincing; and it's perhaps telling that the best positive example Eyal can find of a technology product achieving good with his model is 'getting people to read the Bible more', which is dubious at best.
I understand that this kind of thing happens all the time - you'd better believe that Facebook, Google, and many other technology companies are many steps ahead of even Eyal in this game. But it bothers me to see it filtered down and formulatized in a set of followable steps. It might bother me less if Eyal emphasized the ways in which this could be used for good throughout the book - for health behavior change, for instance, an area of technology design that's quickly growing and has shown potential for doing actual good. Eyal references Sunstein and Thaler's 'Nudge', another book I just finished (and one that I highly recommend). Those authors also present methods that could be seen as manipulative, but are careful to include frank and lengthy discussions on how to morally employ these techniques - not a hollow plea to 'only do good' with the methods followed by a flippant reading of a Gandhi quote. The authors of 'Nudge', moreover, fill the book with case studies in which their concept has - or at least, can - produce real, substantial benefit for great numbers of people. That book deserves attention and praise - people should be paying attention to *that* one.
Paul Graham has somewhat famously said (Eyal even references it) that "The world is more addictive than it was 40 years ago.... and the world will get more addictive in the next 40 years than it did in the last 40. We'll increasingly be defined by what we say no to." It bothers me greatly to see a book outlining *how* to make the world more addictive - and weakly excusing itself for doing so - seeing such success, especially here in Silicon Valley, where people designing products that 'touch people's lives' are only learning how to do so more effectively, more thoroughly, more persistently, more addictively.
March 22, 2017
Extremely valuable book for anyone building products designed to engage people frequently. Given that I think daily about how to make Goodreads better and more engaging for people, this was a useful book. I think I knew a lot of it already, but often being forced to think about things again can be useful - and there are a few useful new ways of thinking about things that I learned.
One of the main useful ideas the book talks about in engaging users is having triggers to bring the user back to the product. This can be an external trigger - like an email or notification or ad that brings the user back - but the best products also form internal triggers. Ever get bored or lonely and find yourself on Facebook? Or wondering what is happening in the world and end up on Twitter? Or see something beautiful or inspiring and then pull out Instagram? Or feel the need to escape and relax and open a book or turn on a movie or a sports game? Our emotions often drive our behavior, and each emotion is mapped to a set of products we could use to "scratch the itch" of whatever we are feeling. These mappings become habits.
"Once a technology has created an association in users’ minds that the product is the solution of choice, they return on their own, no longer needing prompts from external triggers."
I think my favorite external triggers mentioned in the book were from the bible app example, where it sent a push notification to people if they walked into a strip club! And it sent another one on xmas day that did well. Timely matters!
Nir then talks about how to get users to take actions. The framework is obvious, but very true, and useful to remember when evaluating products. It's fairly well summed up in the below quote. There was a lot of good discussion about point #2 in terms of having simple design, being mobile, etc.
there are three ingredients required to initiate any and all behaviors: (1) the user must have sufficient motivation; (2) the user must have the ability to complete the desired action; and (3) a trigger must be present to activate the behavior."
Another point Nir makes around actions - which is also an obvious one but worth really paying attention to when designing a product - is around getting frequent engagement with a product when a user is new to it.
"For new behaviors to really take hold, they must occur often."
"frequent engagement with a product—especially over a short period of time—increases the likelihood of forming new routines."
The author then talks about variable rewards. I've known that variability - or serendipitousness as I like to think of it - is a very important driver of any engaging product. It's why we love sports, gambling, games, Facebook newsfeed, and good stories - not knowing what we'll find is exciting. Nir breaks down variable rewards into three types - the tribe, the hunt, and the self. The tribe is social validation - think of Facebook likes on content you posted. The hunt is something intrinsic in our brains that dates back to prehistoric times when we literally lived for the hunt - think of hunting for interesting content on your Twitter feed, or gambling looking for payoffs. The self is more for personal gratification - wanting to complete a puzzle you started or beat a video game you started.
One of the main useful ideas the book talks about in engaging users is having triggers to bring the user back to the product. This can be an external trigger - like an email or notification or ad that brings the user back - but the best products also form internal triggers. Ever get bored or lonely and find yourself on Facebook? Or wondering what is happening in the world and end up on Twitter? Or see something beautiful or inspiring and then pull out Instagram? Or feel the need to escape and relax and open a book or turn on a movie or a sports game? Our emotions often drive our behavior, and each emotion is mapped to a set of products we could use to "scratch the itch" of whatever we are feeling. These mappings become habits.
"Once a technology has created an association in users’ minds that the product is the solution of choice, they return on their own, no longer needing prompts from external triggers."
I think my favorite external triggers mentioned in the book were from the bible app example, where it sent a push notification to people if they walked into a strip club! And it sent another one on xmas day that did well. Timely matters!
Nir then talks about how to get users to take actions. The framework is obvious, but very true, and useful to remember when evaluating products. It's fairly well summed up in the below quote. There was a lot of good discussion about point #2 in terms of having simple design, being mobile, etc.
there are three ingredients required to initiate any and all behaviors: (1) the user must have sufficient motivation; (2) the user must have the ability to complete the desired action; and (3) a trigger must be present to activate the behavior."
Another point Nir makes around actions - which is also an obvious one but worth really paying attention to when designing a product - is around getting frequent engagement with a product when a user is new to it.
"For new behaviors to really take hold, they must occur often."
"frequent engagement with a product—especially over a short period of time—increases the likelihood of forming new routines."
The author then talks about variable rewards. I've known that variability - or serendipitousness as I like to think of it - is a very important driver of any engaging product. It's why we love sports, gambling, games, Facebook newsfeed, and good stories - not knowing what we'll find is exciting. Nir breaks down variable rewards into three types - the tribe, the hunt, and the self. The tribe is social validation - think of Facebook likes on content you posted. The hunt is something intrinsic in our brains that dates back to prehistoric times when we literally lived for the hunt - think of hunting for interesting content on your Twitter feed, or gambling looking for payoffs. The self is more for personal gratification - wanting to complete a puzzle you started or beat a video game you started.
November 19, 2015
This book was a huge disappointment. It is full of speculation and misleading 'information'. It has a very big fluff to substance ratio and the little substance it does present is deprived of all nuance.
Arguably, that isn't reason enough to give it one star. The determining factor is the authors tendency of quoting studies and then misrepresenting the findings. For example: a study of the internet usage of 216 students. The study, conducted over the course of a month, found correlation between increased internet usage and indicators of depression. The author of the book presents this correlation with a much greater degree of certainty, he exaggerates the duration of the study, cites methodology that isn't found in the study, selects one possible hypothesis: depressed people use the internet more because it makes them feel better and runs with it, expanding this theory with lush examples of solace seeking Instagram users. The study itself only mentions that it notices an increased number of "chat octets" in the traffic analysis and one of the possible explanations is that depressive people are joining depression chat rooms in order to find relief (but they have no way of knowing).
I find this kind of mistreatment of research and scientific certainty repulsive.
Arguably, that isn't reason enough to give it one star. The determining factor is the authors tendency of quoting studies and then misrepresenting the findings. For example: a study of the internet usage of 216 students. The study, conducted over the course of a month, found correlation between increased internet usage and indicators of depression. The author of the book presents this correlation with a much greater degree of certainty, he exaggerates the duration of the study, cites methodology that isn't found in the study, selects one possible hypothesis: depressed people use the internet more because it makes them feel better and runs with it, expanding this theory with lush examples of solace seeking Instagram users. The study itself only mentions that it notices an increased number of "chat octets" in the traffic analysis and one of the possible explanations is that depressive people are joining depression chat rooms in order to find relief (but they have no way of knowing).
I find this kind of mistreatment of research and scientific certainty repulsive.
August 31, 2016
There is buzz about this book in the SF tech scene. After reading it, I know why!
It's well researched. It's interesting. And it's thought-provoking.
Nir Eyar masterfully weaves his insights of technology, business and psychology into his four-fold model, which explains how to create habit-forming products.
Whether you are an entrepreneur just getting started, a psychologist seeking depth or an avid reader wanting to know more about the world around us, you'll love this book!
It's well researched. It's interesting. And it's thought-provoking.
Nir Eyar masterfully weaves his insights of technology, business and psychology into his four-fold model, which explains how to create habit-forming products.
Whether you are an entrepreneur just getting started, a psychologist seeking depth or an avid reader wanting to know more about the world around us, you'll love this book!
December 21, 2016
Hooked is an excellent (short) book on the use of psychology in product design. As technology becomes increasingly available to entrepreneurs of all backgrounds, design has become just as important as engineering. Correspondingly, all entrepreneurs should have a good understanding of the principals behind building habit-forming products. In that respect, this book does a great job. This book may not provide any grand revelations or have particularly unique/fascinating case studies, but it is still very valuable (thus the 3 stars, perhaps closer to 3.5). Below I've provided an outline of my notes on the book so that those of us less inclined to read this can still learn the basics. I do still recommend reading the book for the useful examples and exercises at the end of the chapters (which you most definitely should do). I highly recommend reading the book with a specific product in mind that you would like to apply the lessons of Hooked to.
The basic idea behind Hooked is the Hook Model. The model consists of four parts:
-Trigger
-Action
-Variable Reward
-Investment
Quite simply, using a trigger should prompt a user to take an action that results in a variable reward, followed by further investment. This cycle should continue to repeat itself until the user becomes 'hooked'.
Trigger
The trigger is what makes a user turn to your product. If there isn't a trigger, then what will prompt the user to engage with your product? Nir Eyal explains that there are two types of triggers: external and internal triggers. While external triggers such as an app icon or an advertisement can be useful in getting a user to use your product, truly addictive products use internal triggers. An internal triggers is usually a feeling or emotion that prompts an action to resolve that feeling or emotion. It is easy to see the power of internal triggers. They are omnipresent and a constant part of our lives. Further, it is internal triggers that are the basis of true habit formation on a biological level. Nir Eyal explains:
There are numerous examples of this. People use snapchat and instagram to resolve their fear of missing out. People use reddit or facebook to resolve their boredom. Have you ever wondered how you just magically seemed to end up using one of these products? It's because it forms a subconscious habit linked with an emotion. So, when building your product make sure to find the internal trigger that you should have your product be associated with it. That is the first step.
Action
Now that you have the trigger, as soon as a user feels that 'itch' your product will pop into their head. But that alone is not enough. It is just as important to make sure that it is easy enough to 'scratch' that itch. The action to do that needs to be a simplistic as possible. After all, if habits are subconscious then it will have to be relatively simple. The book describes the following factors that should be taken into account:
It is important to focus on motivation and ability. Motivation is often in the form of resolving the emotion associated with the trigger. Ability is where there is much room for innovation. Consider companies like Blogger and Twitter. They made the action of writing significantly easier by reducing the steps necessary to resolve the trigger. This led to massive success. It is important that your action is as simple as possible.
Variable Reward
Now that the user has engaged with your product, it is important to reward them. All habits end with a reward. When you post a picture on instagram, the reward is likes from other people. When you complete your diary for the day on MyFitnessPal, the reward is a nice message telling you about how successful you've been. Even bad habits have 'rewards'. Cigarettes give you a nicotine high and alcohol can make it feel like your problems are solved (but of course not really). Thus, your product not only has to make it easy to scratch that itch... it must also relieve that itch, but that alone is not enough. The rewards need to be variable. Nir Eyal gives many examples and explanations, but the best is Skinner's Pigeon Experiment. In the experiment there are two groups. One is a group of pigeons that are in a cage where if they press a button they will be given some food pellets, but the amount of food dispensed is the same every time. The second group has the same setup, but is given a variable reward every time; sometimes there is more food and sometimes there is less. Skinner found that adding variability significantly increased the frequency of the pigeons pressing the button. Nir Eyal writes:
There are many products that inherently do this. For example, on facebook you never know if you'll find good content in the feed or how many likes your status will get. The same phenomenon happened with the early version of Zynga games. So for even stronger habits, a variable reward is necessary.
Investment
The final step of the Hooked Model is what differentiates it from the traditional Habit Loop (see The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business). In order to ensure that users come back to your product, it is important to ask the users to make an investment. By making an investment, users will yet another reason to come back to your product, instead of someone else's. There are many products out there that are better than facebook. But, by having users store their data on there and make friends and comment on other people's data it makes it difficult for users to leave. Nir Eyal explains that in studies user's value their own work 4x more than work of higher quality:
By having your user invest in your product, it makes repeat usage more likely.
The basic idea behind Hooked is the Hook Model. The model consists of four parts:
-Trigger
-Action
-Variable Reward
-Investment
Quite simply, using a trigger should prompt a user to take an action that results in a variable reward, followed by further investment. This cycle should continue to repeat itself until the user becomes 'hooked'.
Trigger
The trigger is what makes a user turn to your product. If there isn't a trigger, then what will prompt the user to engage with your product? Nir Eyal explains that there are two types of triggers: external and internal triggers. While external triggers such as an app icon or an advertisement can be useful in getting a user to use your product, truly addictive products use internal triggers. An internal triggers is usually a feeling or emotion that prompts an action to resolve that feeling or emotion. It is easy to see the power of internal triggers. They are omnipresent and a constant part of our lives. Further, it is internal triggers that are the basis of true habit formation on a biological level. Nir Eyal explains:
In the case of internal triggers, the information about what to do next is encoded as a learned association in the user's memory.
There are numerous examples of this. People use snapchat and instagram to resolve their fear of missing out. People use reddit or facebook to resolve their boredom. Have you ever wondered how you just magically seemed to end up using one of these products? It's because it forms a subconscious habit linked with an emotion. So, when building your product make sure to find the internal trigger that you should have your product be associated with it. That is the first step.
Action
Now that you have the trigger, as soon as a user feels that 'itch' your product will pop into their head. But that alone is not enough. It is just as important to make sure that it is easy enough to 'scratch' that itch. The action to do that needs to be a simplistic as possible. After all, if habits are subconscious then it will have to be relatively simple. The book describes the following factors that should be taken into account:
There are three ingredients required to initiate any and all behaviors: (1) the user must have sufficient motivation; (2) the user must have the ability to completed the desired action; and (3) a trigger must be present to activate the action
It is important to focus on motivation and ability. Motivation is often in the form of resolving the emotion associated with the trigger. Ability is where there is much room for innovation. Consider companies like Blogger and Twitter. They made the action of writing significantly easier by reducing the steps necessary to resolve the trigger. This led to massive success. It is important that your action is as simple as possible.
Variable Reward
Now that the user has engaged with your product, it is important to reward them. All habits end with a reward. When you post a picture on instagram, the reward is likes from other people. When you complete your diary for the day on MyFitnessPal, the reward is a nice message telling you about how successful you've been. Even bad habits have 'rewards'. Cigarettes give you a nicotine high and alcohol can make it feel like your problems are solved (but of course not really). Thus, your product not only has to make it easy to scratch that itch... it must also relieve that itch, but that alone is not enough. The rewards need to be variable. Nir Eyal gives many examples and explanations, but the best is Skinner's Pigeon Experiment. In the experiment there are two groups. One is a group of pigeons that are in a cage where if they press a button they will be given some food pellets, but the amount of food dispensed is the same every time. The second group has the same setup, but is given a variable reward every time; sometimes there is more food and sometimes there is less. Skinner found that adding variability significantly increased the frequency of the pigeons pressing the button. Nir Eyal writes:
Skinner's pigeons tell us a great deal about what helps drive our own behaviors. More recent experiments reveal that variability increases activity in the nucleus accumbens and spikes levels of neurotransmitter dopamine, driving our hungry search for rewards.
There are many products that inherently do this. For example, on facebook you never know if you'll find good content in the feed or how many likes your status will get. The same phenomenon happened with the early version of Zynga games. So for even stronger habits, a variable reward is necessary.
Investment
The final step of the Hooked Model is what differentiates it from the traditional Habit Loop (see The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business). In order to ensure that users come back to your product, it is important to ask the users to make an investment. By making an investment, users will yet another reason to come back to your product, instead of someone else's. There are many products out there that are better than facebook. But, by having users store their data on there and make friends and comment on other people's data it makes it difficult for users to leave. Nir Eyal explains that in studies user's value their own work 4x more than work of higher quality:
Those who invested labor associated greater value with their creations simply because they had worked on them. Ariely calls this the IKEA effect.
By having your user invest in your product, it makes repeat usage more likely.
December 10, 2018
This book is great. It has a very clear structure, all information is relevant and to the point. It's pretty short, easy to read, but provides a comprehensive view on the topic.
What I loved the most was the fact that author backed up all his statements with evidence. At the end of the book he provides citations, lists scientific studies and articles he mentions. Little personal opinion, a lot of useful info.
It's curious how the tech-related psychological research lines up neatly with what I've recently read about psychology of relationships. Pretty cool parallels.
I didn't pick up much new info from it because I'm not new to the topic, but I don't see any reasons to give it less than 5 stars.
P.S. Also, it explains why I'm HOOKED ON GOODREADS
What I loved the most was the fact that author backed up all his statements with evidence. At the end of the book he provides citations, lists scientific studies and articles he mentions. Little personal opinion, a lot of useful info.
It's curious how the tech-related psychological research lines up neatly with what I've recently read about psychology of relationships. Pretty cool parallels.
I didn't pick up much new info from it because I'm not new to the topic, but I don't see any reasons to give it less than 5 stars.
P.S. Also, it explains why I'm HOOKED ON GOODREADS
March 24, 2022
چگونه با کمک تکنیکهای روانشناختی کاری کنیم تا کاربران به محصول کسب و کار ما معتاد شوند؟
کتاب قلاب یک چرخه چهار مرحلهای را پیشنهاد میدهد؟
۱. محرک
۲. اقدام
۳. پاداش متنوع
۴. سرمایهگذاری (زمانی، مالی و ...)
محرکها ما را به سوی انجام کاری سوق میدهند، چه از آنها آگاه باشیم یا نه. مثلاً سایت گودریدز را در نظر بگیرید، به شما میگوید که تا الان چند کتاب خواندید و نسبت به هدف گذاری سال چقدر عقبتر هستید. این یک محرک است! در نتیجه شما اقدام به خواندن کتاب میکنید. سپس نوبت به پاداش میرسد. دوباره همین گودریدز را در نظر بگیرید. در صورت خواندن کتاب، میتوانید آن را با دوستان خود به اشتراک بگذارید. با به اشتراک گذاشتن آن یک حس خوب دریافت میکنید. مرحله آخر سرمایهگذاری است. یک آزمایش جالبی پژوهشگران انجام دادهاند. افراد را به صورت تصادفی به سه گروه تقسیم کردند و از آنها خواستند که یک سری کاردستی را قیمتگذاری کنند. با این تفاوت که گروه دوم باید کاردستیها را خودشان میساختند و به گروه سوم گفته شده بود که کاردستیها را افراد خبره ساختند. نتیجه؟ گروهی که کاردستیها را خودش ساخته بود پنج برابر گروه اول قیمتگذاری کرده بودند و این قیمت حدوداً با قیمت گروه سوم که مربوط به کاردستیهای افراد خبره بود، برابر بود.
برای این که افراد را معتاد به یک محصول کنید تنها سه مرحله بالا کافی نیست، بلکه کاربر باید سرمایهگذاری (چه زمانی، چه مالی) نیز انجام دهد. دوباره همین سایت گودریدز را در نظر بگیرید. افراد با نوشتن مرور روی کتابها در حال سرمایهگذاری زمانی هستند. هر چقدر یک فرد بیشتر مرور بنویسد، به این سایت بیشتر وابسته میشود. حالا کافی است این چرخه چهار مرحلهای بارها و بارها تکرار شود تا شما معتاد به محصول شرکت شوید.
کتاب قلاب یک چرخه چهار مرحلهای را پیشنهاد میدهد؟
۱. محرک
۲. اقدام
۳. پاداش متنوع
۴. سرمایهگذاری (زمانی، مالی و ...)
محرکها ما را به سوی انجام کاری سوق میدهند، چه از آنها آگاه باشیم یا نه. مثلاً سایت گودریدز را در نظر بگیرید، به شما میگوید که تا الان چند کتاب خواندید و نسبت به هدف گذاری سال چقدر عقبتر هستید. این یک محرک است! در نتیجه شما اقدام به خواندن کتاب میکنید. سپس نوبت به پاداش میرسد. دوباره همین گودریدز را در نظر بگیرید. در صورت خواندن کتاب، میتوانید آن را با دوستان خود به اشتراک بگذارید. با به اشتراک گذاشتن آن یک حس خوب دریافت میکنید. مرحله آخر سرمایهگذاری است. یک آزمایش جالبی پژوهشگران انجام دادهاند. افراد را به صورت تصادفی به سه گروه تقسیم کردند و از آنها خواستند که یک سری کاردستی را قیمتگذاری کنند. با این تفاوت که گروه دوم باید کاردستیها را خودشان میساختند و به گروه سوم گفته شده بود که کاردستیها را افراد خبره ساختند. نتیجه؟ گروهی که کاردستیها را خودش ساخته بود پنج برابر گروه اول قیمتگذاری کرده بودند و این قیمت حدوداً با قیمت گروه سوم که مربوط به کاردستیهای افراد خبره بود، برابر بود.
برای این که افراد را معتاد به یک محصول کنید تنها سه مرحله بالا کافی نیست، بلکه کاربر باید سرمایهگذاری (چه زمانی، چه مالی) نیز انجام دهد. دوباره همین سایت گودریدز را در نظر بگیرید. افراد با نوشتن مرور روی کتابها در حال سرمایهگذاری زمانی هستند. هر چقدر یک فرد بیشتر مرور بنویسد، به این سایت بیشتر وابسته میشود. حالا کافی است این چرخه چهار مرحلهای بارها و بارها تکرار شود تا شما معتاد به محصول شرکت شوید.
August 29, 2022
در اسم کتاب اومده: چگونه محصولی بسازیم که مخاطب را شبانه روز درگیر کند!
و خیلی از عواملی که مارو درگیر اعتیاد شبکه های اجتماعی کرده همین دلیل هایی هستند که در کتاب از اونها نام برده شده!
و خیلی از عواملی که مارو درگیر اعتیاد شبکه های اجتماعی کرده همین دلیل هایی هستند که در کتاب از اونها نام برده شده!
December 18, 2013
I decided to read this book, because I am a long-time follower of the author's blog. Being a psychologist that works in user experience design, I at first was not sure how much I'd gain from a book written on a subject I consider myself to have deep knowledge of. However, I found it to be a great book and I did learn a lot. I'd recommend this book for anyone that's interested in learning how psychological mechanisms can be used to form habits, and therefore keep people "hooked" on their products.
December 16, 2014
I'll start with a complaint because I want to get my grumpiness out of the way before I take it out on someone at work. This book should have been 50% as long as it is. Perhaps even shorter. Do authors seriously think that more words is the same as getting your point across? In all fairness, there were synopses at appropriate places in the book, so you could skip any nonsense and go through just salient points. Despite that, the book should have been way shorter. Take a star off. There. I feel better already.
Having gotten that out of the way, the Hook model described in the book is very useful. Hooking a user has four elements:
1. Trigger: What is the itch that the user needs to scratch
2. Action: What is she going to do next?
3. Variable reward: What is she going to get for it? Is she satisfied yet wanting more?
4. Investment: The more work and time the user invests, the more she will keep coming back to it.
There is a lot more in this book about different types of triggers, variable rewards and investments. The book also has some useful nuggets about product testing or habit testing. Above all, the most important part of the book is the sections that ask you to evaluate the products you are building now. That somehow drove home the message far more effectively than anything else in the book. Perhaps that's just my learning style - learn by doing.
There are a number of jobs/roles in which I could have used the lessons from this book. Overall, 4 stars for how much this book is going to help me hone products and technology over time.
Having gotten that out of the way, the Hook model described in the book is very useful. Hooking a user has four elements:
1. Trigger: What is the itch that the user needs to scratch
2. Action: What is she going to do next?
3. Variable reward: What is she going to get for it? Is she satisfied yet wanting more?
4. Investment: The more work and time the user invests, the more she will keep coming back to it.
There is a lot more in this book about different types of triggers, variable rewards and investments. The book also has some useful nuggets about product testing or habit testing. Above all, the most important part of the book is the sections that ask you to evaluate the products you are building now. That somehow drove home the message far more effectively than anything else in the book. Perhaps that's just my learning style - learn by doing.
There are a number of jobs/roles in which I could have used the lessons from this book. Overall, 4 stars for how much this book is going to help me hone products and technology over time.
January 1, 2014
(4.5) Really good stuff, actually actionable
In particular, I like the directives at the end of each chapter driving you to think about your own product, how you can use the Hooked principles to improve its stickiness. Also liked the Bible case study he added, though I think he should've made the analysis more rigorously follow the principles, if only in a data sheet format saying how each of the principles are applied. Then dive into the cooler narrative.
But this is really well organized and written. Coherent, presented clearly and actionable. Also makes me want to read some more Ariely, Dan, books. :)
In particular, I like the directives at the end of each chapter driving you to think about your own product, how you can use the Hooked principles to improve its stickiness. Also liked the Bible case study he added, though I think he should've made the analysis more rigorously follow the principles, if only in a data sheet format saying how each of the principles are applied. Then dive into the cooler narrative.
But this is really well organized and written. Coherent, presented clearly and actionable. Also makes me want to read some more Ariely, Dan, books. :)
July 26, 2016
I've been an avid read of Nir Eyal's blog (nirandfar.com) for over a year. When he asked if I wanted to work on the book with him, I immediately jumped on the opportunity. I have learned an incredible amount since then that have and will continue to guide my product decisions and perspective on technology.
Although I'm clearly biased toward the book, I would not have spent several dozen hours writing and working with Nir if I didn't believe it would be valuable for others.
Although I'm clearly biased toward the book, I would not have spent several dozen hours writing and working with Nir if I didn't believe it would be valuable for others.
January 6, 2014
Excellent, well-written book. I've been reading Nir's blog for a while now so was already a fan. Nir and Ryan do a great job of bringing everything together in the Hooked process and laying it out in a logical and motivating way. The book takes you through the theory, giving examples to bring the theory alive and then provides exercises at the end of each chapter to help you take what you've learned and immediately apply it to your own product or service. It was refreshing to see a lot of new stories/examples in between some of the familiar ones.
I particularly loved all of the psychology behind habits. Hooked introduced me to the concept of reactance (in the psychology sense). Pretty powerful stuff. Overall, this was fascinating content which is making me think about each of the apps on my iPhone/iPad and how they've either hooked me … or haven't.
I particularly loved all of the psychology behind habits. Hooked introduced me to the concept of reactance (in the psychology sense). Pretty powerful stuff. Overall, this was fascinating content which is making me think about each of the apps on my iPhone/iPad and how they've either hooked me … or haven't.
June 12, 2019
Ghi chép để nhớ.
1. Vì sao thói quen quan trọng?
- Một sản phẩm chỉ thành công khi nó trở thành thói quen của khách hàng. VD: Muốn chụp hình thì dùng Instagram. Muốn tìm phòng du lịch thì Airbnb.
- Để tạo ra thói quen thì khách hàng phải dùng sản phẩm đủ nhiều.
2. Mô hình Hook
- Trigger
- Action
- Variable rewards
- Investment
3. Manipulation Matrix
- Facilitator: Tạo ra sản phẩm có ích cho cuộc sống của người khác + bản thân mình có dùng.
- Peddler: Tạo ra sản phẩm có ích cho cuộc sống của người khác + bản thân mình không dùng.
- Entertainer: Tạo ra sản phẩm không có ích cho cuộc sống của người khác + bản thân mình có dùng.
- Dealer: Tạo ra sản phẩm không có ích cho cuộc sống của người khác + bản thân mình không dùng.
1. Vì sao thói quen quan trọng?
- Một sản phẩm chỉ thành công khi nó trở thành thói quen của khách hàng. VD: Muốn chụp hình thì dùng Instagram. Muốn tìm phòng du lịch thì Airbnb.
- Để tạo ra thói quen thì khách hàng phải dùng sản phẩm đủ nhiều.
2. Mô hình Hook
- Trigger
- Action
- Variable rewards
- Investment
3. Manipulation Matrix
- Facilitator: Tạo ra sản phẩm có ích cho cuộc sống của người khác + bản thân mình có dùng.
- Peddler: Tạo ra sản phẩm có ích cho cuộc sống của người khác + bản thân mình không dùng.
- Entertainer: Tạo ra sản phẩm không có ích cho cuộc sống của người khác + bản thân mình có dùng.
- Dealer: Tạo ra sản phẩm không có ích cho cuộc sống của người khác + bản thân mình không dùng.
October 11, 2015
Would've given it 1 star, but since it got me to actually download the Bible App to see why Goodreads is constantly #8 to its #7, I threw it an extra star.
August 20, 2018
Yep, one way or another, we are all gonna get hooked.
December 4, 2017
کتابی عالی برای طراحهای محصول، طراحهای تجربه کاربری و هر کسی که به فکر طراحی محصولی فوقالعاده ست .
مدلی ساده به اسم هوک رو معرفی میکنه که تمام هدفش ایجاد فرایندی هست که در نهایت کاربر به یک محصول با ایجاد رفتاری تکرار پذیر که به اسم عادت گفته میشه توی کتاب، به دنبال رشد کسبوکار هست.
دو بخش ازین کتاب برای من خیلی جالب بود.
یک) اینکه درنهایت با کلی صحبت تئوری و آوردن مباحث فکری و مثالهای که با باز تعریفش ملموثه،ر رسید به مرحلهایی که متریک ارایه داد و میشد در نهایت یک کار کیفی رو به کمی تبدیل کرد. یعنی عدد و رقم و آمار. چیزی که توی کسب و کار میتونه راحتر موجب تصمیم گیری بشه.
دو) توی بخش نهایی کتاب، با وجود اینکه بحث مربوط به کسب و کار و ایجاد سود و درآمد بیشتر هست، بخشی رو به این موضوع پرداخته که ایجاد عادت توی کاربر همیشه کاری اخلاقی نیست و باید حواستون باشه که این عادت منجربه بهتر شدن زندگی کاربر نهایی بشه و اون مشتری تبدیل نشه به ماشین پولسازی برای شما.
حتما توضیه میکنم اگر توی مرحلهایی هستید که میخواید روی محصولتون به هر دلیل بازنگری کنید و یا ایدهایی توی ذهنتون هست که به فکر پیادهسازیش هستید، قبلش این کتاب رو بخونید و یا لااقل با متد هوک آشنا بشید. فقط کافیه تو یوتوب سرچ کنید. کلی سخنرانی و ولاگ باحال از خود نویسنده و دیگران دربارش هست.
این کتاب رو توی طولانی مدت نخونید، ولی چندین بار با سرعت زیاد بخونید که مفاهیمش بهتر جا بیوفته. هرچقدر هم موقع خوندن تمرکز بیشتری روش باشه که بهتر.
مدلی ساده به اسم هوک رو معرفی میکنه که تمام هدفش ایجاد فرایندی هست که در نهایت کاربر به یک محصول با ایجاد رفتاری تکرار پذیر که به اسم عادت گفته میشه توی کتاب، به دنبال رشد کسبوکار هست.
دو بخش ازین کتاب برای من خیلی جالب بود.
یک) اینکه درنهایت با کلی صحبت تئوری و آوردن مباحث فکری و مثالهای که با باز تعریفش ملموثه،ر رسید به مرحلهایی که متریک ارایه داد و میشد در نهایت یک کار کیفی رو به کمی تبدیل کرد. یعنی عدد و رقم و آمار. چیزی که توی کسب و کار میتونه راحتر موجب تصمیم گیری بشه.
دو) توی بخش نهایی کتاب، با وجود اینکه بحث مربوط به کسب و کار و ایجاد سود و درآمد بیشتر هست، بخشی رو به این موضوع پرداخته که ایجاد عادت توی کاربر همیشه کاری اخلاقی نیست و باید حواستون باشه که این عادت منجربه بهتر شدن زندگی کاربر نهایی بشه و اون مشتری تبدیل نشه به ماشین پولسازی برای شما.
حتما توضیه میکنم اگر توی مرحلهایی هستید که میخواید روی محصولتون به هر دلیل بازنگری کنید و یا ایدهایی توی ذهنتون هست که به فکر پیادهسازیش هستید، قبلش این کتاب رو بخونید و یا لااقل با متد هوک آشنا بشید. فقط کافیه تو یوتوب سرچ کنید. کلی سخنرانی و ولاگ باحال از خود نویسنده و دیگران دربارش هست.
این کتاب رو توی طولانی مدت نخونید، ولی چندین بار با سرعت زیاد بخونید که مفاهیمش بهتر جا بیوفته. هرچقدر هم موقع خوندن تمرکز بیشتری روش باشه که بهتر.
August 20, 2016
I highly recommend this book for anyone building a technology company or anyone who has interest in products.
As someone who's spend the last couple of years reading extensively about product and user psychology, I didn't find the book extremely insightful, but the book is very good for anyone who wants to get a baseline understanding of how to build and reinforce habits in products.
Books like this are worth their value because they give you a new lens to see the world. The success state would be reading this book and then seeing patterns emerge every day in the products you use (and applying that knowledge in products you build). At a minimum, the introduction and first few chapters do a fantastic job introducing the "framework" for how to think about products.
Knowledge isn't very useful without application though -- after reading this book, I recommend trying some habit-forming products to see technique in practice. Some apps that do this particularly well are Lift, codecademy and fitocracy (I find that health/fitness/edtech/behavior change applications make a very conscious effort to put use these techniques for Good).
As someone who's spend the last couple of years reading extensively about product and user psychology, I didn't find the book extremely insightful, but the book is very good for anyone who wants to get a baseline understanding of how to build and reinforce habits in products.
Books like this are worth their value because they give you a new lens to see the world. The success state would be reading this book and then seeing patterns emerge every day in the products you use (and applying that knowledge in products you build). At a minimum, the introduction and first few chapters do a fantastic job introducing the "framework" for how to think about products.
Knowledge isn't very useful without application though -- after reading this book, I recommend trying some habit-forming products to see technique in practice. Some apps that do this particularly well are Lift, codecademy and fitocracy (I find that health/fitness/edtech/behavior change applications make a very conscious effort to put use these techniques for Good).
December 20, 2016
As a product designer, this book is a perfect introduction to behavioral product psychology. It’s written in a humble and inquisitive tone. The objective literary style spoke to my research-based soul. I'm constantly seeking to follow the works (and words) of those who are solving real problems in the world. Nir Eyal is one of them. I definitely recommend the book. It’s a quick read, with the feel of an extended blog post (my only criticism, really).
After completing Hooked, I emailed Nir to thank him for his wise words. He was gracious enough to respond and invite me to his conference this upcoming April. How cool is that? Props to authors who don’t sit on untouchable thrones above their readers.
After completing Hooked, I emailed Nir to thank him for his wise words. He was gracious enough to respond and invite me to his conference this upcoming April. How cool is that? Props to authors who don’t sit on untouchable thrones above their readers.
June 27, 2020
When I was furiously networking in the summer of 2017, a chance encounter lead to a conversation on books and I heard my quarry say - "I don't read business books that are less than 10 years old". I remember coming away from that exchange thinking - Waw! What a tool! However, this book has now made me see the wisdom in that offhand comment.
Hooked is roundly recommended by every product person and builder of any repute in tech. Either these simple haven't read the book or they are just plain stupid. Nir Eyal's seductively titled book offers to pull the veil behind the success of companies like Facebook, Paypal, Airbnb, and other billion-dollar behemoths that has anyone who has ever successfully gotten "Hello World" to be executed in C++, frothing at the mouth.
The book is a post-facto look at these companies and how they "created" virality. It offers the promise that you too can use these frameworks to create the next viral product. This is the problem. When Zuck designed Facebook or Facemash, he wasn't thinking about how to use the Endowment Effect to increase value or studying Behavioral Econ to codify how he could incorporate variable rewards in the form of likes and comments to keep people coming back to the platform. Simply, people who build viral products were not using a framework. So, this reduction of virality and stickiness to a few factors is absurd at best and asinine at worst.
Here is my attempt at using the "Hooked" framework to analyze a habit-forming product - toothpaste. If you keenly observe, the internal trigger for someone to use a toothpaste is not to have bad breath so that they can signal to potential mates of their preferred genders of their genetic robustness. On understanding, this crucial insight, toothpaste companies can create a product. They should be careful that it isn't a product that you use once and it solves your problem. You must keep the user coming back to it at a determined frequency, say once every morning after they wake up. This variable reward compared with the internal trigger will cause virality and make your toothpaste viral (and also your competition which reduces your product to becoming a commodity but let's not think about that for now). Now, use this framework in the productivity app you are building to get everyone in the world "hooked" to your product. Thanks for coming to my Ted talk! *If you work in product, you should be furiously applauding right now*
I want to revisit the early maxim I was introduced to - Don't read any business book that is less than 10 years old. This book simply packages what was old into new with jargon. Clay Christensen's Job-To-Be-Done and Ted Levitt's - "People want quarter-inch holes, not drills maxim" is timeless for a reason. Those ideas were developed through unbiased common sense and articulated through simple language and far more importantly, have been successfully reproduced over and over again. The same cannot be said for ideas expressed in Hooked. This book is a fine example of a misguided blog post that became a book because snake-oil sells well during a gold rush. When no one knows what they are doing, the arcane becomes interesting.
If you are considering reading this, look for an article on Clay Christen's JBTD and read Ted Levitt's Marketing Myopia essay. Once you finish them, try to summarize what they are saying. Yes, I am saying, read a little to educate yourself and maybe, just maybe, think for yourself. If you are going to be building a billion-dollar product, you may seek all the advice you want but you are going to have to think for yourself and make decisions based on your convictions and be able to explain them so that others can understand.
Be wary of anyone who tries to sell you a secret. Listen with an open mind and evaluate the "secret" on its merits. As Naval Ravikanth said on Joe Rogan - There are no new ideas. All new ideas are old ideas and someone has probably already said it better. I hate that this book has made me agree with Naval Ravikanth who I find to be insufferable. But I assume that is perhaps growth, you don't have to like the person to think their idea has merit. I don't like Hooked, perhaps Nir Eyal is a good product person.
Hooked is roundly recommended by every product person and builder of any repute in tech. Either these simple haven't read the book or they are just plain stupid. Nir Eyal's seductively titled book offers to pull the veil behind the success of companies like Facebook, Paypal, Airbnb, and other billion-dollar behemoths that has anyone who has ever successfully gotten "Hello World" to be executed in C++, frothing at the mouth.
The book is a post-facto look at these companies and how they "created" virality. It offers the promise that you too can use these frameworks to create the next viral product. This is the problem. When Zuck designed Facebook or Facemash, he wasn't thinking about how to use the Endowment Effect to increase value or studying Behavioral Econ to codify how he could incorporate variable rewards in the form of likes and comments to keep people coming back to the platform. Simply, people who build viral products were not using a framework. So, this reduction of virality and stickiness to a few factors is absurd at best and asinine at worst.
Here is my attempt at using the "Hooked" framework to analyze a habit-forming product - toothpaste. If you keenly observe, the internal trigger for someone to use a toothpaste is not to have bad breath so that they can signal to potential mates of their preferred genders of their genetic robustness. On understanding, this crucial insight, toothpaste companies can create a product. They should be careful that it isn't a product that you use once and it solves your problem. You must keep the user coming back to it at a determined frequency, say once every morning after they wake up. This variable reward compared with the internal trigger will cause virality and make your toothpaste viral (and also your competition which reduces your product to becoming a commodity but let's not think about that for now). Now, use this framework in the productivity app you are building to get everyone in the world "hooked" to your product. Thanks for coming to my Ted talk! *If you work in product, you should be furiously applauding right now*
I want to revisit the early maxim I was introduced to - Don't read any business book that is less than 10 years old. This book simply packages what was old into new with jargon. Clay Christensen's Job-To-Be-Done and Ted Levitt's - "People want quarter-inch holes, not drills maxim" is timeless for a reason. Those ideas were developed through unbiased common sense and articulated through simple language and far more importantly, have been successfully reproduced over and over again. The same cannot be said for ideas expressed in Hooked. This book is a fine example of a misguided blog post that became a book because snake-oil sells well during a gold rush. When no one knows what they are doing, the arcane becomes interesting.
If you are considering reading this, look for an article on Clay Christen's JBTD and read Ted Levitt's Marketing Myopia essay. Once you finish them, try to summarize what they are saying. Yes, I am saying, read a little to educate yourself and maybe, just maybe, think for yourself. If you are going to be building a billion-dollar product, you may seek all the advice you want but you are going to have to think for yourself and make decisions based on your convictions and be able to explain them so that others can understand.
Be wary of anyone who tries to sell you a secret. Listen with an open mind and evaluate the "secret" on its merits. As Naval Ravikanth said on Joe Rogan - There are no new ideas. All new ideas are old ideas and someone has probably already said it better. I hate that this book has made me agree with Naval Ravikanth who I find to be insufferable. But I assume that is perhaps growth, you don't have to like the person to think their idea has merit. I don't like Hooked, perhaps Nir Eyal is a good product person.
December 29, 2013
Absolutely loved this book! Nir's writing is down-to-earth and accessible, his ideas are actionable with section-end bulleted summaries and short exercises. This is the practical guide you to building your own habit-forming product grounded in valid principles of psychology!! A must read for every entrepreneur and product professional.
October 22, 2015
If you ever wondered why makes people come back to Facebook, Twitter or games like World of Warcraft this books has the answer. It's really a must read so you understand the psychology behind what drives our behavior in a world where there's so many services competing for our attention.
April 2, 2021
A book written by an alien who pretends to be an app creator. The advice in the book is sound, even if self-evident in a lot of cases. But the tone and the cheerful, bubbly voice the author uses to talk about hooking people on digital apps is creepy.
When the author talks about apps and digital marketing, he almost passes for homo sapiens. But then he starts giving examples from other areas and the mask slips off. He says that people loved watching Breaking Bad because the show provided variable rewards for its viewers (twists, turns, and resolutions of plotlines). And that watching Breaking Bad again wouldn't be as fun because now you would know the plot and therefore wouldn't receive variable rewards. The man is an alien. He misses the point of why people watch and rewatch their favorite TV shows and movies. The characters, the themes, the artistry on the screen, the emotional connection to a creator, it's not just the plot, a connection to a piece of art can be deep, profound, and multilayered.
Don't they have TV shows on Mars?
The author explains that hooking users to use habit-forming apps should be used to benefit them. He gives some lip service to potential dangers. But he's mostly happy to presume that readers will be inspired to use the knowledge he provides for the good.
Instead of delving deeper into the catastrophic consequences habit-forming apps like Facebook may have for individuals, societies, and democratic institutions, instead of trying to come up with countermeasures, the author abruptly abandons the ethical issues and goes back to examining his — again, extremely creepy-sounding — "Hook model" in action.
He is an alien.
When the author talks about apps and digital marketing, he almost passes for homo sapiens. But then he starts giving examples from other areas and the mask slips off. He says that people loved watching Breaking Bad because the show provided variable rewards for its viewers (twists, turns, and resolutions of plotlines). And that watching Breaking Bad again wouldn't be as fun because now you would know the plot and therefore wouldn't receive variable rewards. The man is an alien. He misses the point of why people watch and rewatch their favorite TV shows and movies. The characters, the themes, the artistry on the screen, the emotional connection to a creator, it's not just the plot, a connection to a piece of art can be deep, profound, and multilayered.
Don't they have TV shows on Mars?
The author explains that hooking users to use habit-forming apps should be used to benefit them. He gives some lip service to potential dangers. But he's mostly happy to presume that readers will be inspired to use the knowledge he provides for the good.
Instead of delving deeper into the catastrophic consequences habit-forming apps like Facebook may have for individuals, societies, and democratic institutions, instead of trying to come up with countermeasures, the author abruptly abandons the ethical issues and goes back to examining his — again, extremely creepy-sounding — "Hook model" in action.
He is an alien.
April 2, 2020
کتاب، کتاب خوبیه. به خصوص اطلاعات روانشناختی اش. اما من اساساً با دیزاین کردن با چنین روش هایی که به نوعی نیاز کاذب در کاربر ایجاد میکنه و به قولی طوری قلابش مییکنه که اتوماتیک و بدون فکر عمل میکنه مخالفم...
این تاکتی��ِ قلاب کردن کاربر از چرخه ی سه مرحله ای
«Habit Formation»
شامل یادآوری، تکرار عمل و پاداش الهام گرفته و برای قلاب کردن و ایجاد وابستگی در کاربر یک چرخه ی چهار مرحله ای ارائه میده که شامل محرکهای دورنی و بیرونی، اقدام، پاداشهای متنوع و سرمایه گذاری کاربر روی محصول است.
این تاکتی��ِ قلاب کردن کاربر از چرخه ی سه مرحله ای
«Habit Formation»
شامل یادآوری، تکرار عمل و پاداش الهام گرفته و برای قلاب کردن و ایجاد وابستگی در کاربر یک چرخه ی چهار مرحله ای ارائه میده که شامل محرکهای دورنی و بیرونی، اقدام، پاداشهای متنوع و سرمایه گذاری کاربر روی محصول است.
June 9, 2018
Meticulous, well research and concise. This book has received a lot of attention in and for good reasons. If I was building a business right not and had to solve the problem of engagement and was allowed only one book to reference from, this would be it and I think that in itself says a lot. It is not perfect, but Nir gets his ideas and research across very clearly which is something valuable.
August 4, 2022
حداکثر باید در یک صفحه A4 جمع میشد.
March 25, 2022
شاید یکی از دلایلی که این کتاب برایم جذابیت لازم را نداشت، این بود که قبل از آن کتابهای «قدرت عادت» و «عادتهای اتمی» رو در زمینه عادت و بعضی کتابهای حوزه بازاریابی رو مطالعه کرده بودم. درواقع کتاب قلاب برایم یادآوری مطالب کتابهای دیگر بود بعلاوه مثالهای جدید در دنیای استارتاپها که البته جالبش کرده بود. درمجموع نکات خوبی از این کتاب آموختم ولی نتوانستم بیشتر از دو ستاره بدهم.
یکی از مباحث خوبی که آموختم و می خواهم همیشه به یاد داشته باشم عاملهای موثر در ساده سازی است به شرح زیر:
فوگ شش عامل موثر در ساده سازی را تعریف می کند. تمام این عاملها بر دشواری انجام یک اقدام تاثیرگذار هستند:
زمان: چه مقدار زمان لازم است تا اقدام کامل شود.
هزینه: هزینه مالی برای انجام اقدام
دشواری فیزیکی: میزان تلاش فیزیکی مورد نیاز برای انجام اقدام
چرخه های ذهنی: سطح تلاش و تمرکز ذهنی مورد نیاز برای انجام اقدام
پذیرش اجتماعی: یک رفتار تا چه میزان با دیگران قابل پذیرش است
روال غیرمعمول: اقدام تا چه میزان با روالهای معمول تطابق یا تضاد دارد
یکی از مباحث خوبی که آموختم و می خواهم همیشه به یاد داشته باشم عاملهای موثر در ساده سازی است به شرح زیر:
فوگ شش عامل موثر در ساده سازی را تعریف می کند. تمام این عاملها بر دشواری انجام یک اقدام تاثیرگذار هستند:
زمان: چه مقدار زمان لازم است تا اقدام کامل شود.
هزینه: هزینه مالی برای انجام اقدام
دشواری فیزیکی: میزان تلاش فیزیکی مورد نیاز برای انجام اقدام
چرخه های ذهنی: سطح تلاش و تمرکز ذهنی مورد نیاز برای انجام اقدام
پذیرش اجتماعی: یک رفتار تا چه میزان با دیگران قابل پذیرش است
روال غیرمعمول: اقدام تا چه میزان با روالهای معمول تطابق یا تضاد دارد
February 24, 2018
The parts I actually found somewhat interesting could probably be condensed into a quarter of this already short book.
The most interesting case-study is probably the Bible App one.
For the rest it is as if the book is just stating the obvious. Taking all the apps that have made a huge impact and now praising them for how the do it in hindsight.
Yes there were probably some thinking involved, but this is by no means going to work for every new app you create.
Also the book doesn't give you any useful advise or tips or plan of action to now do something different from what you were doing. It simply states titbits of what the big guys did. And that you should try do similar.
It basically comes down to causing an addiction. This might be great for you selling a product, but is it really adding benefit to anyone, or are you milking it, and making people mindless sheep. Even some of the data used to analyze trends borders on invasion of privacy.
Short enough to give it a try if you into this sort of thing, but don't expect something world changing.
The most interesting case-study is probably the Bible App one.
For the rest it is as if the book is just stating the obvious. Taking all the apps that have made a huge impact and now praising them for how the do it in hindsight.
Yes there were probably some thinking involved, but this is by no means going to work for every new app you create.
Also the book doesn't give you any useful advise or tips or plan of action to now do something different from what you were doing. It simply states titbits of what the big guys did. And that you should try do similar.
It basically comes down to causing an addiction. This might be great for you selling a product, but is it really adding benefit to anyone, or are you milking it, and making people mindless sheep. Even some of the data used to analyze trends borders on invasion of privacy.
Short enough to give it a try if you into this sort of thing, but don't expect something world changing.
February 9, 2020
Nu chiar ce mă așteptam să fie, în sensul că mi-a amintit mult de manualele din facultate. Posibil să fie o carte mai bună pentru cineva care are unde și pe ce să aplice pașii expuși. „Rețeta” e interesantă, dar cam tot ce aș fi putut afla nou și interesant pentru mine am apucat deja să-mi iau din alte surse.
July 22, 2020
Kancaya Takılınca, Startup evrenine ilgi duyan herkesin okuması gereken 10 kitaptan biri olarak gösteriliyor. Bence bunun sebebi çok iyi olması değil, "bağımlılık yaratan ürünler geliştirme" anlamında başka bir kitap olmaması.
Bununla birlikte Nir Eyal'in eğitmen tarafı kitapta ağır basıyor. Benim en hoşlanmadığım yazım şekli ile "ürün yaratma süreci" 4'e ayrılır, onlar da kendi içinde 2'ye ayrılır, bunlar da şu başlıklardan oluşur şeklinde bir "bullet book". Bir makale ve araştırma derlemesi.
Jeff Bezos, Howard Schultz, Jack Ma, Elon Musk, Steve Jobs kendi geliştirdikleri ve "bağımlılık yaratan" ürün geliştirme hikayelerini anlatırken Nir Eyal, balinaların besin zincirinde bulunan bir plankton gibi onların ürünleri üzerine "fikir yürütmekten" başka bir iş yapmıyor. Fikir yürütmek diyorum çünkü örnekler çok bayağı, bilgiler çok yanlış, çıkarımlar çok varsayımsal. Varsa yoksa Twitter şöyle yaptı, Pinterest böyle yaptı, Facebook bu butonu ekledi.
Gerçekten faydalı bir ürün geliştirme kitabı okumak istiyorsanız aşağıdakilere bir göz gezdirebilirsiniz.
Steve Jobs
Onward: Starbucks Ruhunu Kaybetmeden Nasıl Yaşam Savaşı Verdi
Ayakkabı Gurusu: NIKE'nin Yaratıcısının Yaşam Öyküsü
Alibaba: Jack Ma'nın Evi
Herkese keyifli okumalar!
Bununla birlikte Nir Eyal'in eğitmen tarafı kitapta ağır basıyor. Benim en hoşlanmadığım yazım şekli ile "ürün yaratma süreci" 4'e ayrılır, onlar da kendi içinde 2'ye ayrılır, bunlar da şu başlıklardan oluşur şeklinde bir "bullet book". Bir makale ve araştırma derlemesi.
Jeff Bezos, Howard Schultz, Jack Ma, Elon Musk, Steve Jobs kendi geliştirdikleri ve "bağımlılık yaratan" ürün geliştirme hikayelerini anlatırken Nir Eyal, balinaların besin zincirinde bulunan bir plankton gibi onların ürünleri üzerine "fikir yürütmekten" başka bir iş yapmıyor. Fikir yürütmek diyorum çünkü örnekler çok bayağı, bilgiler çok yanlış, çıkarımlar çok varsayımsal. Varsa yoksa Twitter şöyle yaptı, Pinterest böyle yaptı, Facebook bu butonu ekledi.
Gerçekten faydalı bir ürün geliştirme kitabı okumak istiyorsanız aşağıdakilere bir göz gezdirebilirsiniz.
Steve Jobs
Onward: Starbucks Ruhunu Kaybetmeden Nasıl Yaşam Savaşı Verdi
Ayakkabı Gurusu: NIKE'nin Yaratıcısının Yaşam Öyküsü
Alibaba: Jack Ma'nın Evi
Herkese keyifli okumalar!
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