Talha Mumtaz ✔️'s Key Ideas from Hooked
by Nir Eyal

When we talk about the iPhone, Instagram, or Facebook being the most successful products in the world, the reason is not just because the products were the first of their kind, in fact, the main cause of their success is that they helped us form habits. Most of the consumers today believe they can’t live without their smartphones. Same goes for the social media sites which got us so hooked that we have started posting everything we are doing on these sites.

So what’s the benefits of these habit forming products? Well, as we cannot break these habits, we get so involved that we inevitably become life-long loyal fans of these products. You may have witnessed the queues outside the Apple Stores whenever there is a new iPhone being launched.

Another great benefit of the habit forming products is that they get you so hooked that you’d be willing to pay a premium price to have them. Even if iPhones get (even more) expensive, the iPhone loyal (and royal) users are still going to buy them.

How do these habit forming products reward you? Well, for one, they help you experience a feeling non habit-forming products can’t offer. For example, the infinite scroll on TikTok, Facebook or Instagram are designed so you are always excited (and interested) about something interesting to be discovered. But you won’t always find that something “interesting” and that may be by design.

Why would you find a funny video in your newsfeed one day but may not find another one in the next few sessions? Well, that is because finding something worthy gives you a dopamine hit. The companies don’t want you to get fully resistant to that dopamine hit so they keep offering variable rewards which means you may sometimes discover a reward immediately but may not at other times. This keeps your interest in the product and the discovery of that reward consistent which in turn helps the company get better retention from you. You can also get different rewards to be hooked to the product.

You don’t have to not offer the rewards to your users. In fact, you can design a mix of different rewards so the experience can stay fresh. For example, if you have a fitness product, you can maybe offer a free blog on living longer, a free video from a beloved fitness guru, or badges to be shared on the social media once a user achieves a milestone. Maintaining a mix of rewards is going to help you keep your users engaged.

Ethical and moral responsibility holds the most importance when it comes to habit-forming product. You do not want to turn your users into addicts as that can literally destroy their lives. For that, Nir Eyal suggests using two approaches:

1- The product should improve the users’ lives significantly.

1- The developers should imagine themselves or even their loved ones using the products to estimate the consequences of the habit forming.

Change lives for the betterment of it not because it makes you money and you can have both wealth and satisfaction.