

Hooked – How to Build Habit-Forming Products - nireyal
http://www.hookmodel.com/

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nireyal
I wrote Hooked along with Ryan Hoover (founder of Product Hunt) to help
companies build better products. It's been wonderful seeing how companies have
benefited from using the Hook model to create healthy habits.

The book was just named one of the best business books of 2014 by Goodreads:
[https://www.goodreads.com/choiceawards/best-business-
books-2...](https://www.goodreads.com/choiceawards/best-business-books-2014)

There's a video of a talk I gave at The Next Web conference on the book here:
[http://www.hookmodel.com/#book](http://www.hookmodel.com/#book)

Happy to hang out and take any questions until about 11 am PT.

~~~
atroyn
Hi Nir, since I read the first self-published version I've been seeing
applications of the 'Hooked' pattern everywhere - from Meetup groups to
college dating to rideshare apps.

Did you see this as a universal pattern, or did you develop it from a specific
case and then find that it applied very broadly?

~~~
priteshjain
True for me too. now that whatever task I do or See around I see this 'Hooked'
pattern everywhere. Not just tech apps but in real life or non tech products,
online offline market.

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stevensokulski
Hi Nir,

I'm midway through the audiobook now and must say, its really fantastic. So
many concepts packed into a relatively short listen. This will probably be
something I have to play through a couple of times to even catch a first pass
at everything.

My first question is a more technical one, though. The book makes mention to a
couple figures. They are described by the narrator, but I was wondering if
these were available to audiobook listeners online somewhere. I purchased the
book through Audible and got access to your great pack of Extras, too.

More on-topic with the content of the book... Do you think that when forming
habits (new service or new users) the synthesized triggers should be purely
transactional, or are "digest" newsletters effective as well? By
transactional, I mean push notifications, comment reply notifications, and
other things that are generated by a user's preferences, connections, etc.

Thanks again for the great resource. Looking forward to continuing the audio
book and leveraging the techniques you mention for years to come.

~~~
nireyal
One of the shortcomings of audio books is no appendix. Sorry about that. Write
to me through my blog and I'll email it to you:
[http://www.nirandfar.com/contact](http://www.nirandfar.com/contact)

Regarding your question on triggers, when it comes to newsletters, the
external trigger is unread email message in your inbox. The "action" then is
opening the message to see the "variable reward" inside.

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priteshjain
I Have been reading this book and almost completed it. I can say this is a
great book and help us focus on right area.

I am been working on a consumer facing product(Social Polling app) and we
recently had a initial launch of our mobile android app. When we started on
this product we thought of giving out many features at once. But after reading
your book the thoughts have become more clearer on how to approach this
problem. We started referencing my thoughts with the product related to the
core idea. I found voting on questions is a general behaviour of people, when
they are provided with some set of options. But creating a Poll and asking a
question was not a general behaviour. this has to have some sort of external
trigger to make this happen. So We can leverage voting habit and gradually
have external triggers so that user starts taking his own polls and asking
opinions. Do you this we are moving in right direction?

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nireyal
My guess is that it's not the trigger that's the problem, it's the fact that
creating a poll is very hard to do - especially in comparison to just voting.
I would find ways to reduce the effort and "cognitive load" of doing the
behavior.

~~~
priteshjain
Thanks. and yes that is a good point that you make "especially in comparison
to just voting it is hard." and the solution for it. I will take this advice
and work on it.

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rrhoover
I've learned a ton from Nir's writing and talks.

Fun fact: before we published the book Nir had the genius idea of
crowdsourcing feedback from his readers. Hundreds of people read a rough draft
in Google Doc version, correct (the inevitable) typos and annotating
suggestions for improvement. It was a great way to get early feedback before
finalizing the book and allow its most dedicated readers to be a part of it.
Everyone that helped is listed in the back of the book.

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freshoftheyet
South Park did an episode last night about some of the HOOK model aspects like
triggers, rewards and how addictive the new model game developers are using.
Found it quite funny and timing is impeccable with your bookrelease. Do you
think the hook model should and could be applied more to school? Mostly
thinking short term, since alot of students dont see (or believe) the long
term rewards.

~~~
nireyal
I wonder if the South Park guys read HOOKED? Wonderful coincidence.

To answer your question, absolutely! Education should be a naturally enjoyable
experience but unfortunately institutionalized learning generally squeezes
every last drop of pleasure out of it. I'm looking for technology to bring
back the hooks that make learning for its own sake fun again.

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daviddomzalski
Nir, thanks for giving us your time. I'm in the process of starting a men's
life coaching business and I think some of your concepts may be beneficial in
terms of behavior change. How could the model be modified to help people
change their habits and adopt new ones? I appreciate your response. Thanks,
David

~~~
nireyal
As long as there's a frequently occurring behavior you and your user would
like to turn into a habit, I don't see why the Hook model would need to be
modified. Same rules apply.

~~~
daviddomzalski
Great, thank you.

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danjruss
Hey Nir, you mentioned at startup grind the promise of wearable devices. Where
do you feel the internal/external trigger gap will change greatest once
traditional smartphones are eclipsed by different channels of interaction
(vibration, physical movement, sounds, etc.)?

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nireyal
It may be a bit counterintuitive but I think the smart watch will help reduce
unwanted distraction. I think the buzzes and beeps coming from our watches
will be better placed in our lives and since the screen real estate is so much
smaller, there will be less room for distracting triggers we don't want. For
example, ever look at your phone to check the time only to find yourself
pecking at email or Facebook 30 minutes later? That will happen less on our
watches now that looking at the time will just be a mater of looking at your
watch. Imagine that! Looking at your wrist to check the time! What a novel
idea.

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nrosella
Hi guys. Quick question: would you say that building a product around an
already established habit (such as watching TV or a particular series)
improves the chances of building a successful habit-forming product?

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nireyal
I think so. An internal trigger can also be a routine (such as sitting down to
watch TV at the end of the work day.) Connecting to an already established
routines is a great place to add new habits assuming that you can effectively
cue the user to do the new behavior.

~~~
nrosella
Thanks for the insight. Looking forward to finishing your book.

