Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products

“Cognitive psychologists define habits as ‘automatic behaviors triggered by situational cues’: things we do with little or no conscious thought. The products and services we use habitually alter our everyday behavior, just as their designers intended. Our actions have been engineered.”

Here, Nir Eyal explores Turning Conscious Decisions Into Subconscious Behavior. He explains the psychological definition of a habit, emphasizing that people perform habits without really deciding to do so. Since interacting with certain technologies can prove highly habit forming, Eyal posits that tech designers have the opportunity to “engineer” users’ behavior.

“As companies combine their increased connectivity to consumers, with the ability to collect, mine, and process customer data at faster speeds, we are faced with a future where everything becomes potentially more habit forming […] building habit-forming products is indeed a superpower. If used irresponsibly, bad habits can quickly degenerate into mindless, zombielike addictions.” 

Eyal discusses Habit Formation, Addiction, and Ethics. He connects the abilities of companies to gather data about their users with the potential for making habit-forming products that entice customers to return routinely. While Eyal’s work teaches people to do just this, he concedes that there are ethical limitations and that designers should not aim to ensnare their users into “zombielike addictions.”

“Altering behavior requires not only an understanding of how to persuade people to act—for example, the first time they land on a web page—but also necessitates getting them to repeat behaviors for long periods, ideally for the rest of their lives.”

Eyal explains that, in order to be successful, companies must not merely persuade users to navigate to their site or make a single purchase; they must be Turning Conscious Decisions Into Subconscious Behavior. In other words, the company must focus on building their products into people’s routines. This will increase the chances that their users form habits around using products, thus increasing company profits.