Each of us desires that customers like our products and keep coming back to us for more. Hooked is a book that systematically breaks down the process of building habit-forming products. In this book, Nir Eyal has not only elaborated the process but also provided a step-by-step recipe.
There are four steps in this process:
Trigger - The sales of KitKat chocolate were plummeting. They realized that eating chocolate is a discretionary and infrequent activity. The product had to be triggered in the mind of the customers regularly. They came up with a catch-line - Coffee time is KitKat time. Memories of KitKat were triggered whenever people had a cup of coffee. The sales zoomed up. Kitkat used advertisement as an external trigger. Over time people got an internal trigger whenever they felt bored and cared for a cup of coffee.
Action - People act on a trigger with the hope of getting rewarded. However, if the process of actually getting it is tedious, then they not only give up pursuing it but also resent the product forever. Therefore, the needed action should be easy and delightful. Habit-forming products do not require people to think. KitKat is an economical product from the Nestle family. It is easy to carry and is available everywhere. It is, therefore, easy for people to act on the trigger.
Variable reward: Good television soaps continue for years. The trick is to keep people guessing what would follow in the next episode. The expectancy loop keeps people's interests alive. The same applies to habit-forming products. If the reward becomes predictable, then people quickly get disinterested. KitKat provides multiple reasons for consuming it. It is for a fun time with friends, to take a break from routine, fight boredom. We can find a different reason that suits us.
Investment: A habit-forming product makes a customer work for the reward. Ikea does it by making customers assemble the furniture and thereby own it. Kitkat uses the audio effect of opening the wrapper and the crunchy sound of breaking the chocolate. People have to put in their efforts to earn a KitKat. Soft Drink commercials, therefore, show people doing some impossible stunts to secure a bottle.
Metrics:
Consider using these four steps to secure customers and make them come back to you again and again.
Subodh
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