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Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products

Nir Eyal (Goodreads Author)

4.09 · Rating details · 27,931 ratings · 1,677 reviews

Why do some products capture our attention, while others flop?
What makes us engage with certain products out of habit?
Is there be a pattern underlying how technologies hook us?

This book introduces readers to the "Hook Model," a four steps process companies use to build customer habits. Through consecutive hook cycles, successful products reach their ultimate goal of brin ...more

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Kindle Edition, 193 pages

Published December 25th 2013 by Createspace

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Jan 04, 2015 Ted rated it did not like it · review of another edition

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 w 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. ...more

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Jan 07, 2014 Otis Chandler rated it really liked it

Shelves: nonfiction, business, psychology

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 th 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.
...more

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Jun 27, 2015 Anca rated it did not like it · review of another edition

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 ...more

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Dec 23, 2013 AnneMarie rated it it was amazing

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! ...more

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Apr 01, 2017 WhatIReallyRead rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: business, psychology, translated, non-fiction, favorites, read-in-russian, for-work, physical-book

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 ...more

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Sep 03, 2015 Joe Soltzberg rated it liked it · review of another edition

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 sti ...more

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Dec 15, 2013 Ryan Hoover rated it it was amazing

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. ...more

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Dec 28, 2013 Suzanne rated it it was amazing

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 st ...more

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Dec 31, 2013 Brian rated it really liked it

Recommends it for: product managers...or actually anyone who works on a product

Recommended to Brian by: Suzanne

Shelves: recommend-for-product-mgr

(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 wri ...more

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Dec 17, 2013 Elisa rated it it was amazing

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 ...more

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Dec 16, 2014 Kartik Santhanakrishnan rated it really liked it

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 b ...more

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May 25, 2014 Arjun rated it liked it

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 ...more

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Dec 03, 2014 Sarah rated it it was ok

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. ...more

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Aug 20, 2018 ☘Misericordia☘ ⚡ϟ⚡⛈⚡☁ ❇️❤❣ rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Yep, one way or another, we are all gonna get hooked.

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Dec 20, 2016 Scott rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: design, business

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 tha ...more

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Dec 29, 2013 Lydia rated it it was amazing

Shelves: start-ups

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. ...more

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Jun 09, 2018 Arshad Pooloo rated it really liked it · review of another edition

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.

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Jan 24, 2015 Mario Tomic rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

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. ...more

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Jun 17, 2017 Eugene rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2017-to-read

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Dec 18, 2013 holosplay rated it it was amazing

I believe content and ideas in this book are valuable upgrade to product development. Creating products that have high engagement rate is the first step in Lean Startup methodology. I experience this book as a "habit creating tool" inspired by human psychology and behaviour. Everyone devoted to Lean Startup and product development should read this book!

...more

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Dec 18, 2013 Jason Schwartz rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: Entrepreneurs, Product Managers

I teach a class at General Assembly on Product Management and I always recommend the author's blog to students. I will now be recommending this book instead.

I have personally implemented these tactics at multiple startups. They get results. If you want to know why the software you built isn't taking off, the answer is contained in this book.

Critical must read for entrepreneurs. ...more

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Jan 30, 2015 Karen Chung rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This book is chock-full of practical cut-to-the-quick advice that start-ups can't afford to miss. ...more

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Oct 29, 2017 Ragnar rated it liked it · review of another edition

Quick read into the Hooked Model - which in essence describes the process how the companies can encourage or manipulate users behavior, with following structure: trigger => action => variable reward (the Tribe, the Hunt, the Self) => investment.

Best bits:

Yet talking to users to reveal these wants will likely prove ineffective because they themselves don't know which emotions motivate them. People just don't think in these terms. You'll often find that people's declared preferences - what they sa ...more

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Oct 23, 2015 Sarthak Pranit rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: design, non-fiction

If you are a product person, I am pretty sure you would have heard about this book. Now, read it.

Hooked explains the utopia of product designers - building something that your users can get addicted to, something that if your users don't use, it hurts them. I am pretty sure people who have tried to overcome the 'Whatsapp-addiction' will get me.

Definite recommendation to all stakeholders of a product as well. Having said that, 'Don't Make Me Think' still remains the closer one to strike home. ...more

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Mar 08, 2018 Abhijeet Jain rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction

Loved the way author presented his ideas. The book is amazingly structured and would definitely make you think about the technologies that have hooked you.
The best way to get over social media addiction is to understand how it actually works! And this book will definitely help you in understanding that.

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Sep 20, 2015 Markiyan rated it it was amazing

Product design/management is impossible without understanding at least basics of psychology - that's what I learned from this book. Other than that - it's a great tool for improving your products, a bunch of great examples and unexpectedly useful learnings about why people behave the way they do. ...more

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Jun 27, 2020 Abhishek Anbazhagan rated it did not like it · review of another edition

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 stup 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. ...more

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Jan 17, 2019 Tõnu Vahtra rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This book does not stand out that much from new/novel information perspective (that is not what "classics" are supposed to do anyway) but it is a good toolbox for validating your idea or product if it meets the criteria for habit creation. It's often not about solving a problem or satisfying the user but actually about removing pain that might have been created by the product itself in the first place and how to keep the consumer "in the loop".

Habit-forming products:
*Attract long-term customers. ...more

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Apr 13, 2018 Shalini rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: kindle, brain

The reason why I picked up this book is that I’m developing a human augmentation android app these days and plan to go all out in terms of everything, be it development, design, marketing or whatever.

Well, Hooked is an important read for anyone who is developing an online product irrespective of whatever he/she believes about the product's potential of altering users' habits. (The point is you never know, even the apps / tasks designed to be used / performed occasionally might change customers' The reason why I picked up this book is that I’m developing a human augmentation android app these days and plan to go all out in terms of everything, be it development, design, marketing or whatever.

Well, Hooked is an important read for anyone who is developing an online product irrespective of whatever he/she believes about the product's potential of altering users' habits. (The point is you never know, even the apps / tasks designed to be used / performed occasionally might change customers' routines and make them addicted or "hooked" without them acknowledging that.)

We have been using online applications or playing games for a significant stage of our life, that's why we already have vague or well-formed (for some) idea about majority of the concepts detailed in the book. That's why, now if we are creating this applications ourselves, these techniques such as variable rewards seem so obvious to us and we implement it without giving it a thought. That's the beauty of creating products that you love.

Why read this book :

1) Despite the fact that a significant share of the content is obvious to us, it makes you pause, think & reflect. "Why do you want to use this feature in your app? Because you have used similar products before and you have an ikling that some of your actions were affected by which features." If you want to build new habits, it's vital to understand the basic pyschology behind users' actions.

2) It gives you quite a few moments to recall your own actions of past and present when you were(are) "hooked". If you need to get rid of any such habits, this book might help. Well, I personally doubt that but my dataset is too small to be taken seriously.

3) There are exercises that you should definitely do if they are applicable to your product.

4) I happen to find some or most of the facts in other design books as well, probably they are common knowlegde in design field, but none of them are written in the engaging way "Hooked" is, that is, with relevant examples and explanations. However, I've read very few books on design but "Hooked" stands out.

Negatives :
1) A bit repetitive.

But in that case, you can simply skip that repetitive content. I think readers impose too many rules on themselves for reading. In my opinion, reading output should be weighed in terms of how much you gain out of a book that you can apply in real lives and not the number of books you read 100%.

Recommended to :
1) Must read for anyone creating any online product or apps.
2) Might be useful for users who believe that they are addicted to some application and that it's interfering with their lives. ...more

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Feb 23, 2014 M.G. Edwards rated it it was amazing

Author Nir Eyal synthesized and dispensed some of the best work from his website into this great book on consumer behavior and building products that encourage their usage. Organized into chapters that break down basic human habits and responses in a theoretical way, it offers concrete examples of organizations that are now among the most successful at building habit-forming products. Its Hook Model is an easy-to-understand method for applying complex concepts related to human behavior and respo ...more

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About Nir Eyal

Nir Eyal

30,899 followers

Nir 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 busi ...more