Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products

by Nir Eyal

For some businesses, forming habits is a critical component to success, but not every business requires habitual user engagement. When successful, forming strong user habits can have several business benefits including: higher customer lifetime value (CLTV), greater pricing flexibility, supercharged growth, and a sharper competitive edge. Habits cannot form outside the Habit Zone, where the behavior occurs with enough frequency and perceived utility. Habit-forming products often start as nice-to-haves (vitamins) but once the habit is formed, they become must-haves (painkillers). Habit-forming products alleviate users’ discomfort by relieving a pronounced itch. Designing habit-forming products is a form of manipulation. Product builders would benefit from a bit of introspection before attempting to hook users to make sure they are building healthy habits, not unhealthy addictions