Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products

by Nir Eyal

As the Zynga story demonstrates, an element of mystery is an important component of continued user interest. Online games like FarmVille suffer from what I term finite variability—an experience that becomes predictable after use. While Breaking Bad built suspense over time as the audience wondered how the series would end, eventually interest in the show waned when it finally concluded. The series enthralled viewers with each new episode, but now that it is all over, how many people who saw it once will watch it again? With the plot lines known and the central mysteries revealed, the show just won’t seem as interesting the second time around. Perhaps this series might resurrect interest with a new spin-off show in the future, but viewership for old episodes people have already seen will never peak as it did when they were new.