Hooked

Nir Eyal’s Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products is a revolutionary guide to building products that users can’t put down. The audiobook, narrated by Eyal himself, provides an in-depth look at the psychological and behavioral principles behind creating products that keep users coming back for more. Co-authored by Ryan Hoover, the founder of Product Hunt, Hooked offers a practical, step-by-step approach to building habit-forming products that can benefit businesses and entrepreneurs alike.

At its core, Hooked is about understanding what drives people to repeatedly engage with products and how to use that understanding to build products that keep users hooked. Eyal presents a four-step framework that he calls the “Hook Model” to guide product designers and entrepreneurs through the process of creating habit-forming products. The four steps are trigger, action, variable reward, and investment.

The trigger is the first step in the Hook Model, and it refers to the cue that prompts a user to engage with a product. Eyal explains that triggers can be external, like a notification or an advertisement, or internal, like an emotion or a thought. The next step is the action, which is the behavior that the user takes in response to the trigger. This could be anything from scrolling through a news feed to clicking on a link to making a purchase.

The third step in the Hook Model is the variable reward, which refers to the unpredictable and exciting nature of the reward that the user receives for taking the action. Eyal explains that variable rewards are more effective at creating habits than fixed rewards because they keep users engaged and curious. Finally, the investment step is all about getting the user to invest time, money, or effort into the product, which increases their likelihood of returning to it in the future.

Throughout the audiobook, Eyal uses examples from popular products like Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest to illustrate how the Hook Model works in practice. He also offers practical advice on how to apply the framework to new product ideas and how to test and iterate on those ideas to create products that are even more habit-forming.

One of the strengths of Hooked is how it draws on insights from behavioral psychology and neuroscience to explain why people get hooked on certain products. For example, Eyal discusses how the brain’s reward system is activated when we receive notifications or other forms of positive feedback, and how this can lead to addictive behavior. He also explains how the brain craves novelty and how variable rewards tap into this craving to keep users engaged.

While Hooked is primarily aimed at entrepreneurs and product designers, it has broader implications for anyone interested in understanding how technology and products influence our behavior. Eyal acknowledges that there are ethical concerns around building habit-forming products, and he encourages readers to use the Hook Model responsibly and with consideration for users’ well-being.

Overall, Hooked is a fascinating and insightful audiobook that offers a fresh perspective on the psychology of human behavior and how it can be harnessed to create products that are not just engaging, but habit-forming. Whether you’re an entrepreneur looking to build the next big thing or simply curious about how technology shapes our behavior, Hooked is definitely worth a listen.