Hook Model: Creating Products That Generate Engagement

Have you ever wondered why some products or services become such a success, being part of our daily routine, to the point that we almost don’t remember what life was like before them? Have you ever wished you had such a brilliant idea and used technology to completely transform the way people live? What you may be missing is that building a good digital product goes far beyond the innovative idea — it is also a continuous effort to analyze and understand the needs of the people for whom the product is intended, and how we can simplify their daily lives.

But, if there is no secret to it, how can we follow the path of success of so many applications that no longer leave the screen of our cell phones? Nir Eyal explains how it is possible to create true bonds between people and products by turning them into habits in the book Hooked: How to build habit-forming products — from strategies applied consecutively to hook and retain users, through the Hook Model, without requiring a large investment in advertising or more aggressive messages.

Habits and Digital Products

According to cognitive psychology, a habit is an automatic behavior triggered by a situational stimulus. That is, anything we do with little or no conscious thought. Add to that the information that we make an average of 35,000 decisions a day, the vast majority of them in front of a computer, cell phone, or internet-connected device.

With that in mind, before taking any idea off the drawing board, start by understanding the power of knowing your user’s behavior. Make no mistake, we are not talking about big decisions — when you choose to set your alarm clock and get up or hit the snooze button for five more minutes, you have already made your first decision of the day using your cell phone.

Products that become part of our routine were thought of by designers who studied our emotions, motivations, and reactions to connect with internal triggers, not depending on external factors to attract us. This means that when we use a product that really meets our needs, our actions have been planned. For example, the habit of opening Twitter or Instagram when we feel bored.

Hooked: the Hook Model

The model designed by Eyal, also known as the Hook Model, has four stages that aim to lead the user on a journey through the product: trigger, action, variable reward, and investment. It is important to note that these steps are sequential and constant and that habits are built gradually, that is, they are not created overnight as a great idea.

The trigger stage is a behavior trigger and can be external or internal. External triggers are calls to actions, stimuli transmitted by the environment where we are, whether virtual or physical, that communicate to the user what he should do next — such as e-mails, links, advertising, or even application icons and restaurant menus. Internal triggers are those that we cannot see or touch. They are more difficult to identify, and perhaps more valuable and more value-creating.

If you think about it, we usually talk about creating digital products to solve the problems or pains of a group of people. Therefore, internal triggers will usually be bad feelings or discomforts, such as boredom, loneliness, and worry. These emotions, however, are not always rationalized by the user.

The idea is that the product is used not only to relieve or solve pains, but also to replace them with positive feelings and thus begin to create a bond. To assertively create triggers, the first step is to identify the particular frustration or pain point in emotional terms. Never get tired of asking why. Another good place to start is by understanding the impulses behind other already successful habit-building products.

The trigger tells the user what to do, but if he doesn’t act, it is useless. Action is the second stage of Eyal’s model and, in turn, for it to occur, a combination of factors is needed: the user must have motivation, ability and a trigger must be present to activate his behavior. Motivation is the energy for action to happen. While the trigger stimulates the action, the motivation defines the user’s desire to perform it. The ability has to do with how easy it is for the user to act. For this, we use heuristics, which are cognitive shortcuts. The fewer the steps to reach the goal, the greater the acceptance of the product.

After acting, the variable reward is the next level to hook the user. It is the reward we offer the user, solving his problem or satisfying his need. It is called variable reward, as it won’t always be the same type or amount of reward for the same action taken – such as different amounts of likes on published photos, or variation between likes and shares. This helps to keep the user’s expectation on his reward. If they are finite, as in games with a beginning, middle and end, interest tends to last less, or just the time of completing the game.

How to reward the user

There are different types of rewards that can be applied together or depending on the product strategy: 1) tribal – when we feel recognized by a community we care about. This is the case with the number of followers or engagement on Instagram, or up votes for an answer on Stack Overflow; 2) hunting – the type of reward that creates an expectation in the user, such as social media feeds. Since the user doesn’t know when he will find something that interests him among so many ordinary things, he keeps scrolling and scrolling the screen; or 3) ego – a more personal type of gratification, in which there is not necessarily a reward for completing a task, as the satisfaction lies in overcoming personal obstacles.

The last stage of the Hook Model is investment. Before creating mental associations that trigger automatic behaviors, users must invest in the product. Moreover, that investment is not related to financial value. It is much more linked to effort, dedication, or time. Organizing playlists on Spotify is an investment that creates a great connection with the product. Just like creating a LinkedIn resume or advancing through many stages of a game. All this makes us want to continue using the product, as it values our efforts.

The more user data we store, the more committed we tend to be with the product: personal information, music, photos, etc. After a while, it will be much more difficult to switch to a competitor once we have invested time in a certain product.

Building lasting relationships

Based on the initial ideas of our text and the Hook Model, ask yourself: do all these techniques replace a good idea? Of course not! Nevertheless, a good product is much more than a great idea or a disruptive technology. It is, above all, knowledge about user behavior, to the point of creating an involuntary involvement capable of creating habits.

Think about what behaviors you want to turn into habits, how people are currently solving this problem, and why your solution will be beneficial to them. The Hook Model’s goal is to influence customers to use your product on their own, over and over again, without relying on advertisements, promotions, or notifications.