How to develop user habits

Editor's note: This writer Nir Eyal is a lecturer at Stanford University Business School. Recently, Eyal is about to launch his new book, "Hook Users: How to increase user participation by creating user habits." In addition, Eyal also has its own blog, called Nirandfar.com. This blog is mainly about the interdisciplinary aspects of psychology, technology and business.

User habits have always been the reassurance of many internet entrepreneurs, the things they want to get. Because once the user habits have been developed, app downloads, site visits, the things that startups rely on to survive are guaranteed. However, many entrepreneurs will complain: the user is a group of strange creatures, we work hard to design things they do not like to use, but some boring things they can not fondle. We do not understand the user, how can we expect to cultivate user habits?

In my opinion, user habits are difficult to cultivate, but in essence it involves not much of the elements, on two: the frequency of user use of products (frequency), the user's usefulness of the product identification (perceived utility). To clarify the above two points, we first look at what is the habit.

Habit: An act that requires no consciousness

Habit is a recurring behavior that is controlled by a part of the brain called basal ganglia. We know that a human action is actually a response to the problems and conditions that it encounters, after a period of reflection. The reaction here refers to behavior. There are two kinds of situations that turn this behavior into a habit of ours.

Situation one: problems often arise. When we encounter the same problem again, we will more or less repeat the process of thinking about the problem, and eventually make the same or similar reaction. And when the problem comes up, we learn what the response is. Now that you know what the reaction is, the process of thinking can be shortened and even omitted. Once the thought process is omitted, the habit is formed.

Situation Two: The reaction that arises brings us satisfaction. It may be easier for everyone to understand, because it is true that habit can be created. But if there is a lack of regularity, can habits be formed? The answer is: yes, as long as the corresponding response to the problem can bring us satisfaction.

Take a simple example--bite the finger. Many people have the habit of biting their fingers when they are tense. Nervousness is not usually something that happens all the time, but we're stuck with one thing--biting your finger when you're nervous (the habit is different when people are tense). This is because, for some reason, we have linked biting and easing tension. This connection may be silly, without a reasonable causal relationship, but once the connection is established, the habit is fostered.

See here. Many readers should guess how we should develop the user habits for our products according to the two ways of habit formation. But in order to get a fuller view, here are two examples of two situations.

Google: The big guy who controls ideas

All over the world, if people want to search for something on the internet, the first thing that comes to mind is that Google,google seems to have been equated with search. From this perspective, Google search is not a simple internet product, because it has in some ways control people's minds.

In addition, we should be aware that Google is able to develop such a stunning user habits, in addition to Google's own subjective factors (such as Google grabbed the search market in the initiative, Google search product itself is excellent, to meet the needs of users) outside, An important objective factor is that, as we are in the age of the Internet explosion, how to sift through a lot of information to our useful information, which itself has become a huge and regular user needs. It is this constant demand that helps Google nurture user habits, while a large user base provides data for Google to optimize its own search capabilities. This may be a virtuous cycle for Google, but it's a vicious circle for other Google competitors, because it means stronger people and weaker people.

Entrepreneurs can see some pessimism here: there are a few things that people do every day. It is not easy to find a good idea to solve these recurring needs. However, these recurrent needs are almost every one of the industry bosses, how can we still get used to being the user of the big boys to the camp?

Here's another example of the big guy, Amazon, but the user needs it solves are not as regular as Google.

Amazon: As long as you have needs, you will think of me

Amazon as the electricity business website, it solves is people's shopping demand. The frequency of our shopping is absolutely not as high as the frequency of our use of search engines. But, after losing the need itself, Amazon can develop a user habit: If you want to buy something, you think of me.

In order to do this, Amazon in its own selling goods at the same time, the major electric companies to the website of the commodity information aggregation to their own platform. It looks like a suicide because it is pulling business for its competitors. But by doing this, Amazon is actually releasing a message to the purchaser that if you come to me, you will find the lowest or most cost-effective item on all sites.

We do not have to shop every day, but if we find that every time we go to the Amazon site, we can find the goods we want, and the price of these goods will not let us suffer. Such a great shopping experience, the passage of time will naturally mention Amazon to form a user habit.

In short, through the above discussion, I hope that entrepreneurs do not put the regular and habit of the equal sign. If your product can meet some of the user's non-recurrent needs, you can also create a user habit for your product. In addition, to meet the needs of users, the user is not looking at the product itself contains the technology of how many cows, but whether you have intimate for their sake. If your product really has the considerate consideration for the user, even if your product is very stupid, the user will gladly accept, even sometimes is: they have to use your product.

Via TC

Source: http://www.36kr.com/p/150427.html