How to make a desire

Editor's note: Nir Eyal is the founder of several start-ups and is a consultant to several San Francisco Bay Area companies and incubation centers. He himself has been in an online gaming company and an online advertising company, so he is very comfortable with how to develop user habits. In short, it is through the (external) trigger-action-reward-contribution of the cycle to gradually let the user form a self trigger. In his view, successful internet companies are adept at this. Although the technique of habit-forming is powerful, he also points out that if it is used to do evil, the destructive power is astonishing and must be used with caution.

Habit Formation is a label for any successful consumer internet company. This is true of Facebook, Zynga and even Pinterest. Why do these companies just have to make code that seems to control people's minds? Why do they make people addicted? What does their energy mean for the future of the Web?

As the distractions increase infinitely, companies begin to learn new tactics to keep users sticky. Now, the mere accumulation of millions of of users laurels is not enough. Companies increasingly feel that their economic value is related to the size of the habit they cultivate. But some people are just beginning to realize this new reality, while others are already starting to make money from it.

To win by preconceived notions

Companies that can form strong user habits will eventually enjoy a number of benefits. First, such companies create "internal triggers" among users. In other words, users will come to their site without external stimulation. There is no need to rely on expensive marketing tools, and do not have to worry about the problem of differentiation, through the service with the user's daily life and feelings bundled together, habit of forming companies let users achieve "self trigger". What kind of habits are ingrained? As long as the user thinks "I'm annoying," the subconscious thinks about Facebook or something. The thought of "what happened?" "Twitter is the answer before you think about it thoroughly. First of all think of winning, preconceived.

The desire to make

But how do you build the internal trigger mechanism needed to create a habit? The answer is: Create desire. Although fans of "Mad Men" are familiar with how the advertising industry used to inspire consumers in the golden age of advertising, those days are gone. With a more screen world, a cautious consumer of advertising, and a lack of ROI, in this case, Draper (the top of the show's advertising industry) has instilled a high budget-brainwashing method that is useful to no one but the biggest brands. Instead, startups create habits by directing users through a series of well-designed experiences. These experiences I call "craving engines", the more users traverse them, the more likely they are to become self triggers.

I created this craving engine to help others understand what is at the heart of habit-building technology. This is the essence of the common patterns I've observed in my career in video games and online advertising. Although the desire for engine universality is enough to explain broader habits, this article focuses on its application in the consumer Internet.

Trigger

The trigger is the behavior of the drive and is the ignition device for this engine. Triggers are of two types: external and internal. Habit-forming techniques originate with external triggers to remind users that external triggers can be e-mail, web links, or application icons on the phone. By longing for the engine's cyclic repetition, the user begins to form an internal trigger, which begins to rely on existing behaviors and emotions. Very quickly, the user triggers an internal trigger every time something feels. The internal triggers become part of their daily behavior, and the habit is thus formed.

For example, suppose there was a young lady named Barbara who lived in Pennsylvania State, and one day she happened to see a photograph of her Facebook news seed, taken by a villager in the state. The photo was lovely and she was just about to travel with her brother Johnny, a trigger that sparked her interest.

Let's go

The trigger is the expected action. Companies use the two driving forces of human behavior-motivation and ability. In order to improve the user's chances of taking the expected action, the behavioral designer designs the action as simple as possible, and at the same time stimulates the creation of the motivation. The desire for this phase of the engine is to make use of the science and art of usability design to ensure that the user acts according to the designer's intent.

Variable Rewards

The reason why the engine is different from the simple functional feedback loop is that the engine can generate the user's demand. Feedback loops are everywhere, but predictable feedback loops do not create cravings. You turn on the fridge. The expected response is that the lights are on inside, but that won't keep you from repeating the action. However, if you add something variable to it-say that every time you open the fridge there will be a different good thing magically appear, see, the desire is made. You'll be like that little white rat in Skinner's box. Keep opening, closing, opening and closing doors.

Rewarding variable scheduling is one of the most powerful tools companies use to hang on to users. Studies have shown that dopamine levels increase dramatically when the brain is expected to be rewarded. The introduction of variability will multiply the effect, creating a state of madness, which inhibits the brain's activities in areas related to judgment and inference, and stimulates activity in areas related to demand and desire. While slot machines and lottery tickets are classic cases, variable rewards are also common in habit-forming techniques.

When Barbara came to Pinterest, she saw not only the picture she was looking for, but also many other things shining brightly in front of her. The pictures were all about what she was interested in--say, rural Pennsylvania, but there were other things that caught her eye. Irrelevant, seductive, plain, beautiful, ordinary, these things are exciting to put together, so that the promise of rewards in its dopamine system. Now she's starting to spend more time on the site, searching for the next great thing. Unconsciously, she had been wandering up for 45 minutes.

Contribution

The last stage of craving engine is contribution, which requires the user to do a little work. Behavioral engineers at this stage are concerned with two goals. The first is to increase the likelihood that the user will run through the desired engine again when the next trigger is displayed. Second, now that the user's brain is immersed in the dopamine, which is expected to be rewarded in the previous stage, it is time to buy a single. The form of contribution is usually to ask the user to pay a combination of time, data, effort, social assets or money.

However, unlike the sales funnel, the contribution period has no end point, and the goal is not to allow consumers to open their wallets and continue their days. Commitment means improving services in the next round, inviting friends, articulating preferences, building virtual assets, learning to use new features. These contributions can make triggers more efficient, make the action simpler, and make the rewards more exciting after each traversal of the desired engine.

Barbara was Pinterest in the cornucopia of treasure, and she created a desire to keep things pleasing. She collects pictures and exposes her preferences to websites. Soon, she will be concerned about, will give Pinterest building blocks, will make other contributions, which will make her with the site more tightly tied together, so that it is ready to go through the desired engine again.

Super Power

A reader recently wrote to me and said, "if something cannot be used to do evil, it is not a superpower." "He is right. In this sense, custom design is indeed a super power. When used in a good way, custom design can improve people's lives through entertainment and even healthy daily activities. If it is used for evil, the habit will soon become a destructive addiction.

However, whether you like it or not, habit-forming technology is there. In fact, the web has been constantly infiltrating our lives through a variety of devices, and it has brought the company's hand to us. As companies combine these access techniques with the ability to collect/process our data at an unprecedented rate, we are about to face a future in which everything becomes more addictive. Access, data, speed, Trinity, for the habit of forming technology hooks users create new opportunities. Companies need to know how to harness the power of eager engines to improve people's lives, and consumers need to understand the mechanics of behavioral engineering in order to avoid being manipulated as puppets.

Tools are not good or evil; What do you suggest?

Via:tc