BUILDING HABITS KEEPING USERS ENGAGED
@MOSTGOODSALLY SHEPARD

WHY BUILD HABITS?

Downloads do not
equal users.

(top grossing
apps)

(top grossing
apps)

What makes these apps so
successful?

They develop
habits with users.

WHAT IS A HABIT?

A habit is created when
a behaviour is repeated.

Behaviour = Motivation + Trigger
+ Action

Core Motivators - seeking pleasure
or avoiding pain - seeking hope and avoiding fear - seeking social acceptance while avoiding social rejection

Habits act as a reflex
to pain.

Habit Hook 1) Trigger 2)
Action 3) Reward 4) Investment

ACTION
TRIGGER
REWARD
INVESTMENT

👋

What brings users to your
app? External trigger:

ACTION
TRIGGER
REWARD
INVESTMENT

“the greatest return on investment
will generally come from increasing a product’s ease-of-use." -‘Hooked’

List every step then remove
as many as possible

ACTION
TRIGGER
REWARD
INVESTMENT

❤
Variability

ACTION
TRIGGER
REWARD
INVESTMENT

💰📊🕑🔨

The investment should work towards
improving their experience.

“MAKE IT SO”

Goal
Action
Trigger
Reward
Investment

Start with the behaviour you
want the user to adopt.

Action: ???? Goal: use app
every day

1) Understand reason for using
app/feature. 2) List all steps. 3) Simplify by removing steps. Action ⬌ Ability

🕓 💸 💪 🎓 👮
💾 ⚠ Time Money Physical Effort Brain Cycles Social Deviance Non- routine

Increase
motivation
with heuristics.

The endowed
progress
effect.

Triggers: getting their
attention

1st hurdle: enabling
the trigger

Make triggers easy to turn
on and off.

Reward: ❤ 🎁 ❤ 🎁
❤

Investment: sharing is
caring…

…but sharing too much is
creepy.

Hand-holding: Take the user through
the hook.

Misconceptions: cost,
team, time.

MEASURE & EVALUATE

Find your leaks and fix
them.

Finding leaks: analytics are your
friend.

When adding analytics, make events
that verify not just the success but also the failure of each user story. Tip

Define what an ideal user
is, then look for patterns.

Iterate,
Iterate,
Iterate.

HABITS VS ADDICTION

Manipulate for good.

EVIL
DON’T BE
👹

SUMMARY

Fix the leaks. Fix your
analytics.

📢 Get their attention ✅
Make it simple to do 💊 Alleviate their pain 🌱Give them some seeds

E V I L DON’T
BE👹 seriously,

Books! Hooked - Nir Eyal
Subject to Change - Merholz, Schauer, Verba, Wilkens User Experience Innovation - Christian Kraft Designing for Behaviour Change - Steven Wendel Lean Startup - Eric Ries

THANKS FOR
LISTENING!
@MOSTGOOD

PLEASE LEAVE FEEDBACK :)

QUESTIONS? I MIGHT HAVE SOME
ANSWERS