DIP 022: Creatures (and creators) of habits

It offers something that other products don’t, whether functionally or aesthetically,

And the cost of the product does not exceed the perceived value of the first and second points combined.

The product does not demand too much change from the user and may slip seamlessly into an existing routine,

You can’t manufacture a habit (though Juul is an exception). There’s no way to force consumers to use something, no matter how thoughtful or efficient or effective it may be. Marketing draws them in, but their individual needs, preferences, and interests ultimately dictate how much they’ll value a product.

Using the product has a tangible impact on the user,

It’s also easy to conflate habituation and loyalty. Products that are habits rank higher on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs than products to which a person is loyal. A product that becomes a habit facilitates some sort of optimization — physical, psychological, or otherwise.

But some products can develop into habits. In thinking about how and why, I came up with a highly unscientific list of qualities that a product likely needs to meet: