Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products

The desire to be entertained can be thought of as the need to satiate boredom.

Habit-forming products often start as nice-to-haves (vitamins) but once the habit is formed, they become must-haves (painkillers).

Seeking pleasure and avoiding pain are two key motivators in all species.

and Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett once said, “You can determine the strength of a business over time by the amount of agony

explores why some people eventually lose their taste for certain experiences and how variability impacts their retention.

Variable rewards are one of the most powerful tools companies implement to hook users;

longer good enough. Companies increasingly find that their economic value is a function of the strength of the habits they create. In order to win the

A company can begin to determine its product’s habit-forming potential by plotting two factors: frequency (how often the behavior occurs) and perceived utility (how

Like flossing, frequent engagement with a product — especially over a short period of time — increases the likelihood of forming new routines.