Hooked, Action

Remember this:

  • The second step in the Hook model is action.
  • The action is the simplest behavior in anticipation of reward.
  • According to Dr. B.J. Fogg’s Behavior Model:
    • A trigger must be present at the same time as the user has sufficient ability and motivation to take action. Action = Trigger + Ability + Motivation
    • To increase the desired behavior, ensure a clear trigger is present (simple CTA); next, increase ability by making the action easier to do (simple currency ladder); finally, align with the right motivator.
    • Every behavior is driven by one of three Core motivators:
      • Seeking pleasure and avoiding pain.
      • Seeking hope and avoiding fear.
      • Seeking social acceptance while avoiding social rejection.
    • Ability is influenced by the six factors of time, money, physical effort, brain cycles, social deviance and non-routineness. Ability is dependent on users and their context at that moment.
  • Heuristics are cognitive shortcuts we take to make quick decisions. Product designers can utilize many of the hundreds of heuristics to increase the likelihood of their desired action.

Do this now:

  • How many steps does it take for a user to take the reward they came from, starting from the internal trigger? (I’m doing the ideal)
    • Capable and strong: Press finish in their GPS watch, open mobile notification, open the completed workout, they can see in a graphical representation they completed it!
    • Feel valued: Open notification in mobile (your training is ready for next week), click in week summary, click in week comparison to previous week, click in most challenging workouts.
    • Feel invincibility, one hour after workout is marked as completed, notification with new fitness levels, click to open, see summary of fitness and completion towards the goal.
  • Which resources are limiting your users’ ability to acomplish tasks that will become habits? Time (they barely have time to train), non-routine (too new)
  • Brainstorm three testable ways to make intended tasks easier to complete:
    • Clear notification with a hint of the information.
    • Always show positive data: even if the outcome of the workout or the fitness levels are going wrong, always show the bright side (like Strava always shows best times even in random segments that nobody cares).
    • Visual information, easy to digest.
  • How would you apply heuristics to make habit-forming actions more likely?
    • The scarcity effect: Show only the important workouts of the week. Show the number of weeks left for the main competition.
    • The Framing effect: Plugins cost more and more. Rewards system where people can achieve different levels. Name users that use certain features with a given name: like Premium.
    • The Anchoring Effect: Show a percentage of the completed workout with respect to the planned workout.
    • The Endowed Progress Effect: Show completion towards the race readiness as a positive number, show achievements of the completed workout (like highest ECOs, or simple stuff coming like a recovery). When having to do things in steps (like wizards) show things like linkedIn profile. Always a positive tone in the app!
Written on September 18, 2017