Online Community management
Nir Eyal’s Hook model and Fogg’s
Behavioural Model
Hook model reflects on main factors that have a power to
establish the habitual product use. American author and entrepreneur, Nir Eyal[1],
in his book ‘Hooked’ published in December 2013 describes the process in which
success of the company solely relies on offering products that are highly
engaging to users and where users typically engage other users.
Nir Eyal
wrote the book Hooked as a reflection of Fogg’s Behaviour Model[2].
BJ Fogg, Director of the Persuasive Tech Lab at Stanford University created a
behaviour theory for persuasive design in 2009 called Fogg’s Behaviour Model
(FBM)[3].
He initiated the scientific research and experiments to show that technology
can change human behaviour in a predictable way. This theory is designed to
better understand human behaviour, analysis of persuasive technologies and
fundamentals that drive motivation.
BJ Fogg demonstrates that human behaviour is a product of three
elements: motivation, triggers and ability. If human behaviour doesn’t occur,
it means that one of the elements is missing as all the three elements have to meet
at the same time. This means user needs to be sufficiently motivated, has the
ability and be triggered to perform an intended behaviour. The Fogg’s Behaviour
Model together with Hook model might help community management to access
which psychological element of the users is lacking to perform the target
behaviour which is using online communities for enhancing collaborative learning.
Factors underlying behaviour change[4]
Main
influences of user’s motivational level: 1) Pain/ Pleasure, 2) Social
acceptance/ Rejection, 3) Fear/ Hope, 4) Confusion/ Certainty.
Main
influences of the user ability:
1) How much Time does the action take?
2) How much Money is involved?
3) Non-routine- repeated habits or
practice that lead to progress or targeted goals of the user.
4) How much Physical effort is required?
5) Brain cycle- The harder something is to
understand the less likely it is for that behaviour to occur.
6) Social deviance- referrals, word of
mouth.
Triggers can
be any form of communication that lead to informing a potential or existing user
about product or service benefits and persuade them to follow call-to-action.
Nir Eyal
suggests the main two questions to be asked by any enterpreneur: What’s the
habit-forming potential of the product?, and if the product has the fundamental
elements- How can we improve upon those fundamental elements so the product
will be even more engaging and habit-forming?
Nir describes
the path where behaviours are individual actions which lead to routines, and
routines lead to habits. The main goal of every company is to develop product
that will be used on habitual basis. The book ‘Hooked’ demonstrates that some products
provide solutions to users’ discomfort, but they shouldn’t be designed to be an
addiction. Some products can profoundly change our behaviour, and the best
example would be Facebook. When people feel lonely or bored, one of their
solution might be logging to their Facebook accounts and chat with their
virtual friends. Difference between addiction and habit is that habit is formed
based on frequency and attitude change. If the firms want to reach unprompted
user engagement, they should worry about process, not the outcome. This is
crucial for a start-up business, as constant data evaluation might lead to the right
decisions within a product development based on customer interactions. Nir in
his book ‘Hooked’ introduces a new theory called Hook model which means an
experience that connects user’s problem to company’s solution. A Hook consists
of four elements: trigger, reward, action and investment. Trigger face is the
first step of a Hook model. There are external and internal triggers. External
triggers are cues of our action (e.g. Click this, Share, Tweet, word-of-mouth).
In today’s ever changing consumer lifestyles and business environment, it is
difficult to reach company’s target audience and that’s because of less real
estate to rely on ‘call-to-action’. However, external triggers can be optimized
through growth hacking tactics that are discussed under the section ‘Growth Hacking’ in my previous post. Nir
demonstrates that what marketers don’t often consider is the internal triggers
to be the part of their product development strategy. Only companies that are
able to manage their focus will be successful in designing longer term
habits/products. Internal triggers are in simple words human behaviour (e.g.
emotions, routines, and lifestyle). In my understanding, internal triggers are
emotions or routines associated with the user’s mind to which users respond
with certain actions- habits. Nir Eyal demonstrates that emotions dictate our
habits, so therefore marketers should know what is the user itch to form those
habits upon their technological product. Triggers have a power to make product
or service habit-forming and negative emotions are considered to be very
powerful internal triggers.
Other elements
of a Hook are action and reward. Nir describes action as an ‘anticipation of
reward’. This simply means fulfilment of the user dissatisfaction. There is
certain trigger behind every consumer using a product, either positive or
negative.
The action
face is simplest behaviour in anticipation of the reward- ‘call-to-action’,
such as search on Google, play button on YouTube etc. Reward face is linked to
the brain reward system, that is by Nir explained as stimulation of Nucleus
Accumbens. Stimulation of this part of the brain is caused by various factors
described as a ‘stress of a desire’ (anticipation, cravings). ‘Nucleus
Accumbens becomes more active in anticipation of the reward.’ When we fulfil
the object of a desire, that part of the brain will become less active. Nir
therefore highlights that marketers have to identify their users’ itch in order
to provide them with a product that has a power to satisfy their cravings. The
unknown is fascinating therefore what usually social network notification
system does is to provide the user with only part of the message that will
increase their focus through the variability and complete an indented
call-to-action immediately. Product with a high degree of variability, such as
Facebook, might fulfil the internal triggers based on the user’s last
activity/investment (e.g. how many likes have I received since the last time I logged
in to my account?). There are three types of variability: 1) Tribe- social
reward (empathetic joy, partnership, competition, cooperation), 2) Hunt- search
for the information needed, 3) Intrinsic motivators (mastery,
self-achievement). Entrepreneurs try to give users what they came for, but
leave them for wanting more. The final part of a Hook model is the investment
face. Investment face is about a value creation that might lead the user to
perform the next action and bring them to the first face of a Hook model
(Internal triggers). This is understood as, more content the user creates more
likely he/she is to use the product on habitual basis.
5.3.1.
Applying Hook model
In habit-forming
technologies, the model starts with triggers, then action, rewards and
investment. Internal triggers are associated with the user’s mind (e.g.
misunderstanding course material and fear of failure). However, internal
triggers can be considered as users’ unconscious cognition (e.g. community members are
not fully aware of their existing internal triggers). Nir noted that all
marketers should ask one question: ‘How do we build better products to help
people knowing this information of their internal triggers?’
[1]
See Growth hacker TV, (Episode 121; 2014) https://www.growthhacker.tv/
[2] See (BJ Fogg, 2009), ‘A Behavior Model for Persuasive Design’
[3] See (BJ Fogg, 2009), ‘A Behavior Model for Persuasive Design’
[4] See
(BJ Fogg, 2009), ‘A Behavior Model for
Persuasive Design’
