According to Nir Eyal, there are 6 Hooks Elements for entrepreneur to consider before start building engaging & habit-forming products

1. Associates with users' pains. A trigger is either an internal or external cue that prompts a user to take action, and is often a painful emotion, such as fear, uncertainty, loneliness, or boredom. Products should focus around solving these pains. Try to find ways to associate your app with relief to a pain point.

2. Action should be easy to take. Once a user identifies a trigger, the next step is to either ignore it or take action. People don't like pain, so they often take action. Your product should make that action as easy as possible. Simple actions include scrolling through a Pinterest feed or pressing play on a YouTube video. The easier it is to do, the more likely users are to take action.

3. Mix up the rewards. Users anticipate a reward from taking action. Otherwise, there's no point! Whether it's feeling less bored, social acceptance, or receiving new information, rewards are a part of the hook. Eyal suggests, however, that rewards must be variable. People, as well as pigeons and mice, it turns out, are more likely to engage in the "action" when there's a bit of uncertainty as to what the outcome is, as a result of how the brain's reward center works.

4. Enable users to invest in the product experience. Products become habit-forming when users find them irreplaceable and addictive. While physical products — such as furniture and clothing — devalue with time, great tech products appreciate in value, Eyal says. The more followers you have on Twitter, the more data you have, the more valuable you'll find the product to be.

Likewise, users continue to be drawn in when each action they take "loads the next trigger". That is to say, by taking one action, you make it inevitable that you're going to use the product again. It functions that way, when you do something, it triggers the next movement.

5. Increase user frequency. Build a community. That entrepreneurs with infrequent use cases think about how to attach their products to actions that are habit-forming and frequent. Use "content or community". Content, for example, could be a blog on things to do in the neighborhoods in which you sell homes. Building a community could entail throwing events that increase engagement with your target audience. The more people discuss on the product, the better impact it creates. Somewhere along the way, there are even ideas and suggestion for a better version. But before anything of that happen, having a community talking about your product means it's one step closer for a top-of-mind solution.

6. Engagement isn't everything. Engagement isn't the only metric for startup success. When investing, look for"GEMs," which are companies that have "Growth, Engagement, and Monetization."

Reference

• Hooked by Nir Eyal