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How do developers of online games and mobile applications manipulate us into not only paying for digital code, but also using it regularly and voluntarily?
Cognitive psychologists call a habit an action that we do without thinking. In this sense, constantly checking e-mail comes close to smoking. But if everything is more or less clear with nicotine addiction, then how do startups launching new applications trap the consciousness of consumers in their networks? Nir Eyal and Ryan Hoover talk about how manipulation works and a tech product habit formation scenario in The Hooked Buyer*.
knock out a spark
The “hook” that Nir Eyal, a marketer and psychologist with experience working in Silicon Valley, writes about, is not immediately swallowed by the consumer. This happens in four consecutive steps. First of all, a potential buyer needs to be “hooked” – to induce to come into contact with the product. A key role in this is played by manipulation with the help of a trigger – a psychological impulse that sends a signal to the brain to act.
External triggers are easy to calculate: they enter our consciousness from outside. For example, when we see an offer to freshen up on a Coca-Cola machine. Internal triggers arise from within consciousness itself – and they are much more powerful. They can be negative emotions: boredom, loneliness, indecision. The feeling of discomfort that we experience at the time of their experience is comparable to itching or pain.
Why do we go to social networks when we are bored? The fact is that we often did this, we got used to it – and a clear associative link of a particular feeling with a certain combination of actions was fixed in the brain. Another question is why we started using social networks at all. Effective manipulation of our consciousness requires a serious approach from the developer. To create an effective “hook”, a potential startup needs to delve deeply into the psychology of the target audience, understand the connection between their emotions and motives. Only by discovering the true causes of anxiety and anxiety characteristic of the target audience, the developer will be able to offer a solution to the “itch”. Remember the movie “The Social Network”, where the hero, after breaking up with his girlfriend, decides to create a website to assess the attractiveness of his university students. He seeks to cope with his “pain” – resentment for the one that left him. And as a result, the startup turns into the most famous social network in the world, the prototype of which was Facebook.
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- Virtual world: how not to drown in social networks
It’s easier to do than to think
Suppose we are already “hooked”. Will the “hook” be swallowed completely? It depends on the fulfillment of three conditions: trigger, opportunity, motivation – in order of increasing importance. Suppose we have been waiting for a friend in a cafe for half an hour already and are desperately fighting the “itch” of boredom. They bring an order – a magnificent berry dessert. Immediately, an internal trigger is activated, and we reach for a smartphone to take a photo, because we always do this. This is where opportunity and motivation come into play.
The ability to perform an action is simplified to the limit: Apple, for example, has provided for the camera to work even in locked mode. We post a picture on Instagram, driven by the motivation to get social recognition – “likes” from our subscribers. Bingo! The action is done automatically, the “itch” subsided for a while, and the life of social networks continues. Manipulation works very effectively, and this model can be transferred to any successful IT product.
Will we photograph the dessert if we need to use a professional camera, adjust the light? The more effort – physical or mental – required to perform an action, the less likely it is to be performed.
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Unexpected turn
Manipulation often relies on a well-known property of our consciousness: it is tuned to strive for approval, because the latter makes us feel wanted and attractive. It is for this reason that we again and again post notes and put photos on the Internet, waiting for “likes”. What if they don’t? Social media users are capricious, and their reactions are not always predictable. But, paradoxically, this is what makes us post more and more photos.
The American psychologist Burres Frederick Skinner argues that it is unpredictability that becomes a powerful incentive for repeating actions that contribute to the formation of a habit. The scientist came to this conclusion after a series of experiments. First, he placed the pigeons in a box equipped with a food feed mechanism and a lever: you press the lever and you get food. The birds quickly figured out what was happening, and every time, feeling hungry, they pressed the pedal. At the next stage of the experiment, food did not always appear, but after a random number of clicks. The irregularity factor in the reward caused the pigeons to perform the required action much more often.
The content on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and other social networks is created by people, which means you never know what they will throw out. Rewarding the “tribe” (as Nir Eyal calls social group endorsement) on a variable basis drives more than a billion people to actively use social media every day.
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- Selfies: why are we doing this?
Making contributions
It seems strange, but at the last stage of “fishing” for a psychological hook, the buyer is asked to … work a little. IKEA’s innovation, for example, was the packaging process. While competitors sell assembled furniture, the Swedish brand invites us to assemble it ourselves. Professor of psychology and behavioral economics Dan Ariely believes that this subtle manipulation makes people feel irrational love for their closets and beds. Research shows that the more time and effort people put into a product, the more they appreciate it.
The same rule applies to online resources. A well-known developer of online games, the company Zunga, introduced the game Mafia Wars, where information about the players’ friends from Facebook was used. The usual game suddenly crossed the boundaries of the virtual world and became a real competition. If an opponent – a person you know personally – won, the user could train more or just pay $20. Many chose the second option: it is much easier, and the game that you are firmly hooked on is worth the investment. As the popularity of the game grew, another psychological effect began to work: if so many people are paying, then the game is definitely good.
With each investment, the relationship with the developer grows stronger. We give our work and money to an online product or make efforts to create content (comments, subscriptions), and the company in return indulges us with variable rewards in the form of bonuses, an exciting friend feed, entertainment, discounts. It is very similar to a long friendship, which is not easy to break.
So, here’s how the “hook” of electronic product developers works:
1. Lure: An external or internal trigger that makes you want to get to know the product better. The bait promises the user to get rid of the “itch” – such momentary problems as boredom, loneliness, loss of a sense of self-worth. This is what manipulation is about.
2. Availability: the action should be automatic and effortless.
3. Reward: periodically, the developer gives subscribers discounts or convenient new features.
4. Contribution: you can participate in the development of the product by making your own efforts and resources.
Renowned game creator Jan Bogost calls habit-forming technology “the cigarettes of our century.” Bearing in mind that a drop of nicotine kills a horse, developers should be aware of the ethics of “fishing,” he concludes. Starting to hook the buyer, the developer must keep in mind the thought: his product is designed to relieve a person from “itching” and “pain” – but not to aggravate them and not cause them again.
* N. Eyal, R. Hoover «Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products» (Founder, Adizes Institute Santa Barbara, 2014).