Building habits with users is essential for creating an app that people will keep coming back to. Without habits, no matter how great your intent is, you won’t generate positive behavioural change. It’s important to understand what forms a habit, how you’re influencing behaviours, and how to test and debug habits over time. In this talk, you’ll learn about: -The basics of forming good habits -Finding pain-points in habits -Using the habit time machine to test habits -Finding the root of manipulation -Implementing habits in your app Presented at MCE 2017 in Warsaw, Poland.

1. HELPING USERS
CREATE GOOD
HABITS
@MOSTGOODSALLY SHEPARD

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WHY AM I TALKING
ABOUT HABITS?

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I play Candy Crush
for research purposes

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IS THIS TALK ABOUT
ENGINEERING OR DESIGN?

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THIS TALK IS BOTH
ENGINEERING & DESIGN

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1) BASICS OF HABITS
2) IMPLEMENTING HABITS
3) TESTING HABITS

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BASICS OF
HABITS!

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WHY BUILD HABITS?

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Downloads do not
equal users.

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Downloads
Opens app
1 day later
1 month later
1 week later
2 weeks later

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(top grossing
apps)

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What makes these
apps so
successful?

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They develop
habits with users.

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WHAT IS A HABIT?

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A habit is created when
a behaviour is repeated.
Behaviour = Habit

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Motivation
Trigger Action

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Motivation
Trigger Action

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Behaviour
Motivation
Trigger Action

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= HabitBehaviour

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Habit Hook
1) Trigger
2) Action
3) Reward
4) Investment

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ACTION
TRIGGER
REWARD
INVESTMENT

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!

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What brings users to your app?
External trigger:
1
MAIL
I’m a new message!
Read me! Read me! Read me!
32m ago

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What brings users to your app?
Internal trigger:
I should check my email

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Internal
triggers
External
triggers

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ACTION
TRIGGER
REWARD
INVESTMENT

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Action:
The thing a user
needs to do.

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1) Understand reason for using app/feature.
2) List all steps.
3) Simplify by removing steps.
Action ⬌ Ability

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“the greatest return on
investment will generally
come from increasing a
product’s ease-of-use.”
-‘Hooked’ by Nir Eyal

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List every step
then remove as
many as possible

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ACTION
TRIGGER
REWARD
INVESTMENT

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Possible rewards:
Unlocking in-app content
Awards
Sense of completion
Status

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❤
Variability

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ACTION
TRIGGER
REWARD
INVESTMENT

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# $ % &
Investments

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Investment should
work towards
improving the
users experience.

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IMPLEMENTING
HABITS!

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Build habits
around goals.

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Start with the
goal the user
wants to achieve.

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I want to run 5k
I want to be healthier
I want to sleep better
I want to be less stressed
I want to improve my singing
I want to lose weight

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List possible reasons why
they want to achieve their
goals.

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“I want to improve my singing”
Karaoke Night
Sing in choir
Band wants to record
Professional singer To serenade someone
Reunion performance Improve confidence
Performing in musical
Why might you want to improve your singing?
Love singing

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Thinking about the
‘why’ behind a goal,
how can you
motivate users?

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Triggers need to
include a motivation.

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Actions should be
simple to understand
and easy to complete.

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Rewards should align with
motivations from the trigger,
and contribute to the users goal.

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The size of investment
you can ask for, is
proportional to how long
they’ve used the app.

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Ask for
investments right
after rewards.

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STREAKS & HABITS

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⌚
What’s your
longest move
streak?
(Check in the activity app on your phone, in the Achievements tab)

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Hard streaks:
Requires completing an
action in every 24h period.
(

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Soft streaks:
Doesn’t require completing
an action in every 24h period.
)

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Dangers of Hard Streaks:
Missing a day means starting over.
You might never get that user back.
The very happy user can become very angry.
Not everyone responds to streaks.

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You can soften a hard
streak by better
defining what a day is.

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Who goes to sleep
after midnight?
✋

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+-
People do not magically
reset at midnight!
,

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+-
People do not magically
reset at midnight!
.,/

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Don’t be lazy about date
calculation in streaks.
Time zones exist and you
need to account for them.

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We place significance
on doing something a
certain number of times.

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If you place significance
on doing something a
certain number of times,
make sure it’s consistent.

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HABIT EXAMPLE

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Goal:
“I want to improve my singing”

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External trigger:
Push notification

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Action:
Complete daily vocal
exercises.

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Reward:
-Completion of action
-Grading
-Points to level up
-Data about my performance
-Streak

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Investment:
Review the app…

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TESTING
HABITS!

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ARE MY HABITS
WORKING?

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Analytics are
your friend.

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Analytics are like crash
reports for user habits.
They help you analyse
and debug what going on.

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Analytics are only helpful if they
give you a complete picture.
Track events that verify the
success as well as the failure of
each part of a habit.

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Define what an ideal user is,
then look for patterns.
Use these patterns to
create more ideal users.

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Twitter: follow 30
people and you’re
likely to stick around.

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WHY ARE MY
HABITS FAILING?

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Where in the habit hook
are users leaving?
Find the leaks and fix
them.

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Analytics are not
always the answer.
Sometimes you might
need to dig deeper.

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-Battery drain
-Crashes
-Uses too much data
-Doesn’t work offline

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Are triggers being
triggered?

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1st hurdle:
enabling the trigger

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Make triggers
easy to turn on
and off.

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Are actions able to
be completed?

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0 1 2 3 4 5
Root of action failure
Time Money Physical
Effort
Brain
Cycles
Social
Deviance
Non-
routine

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Is the reward strong
enough?
Is there variability in
the reward?

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Is the investment too
expensive?
Are you asking just after
the user received a great
reward?

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Thanks for completing
your first day! Please
fill out this 75-page
long survey!
6

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HABIT TIME MACHINE!

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How does the habit
time machine work?
- Timescale
- Questions
- Empathy

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DAILY
1 Day
7 Days
14 Days
21 Days
1 Month
2 Months
4 Months
6 Months
1 Year
WEEKLY
1 Week
2 Weeks
3 Weeks
1 Month
2 Months
4 Months
6 Months
1 Year
100 weeks
Timescale:
-Regular intervals
-Any milestones

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Questions:
1) Are my triggers motivational?
2) Is the action too difficult?
3) Is the reward strong enough?
4) Has the investment improved
their experience?

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Empathy:
What state will the app be in?
What will happen if I miss a day?
What kind of pressure do I feel?
Am I closer to achieving my
goal?

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Trigger:
Where’s our motivation?
Is this the same message I get everyday?

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Trigger:
1 day in - this is fine
7 days in - I’m not motivated by this
2 months in - I’m turning off notifications

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Trigger:
You could include streak information -
‘Complete today’s training to increase your
streak to 8 days!
You could include information about the
exercises - ‘Todays training includes
Foundation, Agility and Head Voice’

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Action:
Is the action too difficult?

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Time Money Physical
Effort
Brain
Cycles
Social
Deviance
Non-
routine
0 1 2 3 4 5
Root of action failure

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Action:
1 day in - I’m still getting the hang of this
7 days in - this is helping me
2 months in - this is taking too long!
4 months in - this is taking too long and the
exercises are repetitive

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Action:
The more I practice, the more I increase my
singing range.
This means it takes longer to complete my
exercises.
This can result in me not wanting to expand
my singing range 7

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Action:
Time Money Physical
Effort
Brain
Cycles
Social
Deviance
Non-
routine
0 1 2 3 4 5

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Reward:
Is the reward strong enough?

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Reward:
1 day in - Woo! I’m awesome :)
7 days in - Yay, I levelled up!
2 months in - I don’t remember the last time I
levelled up
4 months in - I wish it did more analysis for me

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Reward:
Levels are meaningless and it takes a
super long time to level up.
I want more than just basic stats.
I don’t have any way to measure my
overall success.

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Investment:
Has the investment improved their experience?

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Investment:
1 day in - Hmm
7 days in - Rate the app - OK
2 months in - Nothing…
4 months in - Nothing…

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Investment:
I’ve reviewed the app.
I sent some feedback.
It should prompt me to recheck my singing
range at certain times.
I don’t get any emails, I wonder what’s
going on with the development?

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HABITS VS ADDICTION

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Habit
Addiction

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Manipulate for good.

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EVIL
DON’T BE
8

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THANKS FOR
LISTENING!
@MOSTGOOD