Product Habits

Habits.

Habits often are a direct relation to our environment. We have good habits, and we have bad habits. Habits are driven by a response to a trigger.

Understanding the phycology of human habit is essential if you want to create a winning product.

Social media platform creators know this and use phycology to their advantage. They are creating addicting habits in so many people. Platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn leverage push notifications, often delivering no real value but a notification nonetheless that pulls you back into their platform.

Our minds react with a sense of urgency when we see these new notifications, just the same as if it were a text message from a friend. We have conditioned ourselves to know there is a reward waiting on the other side of that notification. As such, we experience a strong desire to know the contents of that notification.

With this desire, we quickly respond and open the notifications that were pushed to our screens. Once we open that notification, we experience the reward and release that comes from the anticipation of the reward.

An argument could be made for both good and bad of how social media leverages this phycological behavior. The point here is to show how they are leveraging human habits to create a winning product.

How can you build habits into your product?

Take the time to study behavioral science as it relates to product design.
Focus on creating a product that delivers victories for your users.