Behavior by Design

500 Startups April 17, 2012

Nir Eyal NirAndFar.com @nireyal

Who is this for?

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The frustrated entrepreneur

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NirAndFar.com

Me

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So I looked for patterns

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WTF? businesses

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Vitamins or painkillers?

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Selling painkillers

- Obvious need - stop pain - Quantiable market - Monetizable

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Selling vitamins

- Emotional need, not efcacy - Makes me feel good knowing... - Only viable business if habit

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Vitamins or painkillers?

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Its a habit when not doing it causes you pain.

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Habit-forming technology
Pleasure seeking Pain alleviation

Vitamin

Painkiller

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Why am I here?

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1. Help you understand your own behavior.

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Access + Speed + Data High addictive potential

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Behavior engineering is a Super Power ... can be used for good or evil.
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2. Help you build stuff to help us all.

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"We wanted ying cars, instead we got 140 characters." - Peter Thiel

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Nirs Rule: Users interests = Designers interests

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Your challenge: More distractions Harder to nd new users Viral channels are dying

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Habits > Viral

Leaky Bucket
K >1
Viral Coefcient (K)
Spammy apps Facebook, Paypal, Pinterest

Rocket Ship

Garbage
K<1

Commitment Business
Evernote, Pandora, Amazon

Low

High

Habit Score

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Evernote Smile Graph

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Lets get started

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Automaticity: a powerful mental shortcut

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How engineer automaticity?

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Create desire

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Desire engines create habits

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The Desire Engine

Trigger
External Internal

Action

Commitment

Var. Reward

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Trigger

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Trigger Examples
External Alarms Advertising Calls-to-action Emails Stores Internal Emotions Routines Situations Places People

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Action

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when doing < thinking = action

Fogg Behavior Model B = m.a.t.

motivation triggers

ability

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Behaviors into Actions

motivation = marketing

triggers = user experience

ability = product design

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Variable Reward

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We crave predictability
Variable rewards
drive us nuts

Compulsion to make
sense of cause and effect drives the search

Dopamine system
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Curious by nature

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The search for rewards

the Tribe the Hunt the Self
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Search for Social Rewards

the Tribe
- Acceptance - Sex - Power

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Search for Resources

the Hunt
- Food - Money - Information

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Search for Sensation

the Self
- Sensory - Mastery - Consistency

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Tribe, Hunt, or Self?

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Tribe, Hunt, or Self?

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Tribe, Hunt, or Self?

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 Searching, searching and

never done
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Var Rewards Levers

Type Frequency Amplitude

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Commitment

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Commitment
Where user does a
bit of work.

Pays with time,

money, social capital, or data

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Commitments make the next action more likely.

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Little commitments, big results

Group 1: 83% refused Group 2: 76% accepted

Freedman & Fraser, 1966

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Commitments are about consistency of self-image.

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NirAndFar.com

Farmville
T
Facebook feed, email ... Play

C
????

VR

Points (hunt) Personalized

virtual goods (self)

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Farmville
T
Facebook feed, email ... Play

VR

Build farm Invite others Pay $

Points (hunt) Personalized

virtual goods (self)

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Farmville
T
Facebook feed, email ... Boredom, lonesome, loss aversion = anxiety Play

VR

Build farm Invite others Pay $

Points (hunt) Personalized

virtual goods (self)

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Email
T
Icon on phone Want to procrastinate, bored, lonesome... Open unread messages

C
Write back

VR
Tribe, hunt and self

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Use this for good.

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Desire Engine Canvas

Trigger Action

Commitment

Var. Reward

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How to use a Desire Engine

1. Think of what the INTERNAL TRIGGER will be. Whats the existing habit youre attaching to? 2. Conrm the EXTERNAL TRIGGER touches the user near the existing habit. Ensure user understands what its for? 3. Prompt the intended ACTION - Make sure its very simple and dened. Ex - We want user to scroll 4. Add VARIABLE REWARDS - Mix the type (hunt, tribe, self), change frequency, and amplitude. 5. Ask for the COMMITMENT - Does it increase the likelihood of next cycle?
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To increase automaticity:
- Increase speed through each engine. - Increase number of engines in user ow. - Keep steps of engine novel.
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To break automaticity:
- Remove the desire engine altogether. - Create space between steps to slow engine. - Allow novelty to decay, becomes predictable.
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nir@nireyal.com NirAndFar.com Slides: scribd.com/nireyal