The Hook Framework
The Hook Model is a four-phase process that you can adopt especially when creating your products or services so they can be used habitually by customers. The sad reality is, if people don’t see your products in their lives daily, they won’t use them as much hence no retention. If you cannot retain your existing customers, you will be spending so much money because you will always be on the lookout for acquiring new customers too. Gosh! I am pitying your sales department already.
Back to business. The goal of this model is to get people coming back again and again and again because when they’ve used your product or your service so often, it becomes natural to stay on. I literally use notion every day! I meditate on calm every week... these products are taking my money and I am so unbothered because they fit into my routine so well that I can’t just yank them out.
Set Triggers
We all like to see, feel or think of different things and if it is good then it pulls our attention. A recent example would be the cheesy message Piggvest sent on valentine’s day. That was a trigger to talk about their brand, use their solution or something. Start leveraging features such as email alerts, notifications or icons to trigger users.
Think about these questions
What are the Triggers to use your product?
What are the applicable Triggers for your personas?
How could you make the Triggers more effective?
Talk alone won’t do, Action matters
If users do not take action, the trigger won’t be considered effective. At the barest minimum, whatever trigger you set should spur a certain level of reaction from your users. It’ll be important for you to keep these actions simple and straightforward because the harder they are, the more energy you would have to spend on getting a response.
Think about these questions
What is the minimum Action the user may take in anticipation of a reward?
Have you minimized the efforts needed to take the Action?
Everyone loves a Reward
For every action taken, there is an equal reaction. Was a bad physics student but I remember this law so well under the concept of force. Get the ball rolling with rewards, it could be with the experiences you create. If you want users coming back, then you have to continue dishing out a variety of treats.
Think about these questions
How do you reward your users?
Is there interesting variability?
It doesn’t stop at Investment
If you’ve gotten a hang of the first three stops and successfully convinced a customer to invest their time, efforts, data or money, you’ve done a great job but it doesn’t stop here. Now is the time to start asking your users for more data or feedback to create more baits to get them hooked!