Studies show the leading cause of changes in user behavior

Nir Eyal wrote a fantastic book called Hooked. As I'm just finishing up the Investment chapter of the Hooked Model, one of the studies Eyal references had me puzzled.

The studied mentioned how the number one cause of changed behaviors and new habits being formed in users is through repeated use or frequency.

The second leading factor in forming new habits is the attitude toward the behavior.

Never taking things at face value, I paused at this finding. As I sat on my Delta flight, heading back to the Salt Lake City airport, I thought long and hard about the implications of this study and its findings. But it just didn't make sense to me.

How could frequency be the number one variable that leads to change and attitude be number two?

If I don't like the thing I'm doing, why would I keep doing it? That doesn't make any sense. It's irrational.

Eyal didn't explicitly connect the two, but he does mention why people act irrationally. While he touched on the irrational behavior caused by cognitive dissonance, he doesn't tie together how irrational behavior influences the statistic he sighted where frequency of use impacts behavior change more than attitude.

In a silo, attitude should win. If you don't like doing something, you would simply stop doing it. But we don't live in bubbles. We're social by nature. Yes, even introverts like me are still social and still follow social cues (at times).

And it's the social part of us that answers the question that the study presents. It answers why attitude isn't the number one reason and why frequency is.

The example Eyal uses for cognitive dissonance is the first time anyone tastes alcohol. In most cases, it's not an incredibly enjoyable experience. However, we see our friends, family, or co-workers drinking and they socialize, and we rationalize that it must be enjoyable. If other people enjoy it, why don't I? Cognitive Dissonance.

This example leads down the path of the underlying psychological reason behind why frequency ranks higher than attitude for the leading reasons for behavior change. The answer: Social Proof.

Why does this matter, and what is the application?

If your product or service is inherently non-social, then you MUST get the experience right. You have no choice other than creating gratifying experiences.

If the study that Eyal sited had put controls in place for the study, I would have strongly suggested a control group of solely non-social products or participants who don't use certain products in social settings. Why would this matter?

If social products create frequency through social proof, overriding our intuitive reactions to a behavior, then we have to create products that are first and foremost socially engaging. Eyal unintentionally explains this through his great example of the Fitocracy app.

The fact that Fitocracy leads with social interaction and MyFitnessPal doesn't is another reason why Eyal stuck with it and dumped MyFitnessPal. The social engagement not only kept his interest through variable reward, but it increased his frequency of use. As frequency increased, his initial attitude toward the app didn't matter as much, because the habit was being formed due to the social draw.

So, back to the point, if your product or service is inherently non-social, you have four choices:

1) Create a poor experience and let the negative attitudes of your users drive them away

2) Create great experiences that keep users coming back because their attitudes toward your product keep them engaged

3) Try having the best of both worlds by attempting to create social aspects to your product and hope that it buys you enough time to create a better product

4) Actually achieve the best of both worlds, creating great experiences, and weaving in social aspects that competitors haven't yet figured out how to tap into

If you can achieve #4, you'll find a competitive advantage that will pay incredible dividends. We're creatures of habit. If you can provide the "rewards of the tribe" that Eyal talks about AND create a product that provides a fantastic experience, the habits of your customers will be so deeply ingrained that it will take something truly disruptive to make them leave.

There's always going to be customer churn, regardless of what industry you're in. But if you can get these aspects of your product right, your percentage will decrease and the opportunity to take those customers who are churning from competitors will increase.