How to hook customers on products they rarely use

Larry Page, CEO of Alphabet (the company formerly known as Google), has a quirky way of deciding which companies he likes. It’s called “The Toothbrush Test.” When Page looks at a potential company to acquire, says the New York Times, he wants to know if the product is, like a toothbrush, “something you will use once or twice a day.”

Page clearly understands habits. But what if your product doesn’t pass his Toothbrush Test? Perhaps you’d like people to use your product or service frequently, but it just doesn’t make sense to do so.

Nir Eyal was hired to present at a gathering of 700 real estate agents, some months ago; and the MC made a gracious introduction, saying, “Now we’ll hear from Nir Eyal, an expert on Consumer Habits. Nir is going to teach us how to make home buying and selling into a habit!”

Opening, Nir had said: “I’m sorry, there must have been some misunderstanding. There is no way I am going to teach you how to make home buying and selling into a habit, because it has no chance of ever becoming a habit.” Pronto!

He explained that home buying and selling doesn’t occur nearly often enough to become a habit. Furthermore, the very definition of a habit - a behaviour done with little or no conscious thought - is the antithesis of the kind of overthinking that real estate transactions inspire.

“Home buying and selling can’t be a habit,” someone else said, but what if we make a habit of doing something else related to home buying and selling?” Even infrequently used products and services can keep customers hooked.

There are at least two ways to build a habit around an infrequently used product: content and community. But let us be very clear, not every business needs to be habit-forming. There are lots of ways to bring customers back, and many companies succeed without relying on the habit of customers.

These companies buy advertising, spend money on search engine optimization, or open a storefront to capture customers’ attention as they walk by. But traditional methods of keeping customers engaged force businesses to rent space on someone else’s website, search engine, or street corner. By contrast, owning a customer’s habit is an asset that pays.

Content

So, how do infrequently used products bolt on a habit-forming experience? The first way is by making a habit of consuming great content. Create a site and app full of articles and videos to form a content habit with potential customers.

Community

Another way infrequently used products form a habit is by building a community. If you’ve got a product people tend to buy just once a year, during Christmas for instance, you might assume interest in such a product is nil for 11 months of the year. For members of your Community, engagement with (and revenue from) the seasonal product goes strong year ’round, and you can cultivate a thriving community around your seasonal products by organising frequent gatherings and social events and facilitating social interaction.

Monetization is a Result of Engagement

When it comes to designing products people love, far too many companies focus on getting customers to check out instead of getting them to check in. There’s no doubt that a frequently used product like Facebook or Snapchat has an easier time of changing consumer habits. However, habits can still help companies that might make a sale to consumers every few months or years.

Companies looking to build consumer habits should remember that monetization is a result of engagement - not necessarily the other way around. For a financial services firm, a real estate agent, or a seasonal business, buying the product or service might not be a habit - but creating related habits around content and community can pay off in reputation, satisfaction, and sales.

Here’s the gist:

• Owning a customer’s habit is an asset that pays you.
• But it is difficult (if not impossible) to turn infrequently used products into a customer habit.
• Rather than trying to make the product into a habit, infrequently used products should build habits around the product.
• Too many companies focus on getting customers to check out instead of getting them to check in.
• Building a content or community habit are two ways to keep people engaged.
• Monetization is a result of engagement - not necessarily the other way around.

By Nir Eyal, the Wall Street Journal Bestselling Author of "Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products". He’s also a Public Speaker and Consultant who blogs about the psychology of products.

Edited by ‘Dele Dele-Olukoju, Marketing Communication strategist and publisher of the online Marketing Communication Digest. He writes from Lagos, Nigeria. @deleolukoju +234 807 481 2389.