“Everyone suddenly seems interested in messing with your head. Gamification, Quantified Self, Persuasive Technology, Neuromarketing and a host of other techniques offer ways to influence behavior. At the heart of these techniques is a desire to change peoples’ habits so that behavior change becomes permanent.

Here’s the problem: Until now, the explosion of methods for changing behavior has been a hodgepodge of author-centric noise. Reading all of the books, blogs, and blowhards can leave one confused by their seemingly conflicting advice. Pundits push their methods as cure-alls. For example, some argue that earning badges and leveling-up can inspire the clinically obese to become slim again. They can’t. Others claim that being good at anything requires strict goal setting and performance objectives. It doesn’t. The goal of this article is to help you identify which of the different techniques would be most effective for each type of behavior change.”

Different techniques for different types of behavior change

Nir Eyal is passionate about the intersection of psychology, technology, and business that encompasses user experience design, behavioral economics, and a dash of neuroscience. And he’s a featured THINK 15 speaker.

In his latest book “Hooked”, Nir introduces the Hook model – a four-step process embedded into the products of many successful companies to subtly encourage customer behavior. In the middle of the evolving mobile revolution, THINK attendees will gain actionable insights how to subtly encourage customer behavior and develop “hook cycles” that bring users back again without relying on expensive marketing.

Changing behavior requires a user-centric approach: “(…) products that successfully change behavior present users with an implicit choice between their old way of doing things and the new, more convenient solution to existing needs. By maintaining the user’s freedom to choose, products can facilitate the adoption of new habits and change behavior for good.”