Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products

Hooked has sold over 250,000 copies since being published in 2014, and has elicited a variety of reactions from critics, industry professionals, and social commentators. The book is a guide for industry professionals on how to encourage online users to develop habitual relationships with digital products. While many professionals in the tech industry have appreciated Nir Eyal’s guide to product design and user engagement, social commentators have emphasized the potential for manipulation and exploitation inherent in Eyal’s “Hook Model.”

In a highly competitive industry, tech professionals see the value in Eyal’s method of “hooking” customers and bolstering their user engagement, profits, and standing against the competition. According to the book’s publisher, Penguin Random House, Goodreads readers voted Hooked as “one of the best business books of the year” (“Hooked.” Penguin Random House). Penguin Random House also lists nine reviews for the work, eight of which come from industry experts and businesspeople. These reviews suggest that this book has been a very popular resource for product designers. Matt Mullenweg, the founder of WordPress, writes: “Hooked gives you the blueprint for the next generation of products. Read Hooked or the company that replaces you will.” Industry professionals have praised Eyal’s work for its compelling presentation and effective ideas.