Variable rewards are the third step on the Hook-Model. They are the result of an action cued by a trigger. Variable rewards provide ongoing novelty in the user experience and are crucial to keep user’s engaged with your product, driving user retention and over time building habits.

This chapter will provide guidance on how to successfully identify & design variable rewards that resonate with your target group and fit to your product.

"Habits are our brain's ability to quickly respond to pre-learned routines or processes. Encountering something new ignites our attention, hence, a product offering varying rewards with every interaction enhances user retention.”

Understanding Variable Rewards

• Variable Rewards fulfill the Desire that Triggered the user to take Action.
• While Triggers define the message and Actions enable and motivate users to execute desired behavior, Variable Rewards define the outcome/reward of the Action (e.g. New skills after leveling up in an online MMORPG, exploring an interesting article after opening a news-app)
• Habit forming Variable Rewards are designed to have infinite variability to keep users engaged with your product.
  • Example - World of Warcraft

The Objective of Variable Rewards

• The objective of Variable Rewards is to continuously break the cause-and-effect pattern we've come to expect of of pre-learned routines to spark user’s attention
• Variable Rewards aim to keep users engaged with a product, always coming back for something new, creating repeated use which over time turns into a habit.

Building Variable Rewards

• Once we predict the next event, our excitement fades. To keep us engaged, products need to provide an ongoing degree of novelty.
• The following three attributes are crucial to secure longterm user retention using variable rewards:

  1. The type of variable rewards needs to fit to ,,why” users use the product, aligning with the user’s internal trigger and motivation, e.g.:

     Motivation	Variable Reward	Fit?
     Seeking social acceptance	Rewards of the Tribe	✅
     Seeking social acceptance	Rewards of the Self	❌

     • Practical example Mahalo vs Quora

  2. The variability of rewards needs to be infinite. Rewards need to stay unpredictable to sustain user interest.

     • Practical example - World of Warcraft

  3. Users should not feel that the system is manipulating them towards certain rewards, since it will lead to churn. Instead product designers should provide autonomy for the user to decide, since this will increase their Motivation to Act.

     • Case Studies
• The most successful habit-forming products use one or more of the three variable reward types: rewards types of Tribe, Hunt and Self.

Rewards of the Tribe

• Rewards of the tribe are driven by our desire for social connection, including feelings of acceptance, attractiveness, importance, and inclusion.
• Observing others being rewarded for specific behaviors can influence our own beliefs and actions, especially when the people we observe are similar to us or slightly more experienced.
• Examples nochmal checken

Rewards of the Hunt