How does a product become a habit

Selecting the most impactful features

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The brief came in pretty vague. PM: "We need to infuse more emotions into the product, for engagement and stickiness." Me: So you want it to feel like a habit? PM: Exactly.

The brief came in pretty vague.

PM: "We need to infuse more emotions into the product, for engagement and stickiness."

Me: So you want it to feel like a habit?

PM: Exactly.

We started with deep user interviews.
Three questions were driving us:

a. What emotions does the entrepreneurial journey actually bring up?

b. What products do they keep coming back to, and why?

c. How do they feel using our product today?

We started with deep user interviews:

a. What emotions does the entrepreneurial journey actually bring up?

b. What products do they keep coming back to, and why?

c. How do they feel using our product today?

I pulled the quotes that revealed real behaviors and perceptions.

Each quote got labeled across three dimensions:

1. Driver - what produces the motivation behind this behavior?

Based on: Octalysis frameworkA gamification framework built on 8 core human drives (like accomplishment, curiosity, and social influence). Designers use it to map which motivations their product triggers and which ones it's missing.

2. Habit component - what habit forming mechanism is at play?

Based on: The change modelA behavioral science model for identifying what psychological barriers stop people from changing, and which strategies (like fresh starts or habit stacking) can overcome them. & Tiny Habits methodBJ Fogg's method for building habits by starting absurdly small: anchor a new behavior to an existing routine, make it tiny enough to never fail, then celebrate immediately to reinforce it.

3. Applicable need - what user need does it reflect?

Interview insights doc

I labeled every quote across three dimensions:

1. Driver
2. Habit component
3. Applicable need

The interviews surfaced eight core emotional needs, so I ran a design thinking workshop with design, product, and the CEO.

We did three things:

Agreed on which needs to tackle first.
Proposed solutions.
Voted on what would solve the pain best.

Workshop full board

We ran a design thinking workshop with design, product, and the CEO to prioritize the emotional needs and vote on solutions.

The workshop opened up a lot of directions.

So the next step was to narrow down.

1. I categorized every solution by its core driver, to understand what psychological motivation it tapped into, and how it was meant to pull the user back.

2. I ran a team prioritization: effort vs. impact. What's worth building first?

Solutions full doc

I categorized every solution by its core driver, then ran an effort vs. impact prioritization to decide what to build first.

Finally we landed on two features.

1. In-Step Achievement Rewards - positive feedback during the journey, not just at the finish line.

Main Driver: AccomplishmentThe drive to make progress, develop skills, and overcome challenges. In product design, it's the lever behind streaks, milestones, and any feedback that shows users they're getting better.

2. Milestone Feedback + Celebration - marking the big moments when a user hits a meaningful milestone.

Main Drivers: Accomplishment, OwnershipThe drive to feel creative ownership and make meaningful choices. In product design, it's the lever behind customization, user-generated paths, and anything that makes someone feel the product is theirs.

We landed on two features: In-Step Achievement Rewards and Milestone Feedback + Celebration.

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Key takeaways

A vague brief is just a research question no one has written yet.
Structured tagging turns a pile of quotes into a decision tool.
When research does the talking, you don't have to persuade anyone.

The mechanism

Before any screen, the model. What has to be true for a behavior to repeat, and how often to reinforce it.

Motivation and ability have to meet

A behavior only happens when both are high enough at the same time.

Not every behavior sticks

These are the variables I worked with to push a behavior toward becoming a habit.

Loop length matches task size

A short item earns daily reinforcement, a large section weekly, a full step monthly.

Mapping emotional rewarding points

Before designing anything, I mapped and tagged every moment where a reward made sense, to build habits one task at a time. Mapping surfaced four types of emotional events, in different sizes:

In item End of item

Rewarding an item / in item completion – daily reinforcement.

End of a section

Rewarding a section completion (a few items) – weekly reinforcement

End of step

Rewarding a step completion (a few sections) – monthly reinforcement

Feature A: In-step achievement rewards

Reinforcement during the work, not only at the finish line. The Thinkers carry it.

Give founders someone to relate to

Each character has a name, a style and a domain expertise. The figures already lived in the system and users knew them. I gave them a role, and they let a serious product carry a lighter, human side.

The Thinkers: Scout, Brick, Spark and Pulse

Two texts, two jobs

The banner connects the win to what they just did and how it moves their journey forward. The chat bubble celebrates it the way a person would, so the whole moment feels human instead of automated.

Banner and character chat bubble giving feedback

Feature B: Milestone feedback & celebration

The moment a founder finishes a milestone. Everything here is tuned to make the win feel earned, and coming back feel natural.

Milestone feedback and celebration screen

The headline affirms, the line beneath zooms out

“Founder” is deliberate. Research showed many feel insecure in the role, so the word affirms it. The line beneath anchors the win to the whole journey, not just the step they finished.

Great job, founder! Now you know who you're building for.

Their effort becomes impossible to ignore

Spelling out what they achieved makes two things hard to ignore: how much they poured in, and that the work is now theirs. Both quietly raise the cost of walking away.

Highlights panel listing what the founder achieved

Make the reward tangible, leave the next one uncertain

Every milestone hands over something real: new steps, assets they keep, and a badge. Badges accumulate, so the streak becomes its own reason to return, and because you never quite know what is coming next, it stays exciting.

Gains row: 2 new steps, pitch deck slide, overview card, new badge

Let them feel the future

After each step, the product generates a short video of their future: a successful company. It pulls them forward, and because every one is different and made to be shared, it quietly brings new people in.

Optional, because momentum matters more

These two screens were a burden in the original flow. Right after finishing, users wanted to wrap up. In the summary as optional cards they keep the path to the win short, and still invite users to invest for more valueThe Investment phase from Nir Eyal's Hooked: right after a reward, let users put something in (answer a question, add insight, make a tweak) that makes the product more useful next time. Small investments now are what pull them back later..

Optional cards: see insights, practice investor questions

The mechanism

Design decision

The feedback loop size matches the task size

A behavior only happens when motivation and ability align.
Three scales of reinforcement:
1. Short item: daily reinforcement
2. Full section: weekly reinforcement
3. Completed step: monthly reinforcement

Mapping emotional rewarding points

Design decision

Before designing anything, I mapped every moment where a reward made sense

Mapping surfaced four types of emotional events, each at a different scale, so the reward always matches the size of what was achieved.

Four types of emotional events:

In item End of item End of section End of step

In-Step Achievement Rewards

Design decision

The character makes it personal. The banner makes it official.

The Thinkers give founders someone in the product they can relate to. The figures already lived in the system. I gave them a role.
The banner frames the win. The chat bubble celebrates it like a person would. Both serve different emotional needs at the same moment.

Milestone Feedback + Celebration

Design decision

Make the reward tangible. Leave something uncertain.

'Founder' in the header is intentional. Research showed many feel insecure in the title. The word affirms it.
The line beneath the title anchors the win to the bigger journey, not just the step just finished.
The highlights list makes the gain tangible. Listing what they earned makes clear how much they poured in, and that the work is now theirs.
The gains: each milestone reveals new steps, assets to keep, and a badge. Badges build a collection, so the streak becomes its own reason to return.
The next badge is intentionally hidden. You never quite know what you'll gain. That uncertainty keeps it exciting.

How does a product
become a habit

Meet the Thinkers, the stars of this story

The journey from ambiguity to structure

The journey from ambiguity to structure

Selecting the most impactful features