Decoding WeChat Reading: How to Make Users Addicted

This article deeply explores the reasons and mechanisms for WeChat Reading users' addiction, and uses the behavioral design Hooked model as a framework to analyze how WeChat Reading successfully attracts users. I hope it will be helpful to you.

As the ancients said: "If you don't read for three days, you will find your language boring and your face ugly."

In the digital age, mobile reading has become one of the main ways for people to acquire knowledge and enjoy reading. Among the many mobile reading applications, WeChat Reading has become the first choice for readers with its unique user experience.

1. What is the Addiction Model?

The addiction model is a behavioral design framework that explains why certain products or services attract users and keep them engaged. This model helps us understand the causes and mechanisms of user addiction and provides valuable guidance for product design and operation.

One of the most widely used addiction models is the Hooked model , developed by behavioral designer Nir Eyal. The model is based on four key steps: trigger, action, reward, and engagement .

The following will explain this Hooked model using common products and WeChat Reading examples, analyzing how WeChat Reading makes users addicted step by step and resists the "human nature" of not liking to learn.

2. Trigger: Stirring the Heartstrings

Triggers are stimuli that cause users to use products or services. They are usually divided into two types: external triggers and internal triggers.

1. External trigger

External triggers usually appear in external information, using the exposure effect to make users aware of the product. They include paid triggers, feedback triggers, interpersonal triggers, and autonomous triggers.

• Paid trigger: The traditional advertising model, through search engine marketing (SEM) facing users, allows users to quickly and effectively understand the product. For example: Melatonin TV brainwashing advertisement.
• Feedback trigger: The brand effect formed by the company over a long period of time through public relations and media efforts is reflected in positive reports and popular recommendations. For example, the natural traffic of Hongxing Erke increased sharply after the charity event was made public.
• Interpersonal trigger: relying on recommendations from acquaintances, users who have used the product spread the word, with low cost and high conversion rate. For example: Pinduoduo’s active fission promotion.
• Autonomous trigger: After installing and registering, old users actively open subscription notifications, repeatedly use the product, and form a habit. For example: WeChat new message reminders, Moments update reminders.

WeChat Reading makes full use of four types of external triggering methods, including paid triggers such as joining offline reading clubs and public relations promotions, as well as spontaneous feedback triggers brought about by long-term brand effects on various content platforms; and as a WeChat product , it has a strong social gene, and its focus is on interpersonal triggers brought about by word-of-mouth effects and fission models, and autonomous triggers of personalized recommendations.

2. Internal trigger

Internal triggers are the needs, emotions or desires of users that drive them to actively use products or services. Unlike external triggers, internal triggers are triggered by the user's own intrinsic motivation and emotional state, rather than relying on external stimuli or reminders.

In the Hooked addiction model, internal triggers are divided into two types:

Internal pain triggers: When users are in an unpleasant state, they seek some way to relieve or distract themselves. Products or services satisfy needs by providing quick and convenient solutions, which can lead to addictive behaviors. For example, social media platforms can be a way for users to escape loneliness or boredom.

Internal desire trigger mechanism: Users may desire to obtain a certain reward, satisfy a certain curiosity, or achieve a certain sense of accomplishment. Products or services stimulate users' desires by providing immediate satisfaction, pleasure, or a sense of accomplishment, thereby allowing users to form addictive behaviors. For example, game applications can provide a sense of accomplishment or virtual rewards for passing levels to attract users to continue to participate.

As a reading and learning product, WeChat Reading makes full use of the internal trigger mechanism: it solves the problems of boredom and time waste , allowing users to read e-books anytime and anywhere, thereby diverting attention and killing time; at the same time, it provides a rich library and a variety of categories of books to meet users' knowledge acquisition needs .

3. Action: Get started

Actions are positive responses from users to triggers. They can be simple clicks, swipes, or more complex engagements, interactions, etc. The goal of actions is to get users to use your product or service quickly and smoothly.

Action steps should have the following characteristics:

Simple and easy to do: Actions should be simple and easy to do, reducing the difficulty and resistance of user participation. The interface and interactive design of WeChat Reading focuses on simplicity and ease of use. Users can select and open books with simple clicks, turn pages with sliding gestures, adjust font size and background color, etc. These simple and easy operations allow users to start reading quickly and reduce the threshold for participation.

Consistency: Actions should be consistent with the user's goals and expectations. WeChat Reading's App and Mini Programs provide users with a stable, coherent and reliable experience by maintaining consistency in interface, reading experience, content presentation and functionality. This consistency helps build user trust and reliance on WeChat Reading and encourages users to form continuous usage habits.

Progressive: Actions can be incremental, by guiding users to take small actions, gradually prompting them to take bigger actions. WeChat Reading sets reading challenges and goals of 1 minute, 1 hour, 3 hours, 5 hours/7 days, 14 days, and 21 days to motivate users to take action and keep reading. This goal setting and challenge mechanism motivates users and encourages them to actively participate in reading actions.

Personalized recommendations: Recommend related books based on the user's reading preferences and behavior history, encouraging users to explore and discover. Users click on recommended books to learn more, add them to their bookshelf, or start reading directly, which increases user engagement and motivation for continued use.

4. Variable rewards: feedback and surprises

Reward is the satisfaction and pleasure that users get from taking actions.

According to the book "Addicted", variable rewards mainly take three forms:

• Social rewards: The interpersonal rewards people get from using a product through interaction with others;
• Prey Reward: The specific resource or information people gain from a product.
• Self-reward: The sense of control, accomplishment, and finality that people experience from a product.

Relying on the strong social relationships of WeChat , how does WeChat Reading work?

Social rewards: Based on WeChat friend relationships, WeChat Reading provides opportunities for social interaction. Users can compete with friends on the platform for reading time, share reading experience, participate in book discussions, follow other readers, etc. Through social interaction, users can gain recognition, communication and suggestions from other readers, which stimulates the sense of competition among users.

Prey Rewards: WeChat Reading sets reading goals and milestones. Users can get free experience cards, medals or special book excerpts by completing reading tasks, reading a certain number of books or reaching a certain reading time. There are also group challenge activities such as reading challenges, daily answers, reading teams, free reading libraries, etc. to stimulate teamwork and fission effects.

Self-reward: Users can choose reading content according to their interests. WeChat Reading provides functions such as reading statistics and personal achievement display, allowing users to feel the satisfaction of self-growth and progress.

5. Investment: Positive Cycle

Input refers to the effort, time, data and other resources that users put in after using a product or service.

User input increases their engagement and loyalty and provides the foundation for future triggers, actions, and rewards cycles.

WeChat Reading has completed a perfect positive incentive cycle by guiding users to read - get free trial cards - and continue reading . The continuously accumulated reading data and social sense of achievement form a hard-to-give-up transfer cost, which promotes users' continuous addiction and generates motivation to purchase paid reading cards.

6. Final Thoughts

Learning is anti-human, but input and gain are rooted in human instinct.

WeChat Reading cleverly taps into human needs and makes learning, which is difficult, simple and easy. It satisfies users' desires in a unique way and makes learning an addictive experience.

If you don’t read for three days, you will feel that your language has lost its flavor and your appearance is disgusting. Only WeChat Reading can help you regain vitality and charm.