If you’re in the SaaS world, the chances are that your product is the solution to your customers’ pain. This means that forming a habit around your product can be beneficial for your company.
Reviews of habit-forming software
Reviews of habit-forming software will often mention how customers ended up using the product in a way that directly contradicted their initial expectations. This demonstrates that the customer was able to break free from their initial motivations and engage with the product in new ways.
All successful SaaS products follow one particular SaaS blueprint that other great SaaS products have followed in the past. The blueprint involves different aspects of marketing, sales and design to create a reliable customer base.
The components of this SaaS blueprint is important for product owners to implement within their own business model. This is the only way they can hope to create a habit-forming product that will help them rise above their competitors.
Let’s understand how habits are formed;
Context-Dependent Repetition
If you ask him, “Why do you check your emails?” he will give a simple answer: “I am used to doing this.” The reason behind this action is not that he is addicted to checking his emails. No, it’s because of a process called Context-Dependent Repetition. Habits can be reinforced through this process.
It has 3 components which are
1. Initially,
2.Cue(which is related to the action)
3.Routine( which defines what you are doing).
Once a habit is formed , you do not need to consciously monitor or control it. This means that, after a particular time of enactment, you will be carrying out the task as an automatic response to the context in which the response was arousing.
In layman’s terms, this means that as soon as you wake up, your mind will automatically try to access your inbox for email checking.
Every habit starts with a psychological pattern called the ‘habit loop’. It’s A common pattern we adapt to daily routines and helps us to form new habits.
The researchers found three neurological patterns in the brain that take place in every habit.
The first is what they call the “cue” (the thing that triggers your brain to go into automatic mode and which tells your body to do something).
Routine: Use the action you take to repeat and build on itself, like a positive feedback loop.
Rewards- Rewards are satisfaction you gain after doing a behavior.
The similar process happens in SaaS products. If the product helps them reach their desired goal (for example, hiring better people), they are sure to use it on a regular basis (for example, by setting up an in-app reminder in their calendar).
Going by the same 3-step structure, if a SaaS product rewards the customer (helps them inch closer to their desired goal), then the customer is sure to repeat the routine (use the product on a regular basis to gain more value), when the trigger happens (it could be in the form of a notification, email, call or any proactive initiative from the CS team).
