What Sports Can Teach You About Creating Awesome Products

Editor?s Note:?This guest post is co-authored by?Nir Eyal,?Andrew Martin, and?David Ngo. Nir is a regular contributor to TechCrunch and blogs at?NirAndFar.com.?Andrew and David are seniors at Stanford University working in conjunction with the?Stanford Persuasive Technology Lab?and?Trinity Ventures. This week, fans packed stadiums in London wearing their nation?s colors like rebels ready for battle in Mel Gibson?s army. They screamed with excitement and anguished in defeat. Many paid thousands of dollars to travel around the globe to be there. Among those who did not attend, 90% of people with access?to a television tuned-in during past Olympics. In 2008, that was 2 out of every 3 people on the planet. What the hell is going on here? How do sports engage, delight, and motivate people to put their lives on hold and become totally engrossed in watching other people play games? If sports can motivate people to go to great lengths, can businesses learn to instill the same loyalty and passion in their customers? In fact, the psychology that makes fans do crazy things in the name of their team can be harnessed to turn people into avid users. Innovative companies are minting habitual customers by understanding the mechanics of human behavior. Here are a few examples of the psychology of sports and the companies who have learned to exploit these same principles: ?This Might Be the Year? For a stunning example of customer loyalty, look no further than the ?fans of the heartbreaking Chicago Cubs. The team suffers from ?the longest drought?in North American sports,? 104 years without a World Series win. Yet, despite the century of defeat, Forbes magazine?rated the team as having the 4th most loyal fans in baseball. Why do Cubs fans keep coming back? What keeps them engaged year after losing year? Though sports columnists and diehards provide detailed bullet-points intellectualizing why ?this is our year?, the answer lies in two cognitive hacks, which at times produce seemingly irrational behavior – hope and variable rewards. From then-candidate Barak Obama?s iconic campaign poster?to Pepsi?s recent campaign ad, it?s clear that hope sells. According to BJ Fogg of Stanford University?s Persuasive Technology Lab, the pursuit of hope is a key motivator of human behavior. While every sports fan appreciates the power of hope, few comprehend the zombie-like power variable rewards?can have on the brain. A classic behavioral mechanic deployed by slot machines and video games, random reinforcement kicks the

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