Technique · Hooked
Add a second internal trigger once the core loop holds
After the core loop retains users, extend the product to an adjacent feeling or moment, each with its own trigger and first action. One photo app grew from saving a moment, to filling idle time, to not missing out on friends.
Plain label: expand to an adjacent use caseAlso known as: habit expansion, new internal trigger, adjacent use case, second habit
How it works
An established habit gives the product a place in the user's day, and needs that arise at nearby moments can attach to it. Each new use case still needs its own trigger, simple action and reward, and it competes with the core loop for attention.
Evidence warning
Expansions built on fear of missing out can raise use and anxiety together; watch regret and disable rates.
Before you start
- The core loop already retains a segment (a flattening retention curve)
How to build it
- Mobile
- Add a messaging or discovery layer only after the main loop's retention flattens, and launch it to engaged users first.
- B2B
- Extend from the owned moment (weekly reporting) to the next one (planning) with its own reminder and template.
- Web
- Give the new use case its own entry point instead of crowding the core screen.
What can go wrong
- Diluting the core action before it is a habit.
- Choosing an adjacent feeling the product has to amplify to work.
Pairs well with
- Re-run the itch finder for the new moment.
- Track core-loop frequency as the guardrail.
In practice
Where it shows up
Limits
What we don’t claim
- The Hook Model is a practical design tool, not a validated or complete theory of behavior.Hooked, Introduction
Sources
Hooked · Nir Eyal
Ch.2
Source IDs: HK-TRG27
Book content is paraphrased, never quoted at length. Last verified October 24, 2026.
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