The key action at each stage

• Diagnostic question

  How customers pay

  revenue model question

  Finds the revenue model, which decides whether paying should wait for a habit or is itself the value event.

• Diagnostic question

  Weekly sign-ups or orders

  traffic volume question

  Sizes the traffic at the step that matters, which decides whether a standard A/B test can read in time or small-sample designs apply.

• Diagnostic question

  What does a great customer do?

  value event question

  Finds the value event and how often it should happen.

• Diagnostic question

  What kind of product this is

  archetype question

  Places the product in an archetype, which sets default cadences, routes and which stages get emphasis.

• Diagnostic question

  How often a devoted user should come back

  devoted cadence question

  Sets a realistic devoted-user frequency from typical loyal users, never extreme ones, which every habit metric is measured against.

• Diagnostic question

  How much better than the alternative

  perceived utility question

  Rates perceived utility against the best alternative, the second axis of the Habit Zone placement.

Sources

• Actionable Gamification · Yu-kai Chou

  Ch.17, p.463

Source IDs: OCT-M03

Book content is paraphrased, never quoted at length. Last verified October 24, 2026.