Retention without urgency and loss

• 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

  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.

• Diagnostic question

  Does the business need a habit?

  business fit question

  Checks whether the business needs unprompted repeat use or grows through trust and referrals on occasional purchases.

• Diagnostic question

  The key action at each stage

  desired actions question

  Names the one action wanted from users at each lifecycle stage, so every lens rates the right behavior.

Sources

• Actionable Gamification · Yu-kai Chou

  Ch.10, p.230 · Ch.11, p.269 · Ch.12, p.307

Source IDs: CD6 · CD7 · CD8

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