Concept
Manipulation Matrix
The Manipulation Matrix is Nir Eyal's ethics test for habit-forming products, built on two questions: would the maker use the product, and does it materially improve users' lives? The answers make the maker a facilitator, peddler, entertainer or dealer.
Eyal introduces the matrix in Hooked after setting out the Hook Model, because he accepts that designing for habit is a form of manipulation. Two yes answers make a facilitator, whom Eyal sees as most likely to succeed because they understand their users from the inside. Improving lives without using the product makes a peddler; using it without improving lives makes an entertainer, which is legitimate but tends to fade; neither makes a dealer, which Eyal calls exploitation. The limit is that the maker answers both questions about their own work, and makers judge themselves generously. The honest version adds the users' view: after a month, are they glad of the time the product took?
A real-life example
A children's reading app in Konya is about to add a streak with a cartoon that looks sad when a child misses a day. The founders ask the two questions feature by feature. They would use a calm streak for their own children, but not the sad cartoon, and only reading more would improve the children's lives. They ship the streak without the sad face, plus a weekly note to parents.
How to use it
- 1Answer both questions in one sentence each, for one feature at a time.
- 2Change or cut whatever keeps the feature outside the facilitator quadrant.
- 3Ask a few users after a month whether they are glad of the time the product took.