The Zeroth Loop: They Don't Quit, They Forget

Most habits don't fall apart because people quit. They fall apart because they aren't sticky.

Cognitive science tells us that habits form when a simple loop closes: a cue triggers an action, the action produces a reward, and the brain decides the sequence is worth repeating.

As builders, we often focus on the loop inside our apps. But the most successful products understand that the loop starts long before a user ever signs up. This is The Zeroth Loop.

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The first encounter with a product usually happens in the wild: a landing page, a demo video, or a screenshot shared on social media.

The strongest marketing moments already contain a full behavior loop. When you watch a great 15-second demo, your brain performs a dry run. You see the cue, you recognize the action, and you anticipate the reward.

A good demo doesn't just explain features; it allows the user to experience the payoff ahead of time. By the time they click "Sign Up," the habit loop already exists in outline form. The Zeroth Loop has already closed.

Product people tend to spend loads of time planning and building the nuts-and-bolts of how our apps work. We spend hours designing the perfect onboarding flow, the perfect settings page, the perfect error message.

Marketing people tend to think about the moments before features matter - how do people find and engage with your product in the first place?

These two perspectives are hugely important, and they need to work together. Neither is optional for your product to be successful.

Builders who don't have marketing chops tend to overestimate intent. We see a signup as commitment, but often it's just curiosity. If a person's first interaction with your product doesn't produce a clear, immediate reward, the behavior never stabilizes.

When this happens, nothing really breaks. The app just fades into the background. It stays installed, the tab stays open, and the user simply forgets it exists.

The habit never formed, and all your work goes to waste.

This is why thoughtful nudges are so important. Reminders often get a bad reputation because they're implemented poorly, but their cognitive role is simple: they reintroduce the cue before a new routine vanishes from memory.

Durable habits don't rely on willpower or perfect recall; they rely on systems that bring the cue back before the natural erosion of forgetful humans takes over.

Zoom out and reframe your product journey around the first three loops:

Does your demo or screenshot allow the user to visualize the reward? Can they "feel" the problem being solved before they even have an account?

Is onboarding and time-to-value fast enough to keep the user engaged? Getting people to do something useful for the first time is the critical path here.

Once they take the action, how quickly do they get evidence of success? In other words, has your tool or app actually delivered on its promise?

The reward is rarely the interface. If your app helps people optimize code, the reward isn't a "Success" toast message- it's the faster build time or the green checkmark in GitHub.

The outcome has to show up in the user's own context. That external payoff is what creates the memory: "Last time I did this, something good happened." When that happens early, repetition follows naturally. When it doesn't, no amount of UI polish can save it.

• The Power of Habit: A clear and approachable explanation of the cue-routine-reward loop, with enough real-world examples to make it useful beyond theory.

• Fogg Behavior Model: A practical framework for understanding why behaviors happen, and why they often don't. Especially helpful for diagnosing stalled adoption.