Coglode Cookbook - Pairings

Reinforce the 'best' choice with others' decisions

Though we intuitively see middle options as most popular, we can supercharge the effect by actively supporting it with facts

Make the 'right' option stand out

Supercharge your central option by giving it more visual prominence, with greater contrast, imagery and information

Contrast Effect

Avoiding Danger

Provide 'edge options' to nudge better decisions

Adding in a well-positioned decoy option may be a good way to help people make better decisions

Decoy Effect

Reduce friction and make the best option effortless

Adding in a centralised default choice can be a good way to reduce cognitive load and increase decision speed

Default Effect

Loyalty

Trigger the craving for completion by releasing something to collect

Completing a collection offers us a sense of accomplishment, but its incompleteness activates a need for closure

Zeigarnik Effect

Collection Bias

The images you see unconsciously shape your behaviour

A subtle and consistent use of well-selected images can have a significant impact on subsequent decisions

Priming

Display a unique picture highlighting the first piece of information

A picture is not only worth a thousand words, but can even be more compelling if it highlights the first info the user sees

Anchoring

Emphasise the visibility of restricted areas to increase your product’s value

Doing so will increase perceived value for those who aren't yet members and also forge a VIP status for those already inside

Salience

Limited Access

Avoiding Danger

Provide real-time feedback at key decision-making moments

We often make instinctive decisions that aren't in our best interests. Real-time feedback can prevent such impulsive actions.

Fast & Slow Thinking

Pricing

Put decoy options in the same boundary

Lower value products that are used to boost attractiveness of more expensive ones should be placed in the same price boundary

Decoy Effect

Boundary Pricing

Pricing

Round your base product price

To encourage take-up of higher valued products in your range, place your base price within the same boundary

Round Pricing Preference

Boundary Pricing

Habit-forming

Reframe habitual changes as multiple moments to win

Though the goal is habit formation, there's untapped joy in the tiniest of steps taken. How can we help celebrate each one?

Segregation Effect

Tiny Habits

Offer multiple moments to reminisce past experiences

If we enjoy being reminded of past, positive experiences we've had, how can we spread these out in small drips over time?

Segregation Effect

Nostalgia Effect

Environment

Evoke nostalgic pride for upcycled vintage products

Given that our attitude for pre-owned items has changed, how can we better tap into the richness of their past?

Nostalgia Effect

Afterlife Effect

Environment

Heighten an eco-product’s perceived value with its uniqueness

Pre-owned items come with a history, making each one unique. How can you celebrate their variability?

Afterlife Effect

Avoid uncomfortable past product associations

Not all aspects of an upcycled or pre-owned item are valued equally. Some require sensitive communication...

Afterlife Effect

Devil Effect

Design for immediate needs

We're hardwired to overvalue what we can get right now. Where can you give the gift of immediacy?

Present Bias

Delay Discounting

Provide opportunities to add the giver into the gift

Giving and receiving gifts can be a deeply personal experience. How can you surface these connections in your products?

Self-Expression

Create opportunities for 'bundle commitments'

If we're more likely to do the hard stuff by bundling it in alongside rewards, how might we make these commitments public?

Temptation Bundling

Commitment

Habit-forming

Provide aspirational, future-focused reminders to overcome short-termism

Our short-termism often trumps our future aspirations. Where can you remind people now of their goals to offset this?

Present Bias

Overcome change aversion with increasing exposure over time

Sudden, unexpected change can feel difficult to stomach. How can you use 'change exposures' to reduce discomfort?

Mere Exposure Effect

Encourage action by offering closure on mystery

Because we value certainty, we are motivated by curiosity. Where can you foster a desire to satisfy both needs?

Curiosity Effect

Create 'pain bundles' at new time periods

New chapters in our lives mean creating new versions of ourselves. How can you make it easy for people to take the leap?

Aggregation Effect

Fresh Start Effect

Encourage product migration by creating parallel experiences

Unexpected change creates confusion and discomfort. How can you more delicately manage this process?

Certainty Effect

Use distinct imagery to reduce info overload

When making choices, we more easily process visual over text-based information. Where can you provide more helpful imagery?

Analysis Paralysis

Offer a mix of constant and changing choices

Even though we know what we like, we also favour some choice variability. How can you satisfy both needs at the same time?

Certainty Effect

Curiosity Effect

Bolster simplified messaging with imagery

Easy-to-understand straplines or slogans are powerful. But how can you supercharge them with bold imagery?

Fluency Shortcut

Provide short, clear summaries for long, complex information

Without this concise text, you'd likely be overwhelmed. Where can you help people avoid information overload?

Fluency Shortcut

Analysis Paralysis

Branding

Make product names emotionally relatable

Concise product names help us identify what's right for us. But how can we create added meaning through an emotional layer?

Fluency Shortcut

Self-Expression

Over-emphasise early progress to speed up task completion

Did you know: by reading these words, you're well on the way to understanding this unique Pairing...

Endowed Progress Effect

Remind of the bigger goal when completing smaller tasks

Knowing the bigger 'why' helps us do the smaller things. How can you remind users of their goals to keep them focused?

Overcome fear of new, unknown choices with a little taster

We stick to what we know, even when there are better things available. How can you offset this with a low risk sample?

Status Quo Bias

Reassure with a small future promise

We hate missing out on what we could have had. How can you reassure people with a dose of future certainty?

Loss Aversion

Certainty Effect

Make memories social to trigger desire for new ones

Positive memories are rarely experienced in isolation. How might you enrich the past by fostering shared recollection?

Nostalgia Effect

Allow existing customers to get new customers started

What's new feels safer when guided by relative experts. How can you use others' wisdom to get people off on the right foot?

Habit-forming

Provide a means to share goals and reach them together

Making a pact is a powerful way of motivating individuals. Where can you provide aspirational, goal-setting for groups?

Seed product launches with restricted gift access

Providing shareable benefits to a VIP launch group will be valued and acted upon. What can you gift to early adoptors?

Limited Access

Create positive, shareable peak-ends

Good or bad, we'll more likely recall peak and end exeriences. How can you foster golden moments that beg to be shared?

Peak-End Rule

Avoid overwhelming new people by spacing info over time

Drip-feeding information is key for retention and recall. What crucial knowledge can you spread out over time?

Analysis Paralysis

Spacing Effect

Boost list recall through contrast

We don't process and remember lists of information uniformly. How might you actually use this to your advantage?

Serial Position Effect

Contrast Effect

Use distinction to foster uniqueness

We're hardwired to spot what stands out from the crowd. How might your product range make use of this?

Contrast Effect

Reveal product secrets long after first use

Everything loses its shine eventually. But where can you lock in hidden product secrets that keep people guessing?

Hedonic Adaptation

Surprise Effect

Avoiding Danger

Offset pain numbness with exponential feedback loops

We adapt to discomfort, so feedback systems need to over-compensate. What risky behaviour should you help people avoid?

Prospect Theory

Highlight how others got started

Social norms help guide us in times of uncertainty. What well-trodden steps can people take first with you?

Let popularity guide your defaults

Choice can feel overwhelming, especially for the uninformed. How can you instead default people to what is popular?

Default Effect

Allow leaders to tell their story

The actions of well-informed people offer a compelling path to others. How can you tell their story to inspire action?

Status

Storyteller Bias

Community

Allow status to be collected in different ways

We crave belonging and gathering status labels reinforces this. How might you create different ways to ascend in a group?

Status

Collection Bias

Loyalty

Give what is otherwise hard to come by

Off-the-menu, custom or rare, we greatly appreciate gestures that others cannot so easily attain. How might you create this?

Rewards

Create a one-of-a-kind product feeling

Even though we value product customisation, we crave a uniqueness to what we own. How can you make one-offs a reality?

IKEA Effect

Play with difficulty in task-based collections

Collections are more valued when some items are hard to get. How can you build this into your community or learning systems?

Collection Bias

Offer a small dose of situational control

We're evolutionarily hardwired to avoid change where we can. But how can you give people some reassuring control over it?

Autonomy Bias

Community

Highlight new-found status to the group

Done well, celebrating a group member's achievements can guide others forward. What behaviours do you want to encourage?

Status

Authority

Heavy past investments needn't weigh you down today

Our past efforts can often get the better of us. How might you test out a different direction in a lean way?

Loosen attachments to the old with slowly-increasing familiarity to the new

We're averse to what we don't know, slowing down progress. How might you avoid this with small info drips spread over time?

Mere Exposure Effect

Package your pains, don't prolong them

Nobody likes hearing bad news, but there's an art to it. What difficult announcements can you consolidate into one package?

Aggregation Effect

Overcome bad past investments with a clean, reflective slate

A fresh week, month or year offers a convenient opportunity to let go of sunk costs. Where can you use time to get closure?

Reframe bad past investments as a stage to loosen attachment to them

With loss, perception is everything. As long as we've gained something, we can let go. How can you reframe past efforts?

Framing

Reframe painful losses as part of a much bigger future gain

By broadening our timeframes, any immediate pains felt along the way to mastery will feel much less uncomfortable.

Prospect Theory

Guide through the new and unfamiliar with predefined choices

Those who are unfamiliar with what you offer need a little extra help to decide. Where might you provide defaults that guide?

Default Effect

To get them started, begin with a very small task

Getting people started is often the hardest thing. What are the barriers to buying your product that you should overcome?

Learning

Make unfamiliar concepts easy to understand and connect to

New technologies often come with many benefits, but can be confusing. Metaphors provide a great way to overcome confusion...

Metaphorical Shortcut

Reduce unnecessary choice for unfamiliar new concepts

Too much choice can overwhelm people, but this is particularly so for new markets or with new technologies.

Embrace reassuring Authority in difficult times

In times of change, we seek out leaders to help us move forward. How can you create reassuring clarity through your people?

Authority

Let the actions of others reduce personal fear of the unknown

As social creatures, we're greatly reassured by the actions of others. How can you use this to reduce aversion to change?