City Planners of Garden Grove, California installed Active Radar Speed Signs at 5 locations to provide real-time feedback on the speed of 58,000 drivers. LEDs would also flash if drivers exceeded speed limits by more than 5MPH.

After installation of the feedback systems, average speed dropped 22% from 44 to 34mph.

First, determine the behavior to change. Measure, capture and store the relevant data. 

Communicate it back to the individual in a relevant, context-sensitive way that ultimately provokes an emotional reaction.

Provide clear consequences for action or inaction. It’s critical to get the right balance between not being too subtle and not being too intrusive or authoritarian (which we filter out).

Lastly, allow for opportunities to immediately rectify the behavior - which should also be tracked - completing the loop and eventually changing the behavior pattern.  Remember to reward compliance as much as you penalize inaction to increase effectiveness.

32 dog-phobic children were split into 3 groups and shown 8 videos of either one child playing with a dog,  many children with different dogs or no dogs, and then asked to interact with a dog themselves.

Those who watched another child play with a dog performed far better. Those who watched many children also kept this up a month later.

Provide mental shortcuts through the judgements of others; the more people, the more persuasive.  First-time consumers of your product will benefit the most from this approach. 

Persuade with similarity. We're most influenced by those who we deem similar to ourselves. Communicate characteristics relevant to that segment, such as proximity, gender / age, profession or social class to successfully direct behavior. 

Use role-models. Understand the emotional drivers of your audience and seek out positive, aspirational individuals to direct specific consumer decisions and reinforce behaviors.

48 people were shown 100 sets of numbers of different lengths, split up into a number of smaller chunks. After seeing each set, they were asked to recall the numbers in a memory test.

The results found that, on average, people were good at remembering about 7 numbers and 4 chunks before memory errors started kicking in.

Chunk for clarity.

‍Our short-term memory is limited, so whether you're designing a food menu or trying to share a new idea, prevent Analysis Paralysis by breaking information down into 3-5 smaller bites that are easier to process. 

Chunk requests.

‍If you're asking for a lot of info from customers, how can you break the task into more manageable segments?

Data capture company, Typeform are a great example of this, turning the concept of chunking into a core USP for its data capture products.

Chunk for long-term understanding.

Boost knowledge retention by structuring each chunk learned to build upon what was learned in previous ones. Repeat past chunks to build a strong, modular connection between fragmented bouts of learning.

Language app, Duolingo does this in an engaging visual way.

There’s a reason this Nugget is #1 in our library.

The concept of Scarcity lies at the core of economics, and greatly influences perceptions of value, status and our competitive desire to attain certain items over others.

Unfortunately, it's also one of the more poorly-applied concepts out there, along with Defaults and Loss Aversion.

‍

Mastering quantity scarcity‍

An airline stating that there's 
“Only 3 seats left” may well be using accurate data and not simply using faux-scarcity to artificially suggest that there's less supply of seats than there actually is.

However, from the user's perspective, the buildup of mistrust around the use of scarcity means cynicism is higher, so one must be careful with information presented.

Similarly, hotel websites telling you that “30 other people are looking at this item” engineer stress to compel people into action without changing supply yet highlighting demand in a manipulative way.

Instead, use quantity scarcity to focus on the craft and high quality of what you're selling.

Make your scarcity feel valuable, not stressful.

‍

Mastering time scarcity

Ensure that any time restriction is highlighted primarily for the purpose of maintaining the quality of your product or service, and not merely to cause stress that could be avoided.

As an example, use time scarcity to launch unique or experimental products that are only available within a particular window (say a week, month or season).

This use of time scarcity is positive and encourages brand exploration, used creatively to highlight your unique value.

There’s a reason this Nugget is #1 in our library.

The concept of Scarcity lies at the core of economics, and greatly influences perceptions of value, status and our competitive desire to attain certain items over others.

Unfortunately, it's also one of the more poorly-applied concepts out there, along with Defaults and Loss Aversion.

‍

Mastering quantity scarcity‍

An airline stating that there's 
“Only 3 seats left” may well be using accurate data and not simply using faux-scarcity to artificially suggest that there's less supply of seats than there actually is.

However, from the user's perspective, the buildup of mistrust around the use of scarcity means cynicism is higher, so one must be careful with information presented.

Similarly, hotel websites telling you that “30 other people are looking at this item” engineer stress to compel people into action without changing supply yet highlighting demand in a manipulative way.

Instead, use quantity scarcity to focus on the craft and high quality of what you're selling.

Make your scarcity feel valuable, not stressful.

‍

Mastering time scarcity

Ensure that any time restriction is highlighted primarily for the purpose of maintaining the quality of your product or service, and not merely to cause stress that could be avoided.

As an example, use time scarcity to launch unique or experimental products that are only available within a particular window (say a week, month or season).

This use of time scarcity is positive and encourages brand exploration, used creatively to highlight your unique value.

146 people were asked to rate identical cookies that were either presented in a jar as scarce or in abundance. They were then asked how likely they would be to want to eat a further cookie.

When scarce, the cookies were rated as more desirable and having a higher value. They were also seen as more valuable when going from an abundant state to scarce than when always scarce.

Scarcity comes in 4 flavors:
Quantity, Time, Access & Rarity.

Control quantity.
‍To increase perceived value of your product, release it in smaller and diminishing quantities, emphasizing its finite nature.

Restrict time.
When the clock is ticking and we’re overwhelmed, we take mental shortcuts that speed up decision-making.

Motivate customers by emphasizing the limited time remaining in which to act.

Limit access.
Restricting access to your products or services will increase desire and perceived value. Do this selectively for certain features and / or customer segments.

For instance, you might want to design valuable, unique rewards that are only unlocked for very special efforts on the part of the customer.

‍

• The Afterlife Effect states that if people are more explicitly shown what the products they are being asked to recycle will become, they will recycle more.

• It's driven by a mix of inspiration, a short story being told and a sense of closure from feedback as to what will happen if they choose to recycle.

• Producers should invest more time in closing this narrative loop to create the aha moment that compels people to recycle.

• The Afterlife Effect can be used to drive new circular economy partnerships and even rewards for the most environmentally-conscious consumers.

Did you know that since plastic was invented in 1907, a staggering 91% of the 8.3bn tonnes produced since has not been recycled (Geyer, Jambeck, and Law 2017)?

It's true that certain companies such as PepsiCo and Evian have already committed to 100%-recycled manufacture by 2020 and 2025, respectively. But more generally, we're still a long way off; plastics recycling actually fell in recent years from 9.5 to 9.1% (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency [EPA] 2018a).

How then might we use our understanding of behavioral economics to improve the policies of government, industries and companies and speed up this process?

So far, a lot of behavioral research has been done on the more negative side of persuasive messaging to affect decisions to recycle (Bilandzic, Kalch, and Soentgen, 2017) which, though effective on some, can come across as coercive and trigger angry reactance in others, reducing its effectiveness (Griskevicius, Cantu, and Van Vugt 2012).

Despite the doom and gloom that surrounds the bigger question of our collective future, how instead might behavioral economics appeal to a more positive, inspirational side of our decision-making?

Well, some brilliant new research has just been released showing us how. It's called the Afterlife Effect, part of a growing trend of more positive behavioral nudges that you'll start to see a lot more of in future.

The concept

The researchers propose a new, positive way of increasing recycling that focuses on the story of what happens to old products after they've been recycled and what they turn into.

What lies at the core of these stories told? Inspiration, defined as an awareness of a new idea or concept that we didn't know before, so-called "aha moments" ("Oh, so that's what the cups become!"), followed by a new-found motivation to act on it ("That's so cool. It's great to see the impact of my recycling").

This short story provides a powerful, positive and understandable feedback loop as to why we should recycle.

Let's take a look at the research that demonstrates this concept to see the effect on people's recycling.

The research

Study 1 - Showing how a product's afterlife can boost recycling behavior

111 people were split into two core groups (a control and a product afterlife condition) and asked to perform a 'mind-clearing task' of doodling on a sheet of paper.

All were then shown one of three advertisements for product recycling (shown below) and asked to rate it for how likely they'd be to recycle.

They were then asked to clean away their desks, putting their paper either in a recycling container or the trash.

The results fascinatingly showed that those that saw the control with no afterlife information recycled their paper 51% of the time, whereas those in the Afterlife condition recycled 80% of the time! A staggering increase.

Study 2 - Higher click-throughs for ads with product afterlife

The researchers also wanted to see what impact the Afterlife Effect would have on click-throughs on a real advertising campaign.

They worked with clothing company Madewell, who were running a jeans recycling campaign at the time, where old jeans would be turned into household insulation.

Two Google Adwords variants were set up to test to see if the effect held both with and without the Afterlife Effect applied.

After running the campaign for 5 days, the researchers found that click-throughs were significantly higher (26%) for the Afterlife ad over the control (18%), even without any optimization!

The paper lists a further four studies that show the impact of the Afterlife Effect on decision-making.

In summary, given the urgency to act, there is a strong motivation to find new ways to help people to change their environmental consumer behavior.

Using storytelling, feedback loops and triggering inspiration in people can act as a much more positive and powerful motivator for behavior change that won't trigger negative reactions.

• The Afterlife Effect states that if people are more explicitly shown what the products they are being asked to recycle will become, they will recycle more.

• It's driven by a mix of inspiration, a short story being told and a sense of closure from feedback as to what will happen if they choose to recycle.

• Producers should invest more time in closing this narrative loop to create the aha moment that compels people to recycle.

• The Afterlife Effect can be used to drive new circular economy partnerships and even rewards for the most environmentally-conscious consumers.

Did you know that since plastic was invented in 1907, a staggering 91% of the 8.3bn tonnes produced since has not been recycled (Geyer, Jambeck, and Law 2017)?

It's true that certain companies such as PepsiCo and Evian have already committed to 100%-recycled manufacture by 2020 and 2025, respectively. But more generally, we're still a long way off; plastics recycling actually fell in recent years from 9.5 to 9.1% (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency [EPA] 2018a).

How then might we use our understanding of behavioral economics to improve the policies of government, industries and companies and speed up this process?

So far, a lot of behavioral research has been done on the more negative side of persuasive messaging to affect decisions to recycle (Bilandzic, Kalch, and Soentgen, 2017) which, though effective on some, can come across as coercive and trigger angry reactance in others, reducing its effectiveness (Griskevicius, Cantu, and Van Vugt 2012).

Despite the doom and gloom that surrounds the bigger question of our collective future, how instead might behavioral economics appeal to a more positive, inspirational side of our decision-making?

Well, some brilliant new research has just been released showing us how. It's called the Afterlife Effect, part of a growing trend of more positive behavioral nudges that you'll start to see a lot more of in future.

The concept

The researchers propose a new, positive way of increasing recycling that focuses on the story of what happens to old products after they've been recycled and what they turn into.

What lies at the core of these stories told? Inspiration, defined as an awareness of a new idea or concept that we didn't know before, so-called "aha moments" ("Oh, so that's what the cups become!"), followed by a new-found motivation to act on it ("That's so cool. It's great to see the impact of my recycling").

This short story provides a powerful, positive and understandable feedback loop as to why we should recycle.

Let's take a look at the research that demonstrates this concept to see the effect on people's recycling.

The research

Study 1 - Showing how a product's afterlife can boost recycling behavior

111 people were split into two core groups (a control and a product afterlife condition) and asked to perform a 'mind-clearing task' of doodling on a sheet of paper.

All were then shown one of three advertisements for product recycling (shown below) and asked to rate it for how likely they'd be to recycle.

They were then asked to clean away their desks, putting their paper either in a recycling container or the trash.

The results fascinatingly showed that those that saw the control with no afterlife information recycled their paper 51% of the time, whereas those in the Afterlife condition recycled 80% of the time! A staggering increase.

Study 2 - Higher click-throughs for ads with product afterlife

The researchers also wanted to see what impact the Afterlife Effect would have on click-throughs on a real advertising campaign.

They worked with clothing company Madewell, who were running a jeans recycling campaign at the time, where old jeans would be turned into household insulation.

Two Google Adwords variants were set up to test to see if the effect held both with and without the Afterlife Effect applied.

After running the campaign for 5 days, the researchers found that click-throughs were significantly higher (26%) for the Afterlife ad over the control (18%), even without any optimization!

The paper lists a further four studies that show the impact of the Afterlife Effect on decision-making.

In summary, given the urgency to act, there is a strong motivation to find new ways to help people to change their environmental consumer behavior.

Using storytelling, feedback loops and triggering inspiration in people can act as a much more positive and powerful motivator for behavior change that won't trigger negative reactions.

111 people were split into two groups and asked to perform a mind-clearing task of doodling on a sheet of paper.

People who were shown the afterlife information (doodled paper being recycled into a new paper or a guitar) were more likely to recycle their paper than those who were not given this information (control).

‍Close the loop with a simple, inspiring story.

Consumers value the powerful stories told by products made from recycled material (Kamleitner, Thuerridl, and Martin 2019).

Get people to think about the transformative effects of turning old products into new ones with a story.

For instance, UK retailer Marks & Spencer is now rolling out a scheme where you can recycle any plastic in-store to be turned into shop fixtures and playground equipment for schools. They could use the box to show off the intended afterlife to inspire customers, as shown here.

If you sell a physical product, how can you build in and communicate the story of its afterlife?

Positivity is persuasive!

We are seeing a growing trend away from negative interventions (Moller, Ryan, and Deci 2006) with new research showing that positive, inspirational nudges can be more effective in motivating behavior change!

Although triggering Loss Aversion, for instance, can be effective, you may see greater results with a positive nudge.

How might you use inspirational nudges over negative, shaming ones in an environmental context?

Make it timely.

Organisations and Governments can also do a better job of motivating recycling at the point of disposal with the Afterlife Effect.

Recycling rates will be increased if we can see, at the point of disposal, what our efforts will turn into.

Consider tie-ups with complementary products / brands.

Though Nespresso recycle the aluminium from their coffee pods, they currently have no Afterlife Effect in place.

They could alternatively use recycled materials to make some of the complementary metal-based products on their site and gift them to those with a decent level of recycling.

Information has a wonderful way of looking very different, depending on how it’s communicated.

From turning glasses half empty into those half-full, as Designers, we have a great role to play in using framing to help people see things differently and hopefully, for the better too.

Framing is one of your most powerful behavioral tools. Everything can be reframed, depending on what you want.

For example, online second-hand clothing marketplace Vinted has devised a clever strategy to reframe the commonly-used “Service Fee” as a “Buyer protection fee”.

‍
By reframing it as buyer protection and clearly communicating how this amount is calculated, this assurance goes beyond merely paying for the item.

Now, customers will also feel confident that they’re taking extra steps towards safeguarding their purchase.

Information has a wonderful way of looking very different, depending on how it’s communicated.

From turning glasses half empty into those half-full, as Designers, we have a great role to play in using framing to help people see things differently and hopefully, for the better too.

Framing is one of your most powerful behavioral tools. Everything can be reframed, depending on what you want.

For example, online second-hand clothing marketplace Vinted has devised a clever strategy to reframe the commonly-used “Service Fee” as a “Buyer protection fee”.

‍
By reframing it as buyer protection and clearly communicating how this amount is calculated, this assurance goes beyond merely paying for the item.

Now, customers will also feel confident that they’re taking extra steps towards safeguarding their purchase.

96 people were told they’d be given some ground beef to taste, with half told it’d be  “25% fat” (negative frame) and half told it’d be “75% lean” (positive frame). They were then asked to rate the quality of the beef out of 7.

‍Those presented with a positive frame rated the beef as higher quality than those presented with a negative one.

Create a frame using context, words or imagery to help others  to see things according to your needs. 

Wildly different perceptions are made possible by reframing the same evidence.

Reframe statistics as factually-accurate positives against competitors. 

Facts are dramatically reinterpreted when set amongst different data. 

• Create an opportunity to act.

We’re more likely to take up a special offer when the marketing message is framed as a potential loss than a gain (Gamliel and Herstein, 2012).