733 new employees of a health company used a single opt-in process to subscribe to a retirement plan. Results were compared to a multi-step phone process used with 455 and 407  employees from the two previous years.

Participation rates were 5% after one month and 8% after three months. With the new process, they rose to 19% and 35% respectively.

Perform a friction audit.

Identify all the hurdles and delays your user may feel while using your product and attempt to minimise them. How many barriers to a near-effortless user experience can you find?

Adding friction can help people from making mistakes.

Add barriers to counter System 1 mode, prompting users for conscious reflection to validate important information (e.g. monetary transactions). What strategic friction can you create?

Add friction to make waiting times feel shorter.

Houston airport reduced the number of luggage waiting times complaints by moving the luggage area further away so that passengers spent more time walking and less time waiting.

Remove friction but highlight effort.

Our willingness to pay for something increases by knowing how much work is done for us. We pay more for a cup of coffee if we see the barista working on it for several minutes.

77 people were asked to choose between an entirely certain win of $30 and an uncertain 80% chance of winning $45.

78% of people opted for the significantly smaller, certain reward, despite the risk-adjusted payout being higher for the uncertain reward (0.8 * $45 = $36).

Certainty is valued highly.‍

What ways can your business create reassurance or guarantees that make consumers feel safe?  How can you use exclusive certainty to reward and foster a sense of status with your brand?

Stick to your promises!

Letting consumers down, even once, will trigger uncertainty in the quality perceptions of your brand. If making claims about being the best at something, don’t ever give consumers reason to question that and turn a selling point into an unsustainable headache.

Reframe uncertain offers to appear certain.‍

The uncertain frame here requires consumers to calculate proportional savings, but the certain frame removes this by showing certainty of a zero-priced third lemon.

36 children, young adults and adults were asked to choose between a delayed reward of $1,000 and a number of smaller ones now.

All were quick to accept smaller rewards now over a larger delayed one. The longer the delay, the less perceived value the reward had, so $1,000 next week felt equal to $900 today but $1,000 in five years felt like $600 today.

Embrace the power of now.

‍Immediate gains are valued more greatly than those far off. Similarly, far-off costs seem less painful. Amazon heighten the immediate gain by taking a hit now, for longer term business payoff.

Where in your business can you capitalize upon 'the now'?

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Prevent impulsive financial or health decisions by:

• Reframing future rewards around time (by stating a specific date) or by surfacing the painful zero outcomes of short-term choices (Wu & He, 2012).

• Goal Priming. Painting a vivid, personal, emotional picture of someone's future reality will boost their ability to make longer-term decisions now.

Dissuade from inferior choices today with a lock-in for tomorrow

This is when a choice now locks in a set of future inferior outcomes, aggregating any gains and forcing a stronger consideration of less impulsive choices. 

90 people were asked to solve 50 puzzles in either 10 or 40 minutes. A time-saving notification stating that “This question isn’t worth any points. Press A to skip” would pop up for half the puzzles.

Results showed that the time-scarce group ironically were more likely to miss the time-saving notifications due to their heightened focus on task completion.

‍Time Scarcity increases conversion under a few conditions

Make sure your use of it is on-brand, authentic and not overly-aggressive to avoid harming long-term trust and loyalty.

A big clock with red flashing text may boost sales in the short-term but risks damaging brand perceptions in the longer term and will lead to Reactance in the more behaviorally-aware and in more mature markets with stronger competition. 

Use time windows for excitement.

Particularly for experiments with new ideas or for seasonal Limited Editions. Starbucks’ Unicorn Frappucino was on sale for 5 days only. It sold out in just 3 and generated 160,000 Instagram posts. 

Develop novel ways of saving people time.

‍People who spend money on time-saving purchases report greater life satisfaction (Whillans et al, 2017). 

Amazon and Sainsbury’s are exploring no-queue, no-till shopping. Just scan on the app and leave. How can you free up even a few minutes of our most precious commodity?

We call Reciprocity the glue that binds us as a society.

No surprise then that it’s a powerful tool to help people make decisions that are both pro-social and a win-win.

When the Behavioural Insights Team were asked by the UK Government to increase the rates of job-seekers turning up to interviews, they applied the principle of Reciprocity to boost rates.

They changed the text message being sent out from:



“You’ve been booked an interview at Tesco on Friday at 10am”

to:

“Dave,
‍

I’ve booked you an interview at Tesco on Friday at 10am. 


Good luck. 


Roxy”

This shift from a passive tone of voice to an active tone, where Roxy had done something kind for you (and you then wanted to reciprocate by turning up), increased attendance from 10% up to a whopping 27%.

We call Reciprocity the glue that binds us as a society.

No surprise then that it’s a powerful tool to help people make decisions that are both pro-social and a win-win.

When the Behavioural Insights Team were asked by the UK Government to increase the rates of job-seekers turning up to interviews, they applied the principle of Reciprocity to boost rates.

They changed the text message being sent out from:



“You’ve been booked an interview at Tesco on Friday at 10am”

to:

“Dave,
‍

I’ve booked you an interview at Tesco on Friday at 10am. 


Good luck. 


Roxy”

This shift from a passive tone of voice to an active tone, where Roxy had done something kind for you (and you then wanted to reciprocate by turning up), increased attendance from 10% up to a whopping 27%.

407 pedestrians in Brittany, France were approached by a young woman and asked to complete a survey. Before the request, half were offered candy and the other half were not.

The results found that people - especially women - were far more likely to reciprocate and answer the survey after receiving a gift than when not.

Act first.‍

Find ways to initiate reciprocity with consumers.  Merely asking those satisfied to go tell their friends will work (Söderlund et al., 2015).

Make it a ‘common habit’.

When we’re told that a behavior is a social norm shared by others, we’re more likely to reciprocate. Households in USA and India consume significantly less electricity when told that their neighbors are consuming less (Sudarshan, 2014). In the long-term, any consistent, successful behaviors will be adopted as the default for others.

Do it in person.

Reciprocation appears to be more powerful when requests from strangers are made face to face rather than online. This is due to the persuasive impact of immediacy that physicality affords, the higher levels of digital suspicion and the sheer number of emails people receive (Meier, 2016).

The food choices of 89 people both dieting and not dieting were analyzed in a cafe. Diners were given a menu with either information highlighting low-calorie options or not (the control).

Results showed that dieters primed with the reminder of their future goal consistently made healthier food choices than unprimed dieters.

Who is the target group?

‍They could be people who are motivated to protect the environment, improve productivity at work or improve the quality of their lives. Note: they must have already stated a desire for this goal. Your prime will merely aim to nudge their existing Commitment to meeting their own aspirations.

Where can you trigger these long-term motivations?

As well as environment, timing also matters, so make sure that you do so very close to the actual decision point, i.e. at the start of a meeting, at the ordering counter or on the inside of a restroom door.

Boost with the Spacing Effect.

What's the specific behaviour that you're allowing them to perform to help move them towards their long term goal?

It has to be obvious and easy to do, such as clearly identifying an eco-friendly substitute, bolting on a salad or opting for an equally-priced, dairy-free option.

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.

11k people were offered a new job that had a 50% chance of doubling income for life, but it wasn't without risk, with an equal chance of it falling by either 20, 33 or 50%. Questioning started with the 33% gamble; if people took it, they were asked if they’d take the bigger 50% gamble too. But if they didn’t, they were asked about the smaller 20% one.

Results put people into four risk categories showing the majority were not willing to take any risk at all.

Focus on an improvement metric. 

We prefer the certainty of what we’re used to, so the benefits of switching to a new product need to feel substantial.

Outline a goal (relative performance, efficiency etc.) to anchor your product strategy around.

Doing so will reduce uncertainty and boost comparisons against better-known, lower risk alternatives.

Offer a trial or free sample...

...to create familiarity and reduce the risk around a new product.

This sets the cost of new product usage at zero, during which the consumer will adjust their future preferences.

Utilize your brand umbrella.

For any new sub-brands, reduce risk by clearly indicating the relationship to existing, familiar brands you own (Erdem, 1998).  

Product brands take note. Risk aversion is higher for material purchases than for experiential ones such as restaurant meals or holidays (Roche et al., 2015).

682 colonoscopy patients were split into two groups, with one undergoing a longer procedure but with a period of less discomfort added on at the end.

After, patients were asked to recall the total pain felt. The peak-end group reported 10% less pain and a 10% increase in attending a follow-up procedure.

How do you want to be remembered in customers’ eyes?‍

How do you want to leave them feeling? What little touches can you add to your product or service to leave customers feeling amazing and want to share with their network?

Create a Customer Journey Map

Identify positive experiential opportunities to exploit and painful weaknesses to remedy.

Some pains may be small or cheap to fix, yet play a big part in a person’s memory.

Negative experiences are a hidden opportunity...

...to re-establish a positive peak and / or end. Things will go wrong, whoever’s at fault, so allow flexibility and an authentic humanity to surface, not just to save the relationship but to allow the brand to shine.

Handle a problem well enough and that’s what customers will remember, not the problem itself.

40 students were taught a topic and either given the respective homework once instantly or 3 times over the next 3 weeks. They then had an exam a month later.

Those who had the homework spaced out over time performed much better in the exam than those who were asked to do it immediately  after learning.

Spread out the learning.

‍Research shows that spaced repetition is the most robust means of learning but is rarely used by companies. Most knowledge is delivered once and forgotten, wasting money and time. Develop shorter learnings spread over time, using different tools, both digital and physical.

Use it or lose it.

‍Knowledge only sticks when we use it. After reading a book chapter, summarize learnings into bullet points, a list of actions, or even better, become the teacher. Blinkist could send some simple interactive questions after readers have finished a book. Use Slack app QuickQuiz to follow up Lunch & Learns with a Tiny Habit of bite-size questions. 

Make progress trackable.

‍Learnings apps like Duolingo and Memrise create powerful Feedback Loops through points systems, daily goals and leaderboards to create positive reinforcement. Tracking progress gives us a sense of growth and improvement.

42 people were either asked to make 35  'A or B' choices that would inform the design of an educational course they were attending, or instead to just read the course material. Both were then tasked with solving math puzzles and were timed until they gave up.

Those who had to make the choices beforehand persisted for less time on the puzzles and also got fewer right.

Protect your decision capacity.

Prioritize your day around and take breaks before making harder decisions. For example, restaurant inspectors can reduce errors by scrutinizing sites at higher risk of failure at the start of the day (Ibanez & Toffel, 2017).

Create product contrast.

‍When no option in a set offers a distinct advantage from the others, we're most at risk of not choosing at all (Dhar, 1997). How can you improve your choice architecture to offer variety that actually makes deciding easier? 

‍

Order matters for revenue.

‍Prospective Audi owners given a high number of customization options early on more readily accepted, higher-priced defaults in later steps (Levav, 2010). Though be careful not to trigger Reactance by pre-selecting defaults that are seen as too expensive.

‍

Faced with a set of options, when we’re not sure what’s the “right” choice, Defaults offer a helpful guide.

They help people avoid expending vast amounts of cognitive energy to decide between what could be a large number of options.

This is especially the case for those who don’t know much about the products or services, where Default options can take away the fear of getting that first decision wrong.

They're also a powerful remedy to any potential Analysis Paralysis, and are particularly helpful when making multiple choices one after the other.

Consider that you’re buying a computer, with a range of possible customisations to various parts.

If there were no default choices set, we’d quickly become overwhelmed with what was the right choice in each step.

If you have complicated product ranges or customisations, are you setting helpful Defaults? If you are, think hard about whether these need improving to reduce effort further.

But also, a word of warning.

Defaults can be terribly misused to force people into decisions that they don’t want.

Take people down the wrong path and you’ll quickly trigger Reactance; an angry feeling where people will want to reclaim their independence, often doing the opposite of what you Default them to.

Ensure that your Defaults have peoples’ own intentions in mind and don’t deviate too far from what people would do of their own choosing.  

What Defaults are you setting? How can these be improved to help smooth out decision-making and guide people to better  outcomes, either for themselves (e.g. helping them save more money) or for the wider group (e.g. defaulting meeting times to 15 minutes instead of 30).

Defaults are set everywhere. They’re powerful and have a big influence on behavior with little effort.

Faced with a set of options, when we’re not sure what’s the “right” choice, Defaults offer a helpful guide.

They help people avoid expending vast amounts of cognitive energy to decide between what could be a large number of options.

This is especially the case for those who don’t know much about the products or services, where Default options can take away the fear of getting that first decision wrong.

They're also a powerful remedy to any potential Analysis Paralysis, and are particularly helpful when making multiple choices one after the other.

Consider that you’re buying a computer, with a range of possible customisations to various parts.

If there were no default choices set, we’d quickly become overwhelmed with what was the right choice in each step.

If you have complicated product ranges or customisations, are you setting helpful Defaults? If you are, think hard about whether these need improving to reduce effort further.

But also, a word of warning.

Defaults can be terribly misused to force people into decisions that they don’t want.

Take people down the wrong path and you’ll quickly trigger Reactance; an angry feeling where people will want to reclaim their independence, often doing the opposite of what you Default them to.

Ensure that your Defaults have peoples’ own intentions in mind and don’t deviate too far from what people would do of their own choosing.  

What Defaults are you setting? How can these be improved to help smooth out decision-making and guide people to better  outcomes, either for themselves (e.g. helping them save more money) or for the wider group (e.g. defaulting meeting times to 15 minutes instead of 30).

Defaults are set everywhere. They’re powerful and have a big influence on behavior with little effort.

161 people were told that they’d just moved to a new US state and that here, the default was (or wasn’t) to be an organ donor. They were then asked to accept or change this donation status.

Results showed that only 42% donated when the default was to opt out, but 82% when defaulted to opt in.

Defaults are powerful. They’re chosen because consumers take mental shortcuts (especially when tired) and because there’s implied trust that they’re the ‘right’ choice. Defaults also act as a reference point against better or worse options. (Dinner et al., 2011). 

Defaults can be set around anything: from the standard package you offer to new subscribers, to the pre-set top-up amount for your mobile wallet, to whether each order of pizza should come with salad. Each default can dramatically affect conversion levels and behavior.

Get the balance. Ensure your defaults feel natural and in line with consumer aspirations. The more extreme the default you set (i.e. defaulting to the most expensive option), the more effort consumers will expend weighing up the cognitive / emotional costs of not choosing the default, impacting their experience and reducing overall trust.

300 customers at a car wash were split into two groups and given one of two different loyalty cards for a free wash upon completion: either one with space for 8 stamps or one for 10 (with 2 spaces pre-stamped).

Despite both cards requiring the same amount of effort, completion of the non-pre-stamped 8 card over a 9-month period was only 19% whereas the pre-stamped 10-card was 34%.

Get them started. Endow progress with a fraction of points, stars or a brand-specific measure. Make sure you endow enough to motivate use, aiming for between 10-25% of the total effort required for the first reward.  As well as helping with initial effort, make the reward itself substantial and meaningful to assist habit-forming.

Never endow at the end. The closer we are to a goal, the more we value our own internal efforts to complete it. Doing so on their behalf will devalue existing effort, perceived reward value and reduce loyalty strength.

Make it seamless. In Christmas 2013, 1 in 8 Americans got a Starbucks Gift Card. On redemption they were automatically endowed with progress in the form of loyalty stars, creating 1.5m new loyalty members as a result. How can you seamlessly channel gift customers through to your loyalty scheme?

105 people were shown an online promotional offer, with the final offer value of 40% revealed either immediately or only at checkout.

Those in the extended curiosity condition were more likely to buy with the promotion than those who were told of the offer value immediately.

…curiosity will always be effective.

A recent campaign by Cancer Research UK to fill missing letters of the second-most common cause of cancer led to a 22% increase in its awareness. 

How can you use curiosity to drive a desire to learn about a new product or important message?

Create positive curiosity.

Vacation company srprs.me let you choose the number of people, dates and continent. You then get a scratch card to reveal your destination…but only at the airport!

‍

Use to convert free to paid.

‍Popular dating app Bumble uses curiosity to drive conversions. People who’ve already liked you are shown, but with their faces pixelated and no further information shown. Users are then prompted to buy BumbleBoost to close the information void.

212 Iowan households had their energy use tracked for a year with the aim of reducing it. Half who agreed to reduce were told their name would be shown publicly in the local paper.

Those publicly committing demonstrated a 15.5% larger average reduction in energy use over winter.

Anchor any request with a leading question that supports others’ positive judgements of themselves or their past decisions.

Start with a small request that allows the respondent to remain consistent with their answer to this question. Commitments are self-reinforcing and build over time, so build slowly on this initial commitment with further, larger requests such as a future product purchase.

Make it public. Declaring an opinion to others on a subject or product will compel consumers to remain consistent with and even strengthen this opinion in future, especially if written down. e.g. asking others to tweet why they love a product will strengthen attachment to it, as well as fostering social proof for others.

47 subjects were given around 20 small, manual tasks to complete, one at a time. Experimenters randomly interrupted completion of half of these tasks. After, subjects were asked to recall as many tasks as possible.

There was a 90% higher recall of incomplete and interrupted tasks than those completed.

Make important task completion frictionless. If customers leave your site without finishing their order, make it effortlessly easy to get that completion feeling, such as allowing for completion with a single click, tap or swipe. 

Focus on completion’s emotional release. Providing reward incentives for task completion actually demotivates consumers. Instead, remind them not just of the product they’ve not yet bought, but of the feelings that this ‘purchase task’ will unlock. 

Make known campaigns incomplete and interactive. Greater familiarity with an advert increases consumer ability to complete an interrupted ad message. Active participation also boosts ad memory (Heller, 1956). So if your popular campaign’s reaching its end, consider a special second follow-up version that allows for active participation in completing the ad message. 

218 people were split into 3 groups, given either a coffee mug or a chocolate bar and told they could swap their item for the other; or given neither and told they could choose either.

Those who’d been endowed with either item were far more likely to stick with it than those who were given neither.

Perceived ownership is powerful, allowing consumers to attribute increased value and emotional connection on what you’re offering, creating a strong desire to buy that increases over time.

It’s driven by a price gap between how much we’re willing to pay for an item and the price we’re willing to sell it for. This is due to a mix of Loss Aversion, Framing (i.e. buyer or seller) and the evolutionary advantage of overvaluing our tradable possessions. Doing so increases our resources and chances of survival.   

‍

Allow people to feel ownership of a product prior to purchase. Examples include: making it effortless to add that product to their basket, visually personalizing a product early in the ordering process, highlighting how soon it could be at your door or allowing free week-long test drives of that car you’ve always wanted.

249 supermarket customers were invited to one of two tables, displaying either 24 jams or 6 jams. They were then asked how attractive the jams were and observed as to whether they bought one.

The results found that though customers considered the 24 jams more attractive, they were far more likely to buy when there were only 6 jams to choose from.

Reduce choice difficulty. If customers are time-poor, reduce the number of dimensions along which your products are compared. Present choices in an organised, non-random order, especially with visual layouts. 

Tidy up choice relationships. Highlight one dominant option, align the attributes along which products are compared, and eliminate products from your range that overly complement each other to decrease deferral and increase purchase likelihood.

Adapt to product expertise. Who is your audience? To what extent can they weigh up the benefits of each possible choice? Experts prefer more choice and the lesser-informed crave less.

Build around intent & focus. Intent: are they buying or merely browsing? If browsing, they’re not making a decision, and are less likely to feel overloaded. Focus: a single purchase or a bundle? Bundlers want more options, but Singles want fewer.

205 people were shown a description of a digital camera printed in a font that was either easy to read (high fluency) or hard (low fluency).

Results found that when easy to read, only 56% delayed choosing the camera, next to 71% when hard. Why? Fluency breeds familiarity, which we value greatly, because it’s unlikely to be harmful (Zajonc, 1968).

Keep it short. Whether for marketing, nudges or political persuading, low syllable, easy-to-conceptualize slogans will feel dramatically more intuitive for consumers. Next to a competing message, they’ll believe the one that’s easier to understand (Schooler & Hertwig, 2005).

Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. The mere act of repeating your message will increase its familiarity, which itself increases the extent to which it’s seen as true (Reber & Schwarz, 1999). Keep it consistent across your team and put it everywhere.

Keep product benefits concise. Consumers actually like a product less the more positive traits they bring to mind (Menon & Raghubir, 2003).  This is because they start to associate your product with greater complexity and lower fluency. 

150 teachers  in Chicago were either offered a cash incentive up front or after their students’ math test, with better results leading to more money. Subject to results, the money-up-front group would suffer deductions for unmet targets to create a feeling of loss aversion.

Teachers receiving  money up front were found to have much better results than those rewarded at the end.

Increase conversion with trial offers. Though some consumers might not be willing to pay the market price for your product, they may pay the market price to avoid it being taken away.

Offer delayed payments to shift consumers’ judgements from paying to get the product to paying to avoid losing it. For instance, a month delay in paying subscription fees. This means that any extra budgetary cost is then re-estimated as a question of how it can be fitted into an existing budget.

Replace faulty products immediately with an identical or superior model (Novemsky & Kahneman, 2005). Doing it quickly will limit the pain of loss aversion, which builds over time (Strahilevitz and Loewenstein, 1998).

34 people were split into 3 groups and each told to unscramble a list of either rude, polite or neutral words. After, they were told to see the researcher, who was engaged in a fake discussion with a peer. They were then timed with how long it took before they interrupted.

63% of those primed with rude words interrupted within 10 minutes, compared to only 18% of the polite group.

Prime with words that highlight the positive emotional effect of using your goods or services. For example, Spotify could prime users of its Discover Weekly playlist by using words that highlight its uniqueness or repeat gift-giving benefits.

Combine with images Coca Cola created an advert in Italy called ‘Open the happy can’ that primed potential buyers with a simple smile that was revealed upon opening. This was done in order to create an associative link between happiness and drink consumption, as well as providing a means of positive feedback for the consumer. 

 Keep it subtle. Prime too aggressively and the effect will weaken, or even lead to an unwanted Contrast Effect, where we’ll subconsciously reject and seek out opposites to the prime.

58 households in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania had their fruit and veg shopping monitored for 8 weeks. Half were offered a 50% discount reward on all fruit and veg purchased and half were not.

Results showed that the reward increased healthy food purchasing behavior from 6.4 to 16.7 servings of fruit and veg  on average per week per household.

Rewards come in two types: Extrinsic and Intrinsic. 

‍Extrinsic rewards are economic: pay, discounts, working conditions, gold stars, healthcare, promotions etc. 

Intrinsic rewards are emotional, coming from a sense of achievement through skill and hard work, unplanned verbal praise from authority figures, and peer recognition.

Too much extrinsic will lessen internal motivation as it’s seen as controlling, especially if they’re later removed (Murayama et al., 2010). Ensure that they’re significant enough to motivate against task boredom (Hidi, 2015) and are in line with the market needs of employees / customers.

Focus on rewarding intrinsically - seen as a superior reward (Deci et al., 1999) - with greater levels of trust, choice and freedom to make one’s own decisions. You’ll be rewarded with a more motivated, loyal following as a result.

100 people were split into groups and shown a list of sayings about human behavior that either rhymed or didn’t (e.g. “Woes unite foes”  or “Fools live poor to die rich”). They were then asked how accurate the sayings were.

Those in the rhyming group believed their sayings to be more true than those in the non-rhyming group.

A little play to make them pay.

‍Where can you use rhymes to heighten belief and persuade in a playful way?

Combine with the Humor Effect and a short jingle for an extra boost.

Repeat to defeat.

‍Fluency Shortcut says that short, easy-to-understand sentences are believed and repeated more.

Where can you use short rhymes to speed up familiarity of new ideas and create memorable vocal repeatability?

Localize to vocalize.

‍Consider the 1970s ad in the UK by vacuum manufacturer Electrolux. Though the claim might have been true, 'to suck' more isn't always a good thing.

However, the negative meaning hadn't yet entered British English, so rhymes can be crimes, but only in certain climes!

408 people were shown one of three versions of a shampoo advert. The control just had the words “Say bye-bye to your dandruff” with an image of a couple. The two metaphor versions both had “You may erase anything unwanted” with either an eraser (implicit) or the bottle of shampoo (explicit) rubbing out words on a blackboard.

Results showed greater purchase intentions for the product with either metaphorical ad.

Leverage our existing understanding of the world for new ideas or concepts. Complicated ideas are best understood through existing ones. What analogies can you draw that your customers can relate to?

Easy metaphors aren’t always best. Research has found that metaphors with a little complexity are fun and act as a mild problem to solve. Use with Curiosity and Humor.

Reserve this for known brands or products; for new or abstract technology, keep metaphor complexity low.

Metaphors come in different flavors:

Juxtapositions: two images next to one another;

‍Fusions: mixing two concepts into a single one; or

‍Replacements: switching one thing for another. 

Just make sure that you harness real world understanding to help ground your new idea. 

243 people were split into four groups and asked about the attractiveness of one of two types of chocolate truffle at one of two prices (Hersheys at 0¢ or 1¢ or Lindt at 13¢ or 14¢).

Those in the zero-priced truffle group felt disproportionately more attracted to their truffle than those in all other truffle groups.

Replace very low cost with free.

‍Amazon famously rolled out free shipping in Europe, sales rose everywhere but France, where shipping was mistakenly set at 10¢. What small costs are you passing on to consumers?

In line with Prospect Theory, it may be better to bundle ‘the pain’ within a larger cost.

Communicate what is free.

‍Consider surfacing bundled, previously hidden value that you offer, actively highlighting the zero cost in marketing material and on invoices etc.

Nudge with small charges.

‍The flip side of zero-pricing is that incurring even a small cost quietly impacts our decisions.

If you're trying to change behaviour, imposing a small discomfort can disproportionately assist.

11,912 members of a gym were surveyed over 442 days for their attendance.

Results showed that, next to the baseline, the probability of people going to the gym increased at the beginning of the week, month and semester, showing our higher in-built level of motivation at the start of new time periods.

Motivate around fresh start moments. 

How can you help people achieve their dreams by communicating around multiple time chunks, such as the start of the week, month or year, or even personal events like birthdays, graduations or job changes? 

‍

Target one-shots.

‍Fresh starts are particularly good at helping people make one-off decisions that perhaps they'd been delaying, such as getting that flu jab. What single task can you help people do around new time periods?

Use to overcome failures.

‍There are countless fresh start opportunities to help people who have let good habits slip. Frame it as a "new you", which gives an opportunity to separate themselves from past failures. Get them started by being empathic and having them Commit to a Tiny Habit.

375 mountain hikers were approached as they passed a cheese sales counter and asked to buy a large piece, with all rejecting it. They were then offered a piece half in size and cost and split into 4 groups: 1 - Simple DITF;  2 - a verbal concession that large was too big; 3 - credibility by wearing a traditional uniform; and 4 -  2+3 combined.

Purchases were much higher with DITF, especially carried out by a credible salesperson conceding verbally.

Verbally emphasize the concession of the target request over the initial one. This is vital - hearing the salesperson empathize and adjust their request is required for the consumer to reciprocate and accept.

Only use in physical sales situations. It’s unlikely to work where there is no direct contact between buyer and seller (e.g. online auctions), due to the lack of verbal concession and face-to-face interaction. It’s best used in an in-person context where negotiation is key (car showrooms, charitable giving, B2B contracts etc).

Sizes matter. Don’t make your initial request too high, as consumers will use it to justify their rejection of the target request (Wang et al, 1989). Also ensure that the reduction of the target feels significant enough for the consumer to justify a decision change. 

With the rise of wearable devices, personal quantification is easier than ever. It's not a surprise that self-tracking has a large adherence in a competitive, comparative culture where the individual is constantly improving his performance in every possible measure.

But it has a cost.

One of the responsibilities of product creators is to understand and examine the resultant behaviours that modifications to the product design will trigger. By adding certain features or changing their salience, you will inevitably change the behavioural dynamics.

It’s well studied that external rewards undermine intrinsic motivation, but now we know that the act of tracking can also impact it by reminding us of the output, making the activities seem like work. Thus, not everything that can be measured should be measured.

Peter Drucker said “What gets measured gets managed, even when it’s pointless to measure and manage it, and even if it harms the purpose of the organization to do so”.

It’s a warning from the father of management that it’s not often taken to heart, and this study reminds us of it.

With the rise of wearable devices, personal quantification is easier than ever. It's not a surprise that self-tracking has a large adherence in a competitive, comparative culture where the individual is constantly improving his performance in every possible measure.

But it has a cost.

One of the responsibilities of product creators is to understand and examine the resultant behaviours that modifications to the product design will trigger. By adding certain features or changing their salience, you will inevitably change the behavioural dynamics.

It’s well studied that external rewards undermine intrinsic motivation, but now we know that the act of tracking can also impact it by reminding us of the output, making the activities seem like work. Thus, not everything that can be measured should be measured.

Peter Drucker said “What gets measured gets managed, even when it’s pointless to measure and manage it, and even if it harms the purpose of the organization to do so”.

It’s a warning from the father of management that it’s not often taken to heart, and this study reminds us of it.

95 university students spent the day leisurely walking. In the measurement group they were given the choice to wear a pedometer. In the control group, everyone used a sealed shut pedometer. Afterwards, they rated how much they enjoyed walking.

Measuring led participants to walk more but decreased how much they enjoyed it – even for those who chose to be measured.

Consider what you want your users to feel.

While measurement may improve performance, it comes at the expense of enjoyment. By adding a measurement option, the behaviour will feel like work instead of fun.

Understand why users engage in an activity when deciding whether to measure it.

Sometimes the benefit of achieving more may outweigh the cost of users enjoying the experience. Does the end you’re looking to achieve justify the means of measuring its progress?

Switch the motivation type by becoming pro-social and giving meaning to the measurement.

For example: If you reduce your calories, you could send the equivalent of those excess calories to someone in need of food.

Prior data can set reference points that demotivate us

Our personal motivation can suffer in the face of prior data, setting unhelpful reference points about future expected efforts.

For instance, consider the following: "I can see that I ran 10k 3 times in a row, so if I don't run 10k this time, I feel that I'm doing worse. But I just don't feel like I can do 10k today, so I won't go at all."

However, in absolute terms, you're doing more in total by doing any more running at all, whether that's 1k, or even 100m, so you're best off ignoring the data and doing *something*.

A good counterbalance to this is to focus instead on the *experience* that running provides. This removes the quantifiable reference point and frees us to just enjoy the act for what it is. And who knows, maybe we'll end up running longer than 10k in the process!

172 people were told of a fundraiser called Sheila who needed to sell 100 candy bars for her sports team and told she had to sell either 1 or 21 more bars to meet her quota. They were then asked how likely they were to buy a candy from her.

Those in the almost-complete task state were far more likely to help than when there were many left.

Visualize to motivate.

‍Showing quantifiable task progress  with a visual and numerical indicator will increase completion speed (Cheema & Bagchi, 2011).  

How can you heighten desire to close in on the reward?

Note that effort levels will fall after the current reward has been attained, so reframe progress around the next goal.

Be ahead of the curve. 

‍Endow Progress and put more weight on task completion at the start than when close to the goal. 

Place easier tasks at start and middle, saving harder or bigger ones for just before reward.

Reframe task size.

‍Motivation to complete a task is directly proportionate to its size. So, for viewers new to Breaking Bad, instead of Netflix initially highlighting all 5 seasons, reframe the task as a single season with a sense of completion.

Once season 1 is watched, reframe season 2 as a natural extension of 1 but distinct from 3-5.

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). 

During decision making, anchoring occurs when individuals use an initial piece of information to make subsequent judgments.

Once an anchor is set, other judgements are made by adjusting away from that anchor, and there is a bias toward interpreting other information around the anchor.

For example, the initial price offered for a used car sets the standard for the rest of the negotiations, so that prices lower than the initial price seem more reasonable, even if they're still higher than what the car is really worth.

Studies have shown that anchoring is very difficult to avoid.

For example, in one study students were given anchors that were obviously wrong. They were asked whether Mahatma Gandhi died before or after age 9, or before or after age 140.

Clearly neither of these anchors are correct, but the two groups still guessed significantly differently (choosing an average age of 50 vs. an average age of 67).

During decision making, anchoring occurs when individuals use an initial piece of information to make subsequent judgments.

Once an anchor is set, other judgements are made by adjusting away from that anchor, and there is a bias toward interpreting other information around the anchor.

For example, the initial price offered for a used car sets the standard for the rest of the negotiations, so that prices lower than the initial price seem more reasonable, even if they're still higher than what the car is really worth.

Studies have shown that anchoring is very difficult to avoid.

For example, in one study students were given anchors that were obviously wrong. They were asked whether Mahatma Gandhi died before or after age 9, or before or after age 140.

Clearly neither of these anchors are correct, but the two groups still guessed significantly differently (choosing an average age of 50 vs. an average age of 67).

Participants were asked to quickly estimate - within 5 seconds -  the answer to one of two same calculations, anchored either low or high.

Those with the low anchor guessed 512 on average, whereas the high guessed a much higher 2,250. The correct answer was 40,320.

Put the highest price first

This will make subsequent prices appear cheaper in comparison and increase sales.

For instance, on the wine list shown, instead of putting the expensive items at the foot of the list, rearrange them in descending price.

Alternatively, if higher, show your competitors' prices first before revealing your comparative value.

Don’t set your anchor price too high

If you do, the natural inclination to anchor other options against this price will diminish.

Be realistic. Keep it within an appropriate region of your other prices in order for your anchors to be effective.

Audience matters.

Anchoring effects  weaken for those with higher cognitive ability (Bergman et al., 2010) and those with prior product-buying experience (Alevy et al., 2011).