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.

88 students were told about an exercise training camp and split into 2 groups: either having a choice about  the four fitness programs on offer or having one randomly assigned. They were then asked to rate their anticipated satisfaction of the program out of 9.

Those given some autonomy reported higher levels of anticipated satisfaction than those who weren’t.

Choice = autonomy = certainty. 

For instance, giving people a choice to still use the old version of your software platform for a given timeframe will reduce anxiety and uncertainty.

Product type matters.

‍People desire autonomy for pleasure purchases (i.e. vacations) more than for practical ones (i.e. business trips).

Place more focus on the former in order to maximise feelings of control and consumer satisfaction (Botti & McGill, 2011).

Change behavior with the ‘4As’.

Feeling that any change originated from within is vital.

‍Ask about the behavior, advise them impartially of the facts and of better routes, but that they must make their own choice.

If keen to change, assist them to make a commitment to do so by a given date, and arrange a follow-up to support this behavior change.