Branding
Fluency Shortcut
Statements that are easier to understand are more believable
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.
Product Development
Picture Superiority Effect
We remember images far better than words
142 people were split into 3 groups and were shown either 72 nouns, abstract words or pictures on a projector for a split-second each, with 5-second pauses in between. They were then asked to recall as many items as possible.
Results showed that those in the picture group recalled far more than either word groups.
Boost your message.
Visual ads are remembered better in the long term than verbal ads, especially when we are under greater cognitive load (Childers and Houston, 1984).
What emotional message can you convey more powerfully with a striking, visual metaphor over mere words?
Boost learning by adding in visual references, and not relying solely on text-based language.
This can help broaden understanding across cultures and age ranges.
Where are you trying to change behavior?
What image do you want to stick in peoples’ heads to simplify understanding?
Make product choices distinct.
Images are internalized twice, both visually and verbally (see Dual Code Theory), so they stick in the brain better than just words.
This holds as long as the images aren't abstract or similar to one another (Reder et al, 2006).
So if you sell a large product range that looks similar, consider modifying their design or how they're presented to heighten relative differences and create a more distinct range of choices.
Conversion
Authority
We have a strong tendency to comply with those in charge
153 New York pedestrians were approached by someone dressed as either a civilian, a milkman or a police officer and were asked to help out a stranger by covering the cost of his / her parked car ticket.
The more authoritarian the uniform, the higher the chance they’d give the money. The civilian succeeded only 33% of the time, whereas the police officer managed 89%.
Determine an authority figure with relative expertise in relation to the group and behavior you’re looking to influence.
Ensure that the individual is credible and trustworthy.
Communicate their authority clearly.
For instance, using authority indicators like “Doctor,” “Judge,” “Award-winning” etc. Complementing this with a suitably-dressed photo of said individual will make any request much more effective.
Add a quotation too to bolster the effect, along with any extra reputational labels they might have (e.g. academic background, specialisms, career duration etc).
Compliance varies depending on demographics.
Older people are more compliant than younger people, for instance. For the young, use culturally-relevant aspirational models to mask authority whilst also nudging desired behavior.
Product Development
Analysis Paralysis
Our capacity to process information and make decisions reduces with each made
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.
Branding
Nostalgia Effect
Thinking about the past makes us want to spend more now
129 people were split into 2 groups, with half asked to either write about a time when they felt nostalgic or a neutral event. After writing, everyone was given $5 to distribute between themselves and a random other.
The results showed that on average, neutrals only gave away $1.43, whereas nostalgics gave $2.
Understand what nostalgia means for your target audience. Brands, products and campaign messaging can all gain from referring to the past to loosen our wallets. Nintendo are now rereleasing their 1985 NES console, for example.
Use to promote social behaviour. Since nostalgia causes a reduction in one’s desire for money, it can instead be used to increase charitable donations or promote participation in a charitable event.
Digital nostalgia is growing, as our online history of archived experiences deepens. The opportunity to capitalize upon this powerful effect will only increase. e.g. Facebook is now reminding us of our past experiences, using nostalgia to keep us emotionally bound to their network.
Product Development
Risk Aversion
We don’t like uncertainty and generally stick to what we know
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).
Experience
Present Bias
What we want now is often the opposite of what we aspire to in the future
195 students were asked to fill out a lunch order survey in return for a free lunch. They were split into two groups and asked either a few hours prior to or just before lunchtime.
Those asked with the delay made food choices 11% lower in calories than those just before lunch.
Adapt with time-to-delivery.
Online grocers could change what’s shown to the user based on how many days out their delivery slot is, showing more aspirational goods in the week prior and impulsive goods the day before.
Build around customers’ goals.
Have them make a preference on your site for their future self i.e. that they want to lose weight or save more money this year. Then, have this preference dictate what products are shown to them online, along with a subtle reminder that you’re helping with their bigger goals.
Encourage “future lock-ins.”
Banks could improve consumer savings by allowing pre-registration for a future savings account. Consider locking in other types of ‘should’ decisions that will benefit the consumer’s future well-being, as well as reducing your costs through better demand forecasting.
Experience
Autonomy Bias
We have a deep-seated need to control our situations
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.
Conversion
Limited Choice
We’re more likely to decide when the options are sensibly restricted
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.
Conversion
Default Effect
We tend to accept the option pre-chosen for us
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.
Experience
Spacing Effect
We remember things better when repeated over time and across environments
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.
Experience
Prospect Theory
A loss hurts more than an equal gain feels good
You’re walking down the street. Consider two realities:
A: You unexpectedly find $10 in your pocket.
You feel positively-surprised!
Or:
B: You left the house with $10 in your pocket.
But you reach in and it’s gone.
The pain you feel from its loss is greater than the good feeling of finding it.
Prospect Theory explains that our perceptions of value differ based on how something is framed, and losing things feels worse than getting them feels good.
As one of the grand concepts that underpinned a lot of the early ideas within behavioral science, Prospect Theory is a beast with many aspects to it, such as Loss Aversion, Framing, Certainty, and Risk.
But for now, take your practical understanding a step further by reading the Aggregation Effect and Segregation Effect Nuggets.
You’re walking down the street. Consider two realities:
A: You unexpectedly find $10 in your pocket.
You feel positively-surprised!
Or:
B: You left the house with $10 in your pocket.
But you reach in and it’s gone.
The pain you feel from its loss is greater than the good feeling of finding it.
Prospect Theory explains that our perceptions of value differ based on how something is framed, and losing things feels worse than getting them feels good.
As one of the grand concepts that underpinned a lot of the early ideas within behavioral science, Prospect Theory is a beast with many aspects to it, such as Loss Aversion, Framing, Certainty, and Risk.
But for now, take your practical understanding a step further by reading the Aggregation Effect and Segregation Effect Nuggets.
Prospect theory is explained with a graph. Negative losses and positive gains recorded on the horizontal are set against a vertical intensity of feeling for those losses or gains.
As we gain more, we feel less for each gain. In contrast, even a small pain (shown in red) feels a lot more negative than an equal-sized gain feels good.
Package pain. Consumers will feel less overall pain from any costs incurred when you package and deliver them all together rather than when they're felt as separate, smaller pains.
Spread out rewards.
Instead of offering larger, chunkier benefits to consumers, break these down into smaller pieces, spreading them out across time.
$10 given 4 times feels more valuable overall than $40 given once.
Offer mixed product bundles.
We feel less good with each thing we consume. Therefore, the first can of soda tastes better than the fourth.
This means we'd get more complimentary value from a bag of chips instead.
Look for ways to offer relevant, mixed product bundles to offset diminishing consumer sensitivity.
Loyalty
Reciprocity
We’re hardwired to return kindness received
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).