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.

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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.

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.

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).

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). 

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).

274 people were shown 10 t-shirts, split into 4 groups and then asked to rate the shirts on either likeability, casualness, colorfulness or how much it matched with a cap. They were then asked how fun the task was.

Those given the ability to express their like or dislike rated the task as much more fun than the other groups. Simply, we value ways to express how we feel.

Personalization pays.

Bold, scaleable self-expressive features increase loyalty and sales.

Coca-Cola’s #ShareaCoke campaign - switching out the product name for a person’s name - led to a 10% rise in 2014 sales and a 7% spike in Facebook growth.

An Australian store sold 400,000 customized jars of Nutella for $10 each, becoming their top seller.

Tie it back to emotions.

Though there are successes like Kraft Heinz personalized soup “Get Well Soon ___”, with consumers happy to spend five times more, know that personalization has upper bounds on price and has less impact as it becomes more common.

Like Heinz, the smartest brands will tie personalization to underlying product emotions - care and sympathy in this case.

What emotions do you want end consumers to feel? Use personalization to help express these publicly.  

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

2,064 male students from 9 schools in Chicago were enrolled in a two-year-long program that encouraged system-two slow thinking on how to manage situations of conflict.

Participation in the program reduced total arrests by 35% and violent crime arrests by 50%.

Add a little friction. ‍

We constantly weigh up effort vs rewards, so seeing one long sign-up form can lead us to make a fast system-one decision not to do so.

A process that’s Chunked, features reflective Goal Primes and clearly shows the product benefits will work better. 

Provide warnings for damaging decisions.

Instagram have launched "comment warning", live-analysing a comment and notifying of potential offense, without removing the Autonomy to post. This allows for reflection and avoids Reactance.

Build in reflective periods for big decisions.

Knee-jerk, short-term decisions can harm our longer-term goals. E.g., financial firms can help us make smarter decisions about withdrawing all our savings by building in a reflective delay, especially when such decisions conflict with our prior Commitments and goals.

‍

850,000 teachers' retirement plans were assessed. Each teacher's main decision was to divide their pension between two funds: one low risk (bonds) and one high risk (stocks). They could switch between the two at no cost.

Results found that despite the massive differences in rates of return between the two funds, only 20% ever switched from their initial fund allocation.

What's the status quo in your situation?

‍Build a strategy around identifying and removing the practical and emotional switching costs that are preventing change.

Make it exciting!

‍It isn't enough to just remove the barriers. Offer a Contrasting view of the net gain of the change, painting a clear, positive picture with a personalized Goal Prime showing them how their life will be better.

Make it effortless.

‍Use Foot In The Door with a Tiny Habit to help users take the first positive step.

Identify and work with a group of 'change-makers'; those with some Authority who are most ready to adopt and embrace change.

Share their positive Stories with others more averse.

‍

Check your Defaults.

You’re setting them everywhere, sometimes without thinking. These strongly influence the status quo. What new behavioral goal are you looking to foster in your users? Update your defaults to suit.

‍

23,946 cafe hot drink sales were studied over 14 weeks. For the last 4 weeks, customers were shown a sign stating that “guests are changing their behavior and more and more are switching from the to-go cup to a sustainable alternative. Take part in this: choose a sustainable cup and help to protect the environment.”

Results showed that customers used 17.3% more reusable mugs over to-go cups after dynamic nudging.

Drive change by showing relative growth.

‍New behaviors tend to start small, so stating absolute percentages isn’t persuasive. Instead, reframe the change as a dynamic movement increasing over time to create a means to 'pre-conform' with this inevitable future (Sparkman & Walton, 2017).

Bolster with the 25% Rule...

...where new behaviors tend to become the norm once at least a quarter of a group adopt them. Boost change success by recruiting a group of change-makers to create, broadcast and maintain this initial effort.

Combine existing financial nudges with dynamic norms.

‍The cafe in the study was already charging €0.10 for a takeaway cup but they were able to improve behavior even further with this cheap, efficient and new nudging method...and so can you.

306 people visited one of three coffee shops and were asked to buy a coffee at either: €0.99, €1, €1.01 or an orange juice that was €0.15 cheaper than the respective coffee price.

Results showed that, contrary to conventional research on pricing (shown by the dashed line), the round-priced coffee saw the highest % of sales.

Use round prices to reduce fatigue.

‍There’s a growing trend for cognitive convenience in the face of Time Scarcity and Analysis Paralysis. 

A banana costing £1 is easier and faster to process mentally than one costing £0.95. UK retailer Tesco now adopts this specifically for promotions.  

If your brand places a value on saving time and energy, consider doing the same.

‍

Use for premium, green or pleasurable products.

‍Marks & Spencer (UK), Saks (US) and Levi’s now adopt round pricing, showing the zeros. Doing so signals brand quality, warmth and trust.

 Use to nudge secondary behaviors.

‍For transactions, add a Foot In The Door to give the rounded difference to charity (supermarket), savings (banks) or tips (fast food), for example.

Over 10 days, millions of people using online ticket marketplace Stubhub were put into two groups, where 15% ticket fees were either made salient up front during ticket browsing, or hidden until checkout.

Results found that for those with delayed salience of the fee, revenue increased by 21%, with a quarter of this due to higher priced tickets being bought.

What is seen is what is done

Surfacing key information in a timely fashion can prompt us to do more of what we aspire to. For instance, Amazon have redesigned their Kindle so that when it's not in use, the screensaver becomes the cover of the book you're currently reading. This acts as a salient reminder to read as one notices the Kindle throughout the day. We can use the same approach to boost healthy eating, having a bowl of fruit on the kitchen table over one filled with salty cashews. What do you want users to do more of? How do you want them to feel? What unique or delightful features can you surface that will help inspire action and make Tiny Habits that much more likely to form?

More knowledge isn't necessarily better

There's a trade-off between what's presented to us now and making good decisions for our future. For instance, cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase choose to omit the % gained or lost from one's investments. Research shows that if they instead showed this, people may incorrectly sell coins that have increased in value, while keeping coins that have dropped in value, known as the Disposition Effect.

Differentiate by removing information

Whereas knowledge can be power, it can also demotivate. For example, weight loss scales Shapa does away with the number telling you how much you weigh, instead providing 5 colour bands denoting averaged performance. Omitting the number shifts us away from short term fluctuations in weight that can lead to feelings of failure causing us to give up. What information or options could you hide that could otherwise lead users to short term or harmful outcomes? What can you remove that could confuse or overwhelm?

Delayed salience can trigger shock

Also consider the ethical implications of hiding key information, as in the study above. In this case, any reactance felt will be relative to the proportion of the extra fees incurred, customer expectations, industry norms and how frequent the transaction is. Hidden fees on more regular transactions like grocery shopping will be subject to higher levels of reactance than one-offs like a car purchase. There is an art to surfacing such painful information at the correct time in order to generate a sale. Try adding an explanation of why the fee exists to reduce drop-off, like Airbnb do.

600 people were randomly assigned to either a payment or refund group and told that they’d received $20 for their research efforts.

Importantly, those in the refund condition were also told that they’d spent this $20 on a shirt, which they’d then returned and got refunded.

Both were then offered the chance to buy some headphones for $20.

Those in the refund condition were much more likely to buy.

Retailers (simple):
‍
Help customers close the loop on an incomplete purchase.

A refund is an unfinished task, causing initial disappointment followed by confusion about what to do next.

‍Provide recent refunders with a suggested alternative that's desirable, quick to arrive and pre-validated with strong social proof.

Retailers (advanced):

Provide a unique moment to buy an item from our own Wishlist.

‍In the week after a refund has been fully processed, highlight any items that are on limited promotion to motivate respend.

Ensure that the offer is attractive and priced similarly to the refund.

Banks:

Protect savers from the Refund Effect to help them reach their goals.
‍
To help us control our spending and make refunds feel less like free, spendable money, banks should provide a feature that auto-saves any refunds we receive.

This would supercharge the sort of savings Monzo Bank customers see from their successful Round-ups feature.

155 people were shown a cocktail menu, with 5 options listed either vertically or horizontally. They were then asked which drink they'd prefer.

In great contrast with those with a vertical menu, those with the horizontal menu were far more likely to choose a drink in its centre (26.5%) than at its edges (10%).

Put what's 'best' in the centre

Whether it's a product on a shelf, a panelist on a tv show or a set of cocktails in a menu, what's horizontally surrounded by its peers is seen as most popular.

Those unfortunate enough to be placed at the edge are therefore seen as less attractive or riskier, unless actively stated otherwise (e.g. "Market Leader" / "most popular").

If you're designing for 1) new customers with limited knowledge or 2) for a range of products that don't vary too much from one another, reduce cognitive fatigue by presenting a small set of choices horizontally, helping them towards the middle option.

Consider adding in some Social Proof to boost effectiveness and guidance.

Orientation is everything

So, as a general rule, for horizontal lists, we'll more likely choose the middle option given its perceived popularity.

However, for a vertical list of options, the opposite is true: the first and last items are seen as more influential and are more likely to be chosen (See Serial Position Effect).

Put simply, we have an in-built judgement of good as up and bad as down and that, when it comes to making a choice, the higher, the better, quite frankly!

In both an online and physical context, orientation and order matter greatly.

In what orientation order are you currently presenting options to people?

Can this be improved by changing the orientation in some cases?

Use to nudge better choices

A recent project by Behavioural Insights Team and Nesta utilised Centre-Stage Effect to nudge smaller portion sizes by 22%.

Another study (Keller et al, 2015) showed that as well as portion sizes, Centre-Stage can, amongst other things, be used to nudge healthier product choices. Healthier choices increased from 13.3% to 36.7% by placing them centrally.

What better choices do you want to help people make? Presented horizontally, put these in the middle to increase their selection.

The gift-buyer booster

It was also found that the Centre-Stage Effect is stronger when consumers are making purchase decisions for others (e.g. buying a gift, or food for a dinner you’re hosting).

Are any products you're selling predominately bought as gifts? What orientation are you presenting them in? Help people choose the 'most gifted' product by placing it centrally in a horizontal set.

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!

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.

48 teenagers were divided into 2 groups based on expressing a preference for a painting. They were then told to anonymously award money to other participants involved in the study.

The results demonstrated that when given a choice between maximising profit for all groups and maximising profit for their own group, they chose the latter.

In-Group favouritism can take many forms.

For instance, designers might feel they are the out-group in a meeting dominated by engineers, creating a sense that they're either not as welcomed or have opinions that aren't as valued. Who might be feeling excluded in your projects and meetings?

Turn “Us vs Them” into “We”.

Broaden the perception of group boundaries by cooperating with the out-group in shared activities (Gaertner et al., 1990). Which situations can you create that promote collaboration?

Actively use the benefits of your outgroup.

‍We tend to evaluate the work of our own group as better and more creative than it really is. However, by enlisting the aid of an out-group, you may have an accurate assessment of the actual creative value (Adarves‐Yorno, 2008).

Be careful with unconscious bias.

Groups can be formed by meaningless reasons but also by our own pre-conceived notions or bias. What might be some of the reasons you or others use to place someone in an out-group? How might you raise this in a way to bring disconnected groups together?

378 people were were split into two groups and offered two coffees, small and large, with prices either $0.95 and $1.20 or $1 and $1.25.

Results showed that people were 55.5% likely to upgrade to a large coffee when the small was $1 than when it was $0.95 (28.9%). Average coffee sale prices were also higher in the boundary condition ($1.14 vs $1.02).

Offer upgrades? Use boundary pricing.

If you offer more than one product option at different prices, boundary pricing can help improve the rate of upgrades.

This is because, next to a price set just below a boundary (e.g. $95), increasing a base price to just above ($105) makes the upgrade option ($135) appear cheaper and less of a painful step up.

It's because of the way we encode numbers, chunking them into broader numerical categories to infer value. This increases willingness to upgrade and therefore spending.

Works with multiple upgrade options

As long as the prices all sit within the same price boundary, the effects persist for product ranges with more than two options. This was shown with further studies on purchases of apartments and cars, which both offered multiple upgrade options.

Maximise upgrade range by setting your base price around a more round numerical amount (e.g $10,000 vs $11,000).

This will allow you to offer upgrade options that sit within a broader, albeit the same price boundary ($10000-19000 vs $11000-11999).

Present options together, not sequentially

The effects of boundary pricing disappear when the options are shown separately (different screens / post-purchase), relying upon the user's memory in some way.

Ensure that users can easily see the value of upgrading, by showing the base price next to the upgrade.

Note that impact also reduces when the upgrade option sits in a higher boundary ($205) than the base ($105).

Over 27,000 Israelis were mailed a self-administering Colorectal Cancer test kit. The kit either included an “if–then” leaflet with instructions of when, where, and how to perform the test or a standard leaflet with no such planning instructions (control group). They were then asked 2 and 6 months later whether they took the test.

71.4% of the If-then plan recipients took the test compared to 67.9% of the control group meaning If-Then plans resulted in 6.6% more of participants taking the test.

Whether designing for yourself or for others, here's how to make an easy, effective If-Then Plan:

First, define the goal.

If for you, it might be to exercise more. If for others, it might be to reduce an organisation's water waste. What existing behaviour are you looking to reduce or reinforce? Alternatively, what new, aspirational behaviour might you be looking to foster?

Identify your "If" context

This will become the future cue or environment that we'll recognise. It'll provide a clear, detectable moment to do something, even if you're busy or tired. Pick scenarios that are encountered often (E.g. on a daily basis, like an office lobby) to boost effectiveness.

E.g. "If/when I'm waiting for the elevator…"

Choose a behavioural "then" response

This is the specific behaviour that will get you closer to the goal you defined. The easier it is to recall and do, the more it will be done. For instance, what small, relevant and easy-to-recall behaviour can I do IF I'm waiting for the elevator?

E.g. "I will take the stairs"

Planning these steps out in advance and defining exactly how one should respond in the situation creates a strong, repeatable link between seeing and doing.

E.g. "If I have to wait for the elevator, then I will take the stairs"

Note: If designing for others, to ensure it'll be easy and fits within the context you're designing for, consider roleplaying it out before you roll it out. Role before you roll, if you will.

Inform, do not instruct.

A vivid, relatable and subtly persuasive image or message will be more effective to change consumer behaviour, whereas instructing them could be met with reactance. Remove this threat to personal freedom by giving consumers more autonomy when they make decisions.

Ideally, If-Thens should be defined at least in part by the person themselves. However, there are creative workarounds; companies could set and share strategic goals, with employees writing their own If-Then Plans to help achieve such goals.

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.

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.

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. 

96 women were given fitness trackers and asked to either walk 10,000 steps per day or walk a bit more each day than the average of their own last 9 days. This equated to a lower number of steps than the 10,000 group but had the benefit of adapting to each person’s own step count.

Results showed that over 4 months, those with a smaller, adaptive goal walked far more than the 10,000 group.

Start very small.

‍We’re time and attention-poor, wanting results now. As one step up from Endowed Progress, what is the smallest, valuable task you can design for that affords a fast, positive Feedback Loop?

To increase long-term success, Tiny Habits creator BJ Fogg suggests using an existing behavior to trigger a new one by 'chaining' new tiny behaviors onto existing habits. 

Keep the bigger goal front of mind.

‍People who’d completed a small exercise task were less likely to eat healthy food after, due to a short-term feeling of success (Fishbach et al., 2006). However, prompting a reminder of the larger Goal Prime of becoming fit removed this problem.

Time the reminder after tiny task success.

Make it adaptive.

‍A system that flexes with our fluctuating capacity (i.e. time or energy) will always work best. Understand users’ habitual patterns & weak points and design empathic experiences around these. 

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?

226 people were asked to go to the gym and split into three groups:  a control and two other groups given devices with audio books. Recommenders were told to restrict playback to when at the gym and Committers had to store their device in the locker after use.

It was found that commiting to this restriction boosted gym visits by 51% next to the control.

Bundle feats with treats.

‍What sort of behaviors do you want to encourage with your team or customers? Temptation bundling can be very effective in areas where short-term self-control is weakest, like saving, exercise or food choices. What complementary experiences can you bundle alongside the toughest tasks? 

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Create your own “If-Then” commitments.

‍Ideas include only listening to your favorite podcasts if cleaning the house, getting a coffee on the way to work only if you cycle or walk, or committing to a nice hot bath only if you’ve kept to your weekly spending budget.

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Keep it fresh.

‍Commitments are a powerful way to maintain long-term behavior change (Royer et al., 2012). However, life does get in the way and we tend to eventually hedonically-adapt to all good things. Keep engagement high by highlighting people’s past successes and creating new bundled experiences that are uniquely attractive. For instance, a gym having all streaming services, even those you might not have access to at home.

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435 people were asked to go to a restaurant and split into four groups. They were then either given a surprise free dessert or not, and then finally either given an explanation of the reason for the surprise or not. All were then asked to rate their level of delight.

Those given the explanation rated the surprise as more delightful than those who weren’t.

Surprise sparingly.  The more frequent the surprise, the less positive it will make customers feel. Give your staff creative autonomy to make small, personal & unexpected gestures that strike deep. 

Provide an explanation for the surprise to suppress future unrealistic customer expectations, avoid mistake misconceptions and heighten the sense of personalization. 

Reframe problems into surprises. During a busy Christmas, Lush (a UK soap store) had a long queue, which an elderly lady holding one item had joined. A shop assistant noticed, pointing out the queue length and that she didn’t need to pay. After he insisted she accept, she hugged him and left the shop with the free item. Another customer then told him that witnessing his kindness  had made her day. Both will recall compassion, positive surprise and stress relief in future perceptions of the Lush brand.

108 people were told they were the head of an airline that was either 90% complete on a $10m plane project, or shown an equivalent $1m proposal to research and develop this plane. In both cases, a competitor had created a similar plane of superior quality.

In either case, should they still invest the $1m? Those in the 90% sunk cost condition were far more likely to keep on spending than those who had yet to invest anything.

Remind consumers of past personal efforts or the amount of time spent with the brand to increase feelings of a sunk cost. Reframing past efforts as incomplete or as ongoing progress will also induce the effect and assist sales. 

Test your product ideas sooner using a more agile product methodology. This will minimize time, cost and effort wasted on unproven potential failures to which you will become increasingly attached, especially if you’re personally accountable for their success.

Take 15 mins for mindfulness practice - focusing on the present moment and less on the past and future - to increase your resistance to the Sunk Cost bias. (Hafenbrack et al., 2013). Check out the Headspace app. 

20 people were split into two groups. Half were asked to read the story of an unknown cosmetics brand & product and shown a photo of the store. Half were not given a story or photo. All were then asked for an estimation of the product’s cost range.

Those in the Story Group saw the item as of higher value and were twice as willing to pay for it.

Use the Fairy Tale Framework. Ensure that your brand story has a beginning, middle and end. Add in a conflict and define one easy-to-summarize message (Fog et. al, 2005). This should be told by identifiable characters who resolve the conflict, restore harmony and allow the brand to be valued positively. Add unexpected twists and finish on an emotional high, often the part most remembered (Guber, 2007).

Create positive persuasion, catching consumer interest and convincing through ‘narrative transportation’, where, once immersed in a story, the viewer’s mind alters (Escalas, 2004a). Stories trigger warmer, more upbeat feelings than regular ads, raise brand uniqueness, allow for product features to be conveyed without feeling commercial and are remembered by consumers in multiple ways: factually, visually and emotionally (Rosen, 2000).

150  students completed a simple task and were split into two groups and given either positive or negative feedback on their performance. They were then shown either a one-off print or a mass-produced one and asked how much they’d pay for it.

Those given negative feedback were willing to pay almost 4x more on average for the unique print than those with positive feedback, showing how we use consumption to heal our sense of status.

There are multiple ways to elevate brand status:

‍Form strategic alliances with successful others with whom you share compatible goals (Thorndike, 1920), e.g. Go-Pro and Red Bull.

Develop your core purpose to raise your products’ perceived value (Chernev & Blair, 2015), e.g. Patagonia who “use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis.” 

Create and control new ways of promoting industry excellence. Dribbble, a platform for design teams to show off their work provides paid-for "Pro Business" status badges to distinguish the best from the rest.

Invest in a tiered loyalty scheme to elevate consumers’ status & brand attachment (Nunes & Dréze, 2006), e.g. British Airways Executive Club.

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.

468 people were randomly assigned to one of ten groups and shown a website list of ten hotels, each with the hotels in a different order. They were then asked to choose one.

Regardless of their group, more people chose hotels placed at the start and end of the list.

Position matters.

‍Why? Initial options are prioritized in our memory (Primacy effect). Then, we see a pattern, switch off in the middle and only at the end do latter options held in short term memory (Recency Effect) influence the decisions we make, so put your best stuff at each end.

End on a high.

‍Advertisers promoting benefits of their product should combine recency with the Peak-End Rule, finishing with a significant or unique feature to enhance recall, conversion and seal the deal with a positive Surprise.

Order = opportunity.

‍For ecommerce or aggregation sites, consider monetizing product positioning for the start and (paradoxically) end of your lists. Alternatively, design for and highlight conversion fairness with random ordering.

87 students were told that two men won in lotteries: Mr A won $50 in one lottery and $25 in another. Mr B only entered one lottery and won $75. The students were then asked who they believed to be happier.

Results showed that students believed the segregated Mr A to be happier with his winnings.

Segregate the good.

‍Two small gains trump one large one. Be it team victories, feature announcements, product packaging or loyalty benefits, where can you break up the good into smaller, bite-size pieces?

Highlight silver linings.

‍Separate a small gain from a larger perceived ‘loss’ to reduce consumer pain. For example, instead of offering a temporary price reduction, offer a special rebate equal to the proposed discount.

Don't separate too small. We have a low-end threshold below which we experience no joy (Morewedge et al., 2007). Breaking a cookie into crumbs results in almost zero joy. Banks offering current account holders low monthly 'loyalty rewards' would do well to reframe them into larger, more meaningful chunks, or not do it at all. After all, no one wants to be reminded of the meaninglessness of their loyalty.

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).

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!

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.

18,515 patients who had been admitted to a university hospital were subsequently mailed a request to donate to the hospital charity.

The researchers found that requests delayed by about 30 days after each patient’s visit reduced the donation rate by 30%, falling ever further as the delay increased.

Timing is everything.

‍There is a ‘goldilocks’ window of time within which kind acts will most likely be reciprocated:

• Not too quick: diners asked to review their experience when paying the bill should instead be prompted the next day and not at the table.
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• And not too slow: try recalling a meal you had 3 months ago…

A small delay? Ask for less.

‍If you've waited too long for a reciprocal favor in return, make it easier. Provide a subtle reference to your past act of kindness, but instead of asking for a donation, ask for a share, perhaps combining with a Reward.

A large delay? Start afresh.

‍Life goes on and we quickly forget others' kindness, so for extreme delays, expect no response.

Instead, create a Fresh Start with an easy re-entry to reciprocity: a new seasonal menu tasting invite for a restaurant, for instance. After the event, follow up with your request. It will likely be granted, such is our internal desire to rebalance things.

84 people were shown an ad for a known clothing brand that they either had an existing loyalty to or not, written either assertively or not. Based upon the ad, they were then asked how much from a $25 gift card they'd spend.

People spent less money after viewing an assertive ad next to a non-assertive ad, especially when loyal.

Don’t misuse behavioural principles.

‍We've seen a rising use of faux-scarcity to create an uneasy sense of urgency as well as an aggressive use of Defaults that aren't in customers' best interests. Such applications turn positive activities, like booking a holiday into ones riddled with stress.

Give some control (Miller et al., 2007).

Having a feeling of choice can reduce feelings that our freedoms are being taken away. Mix Autonomy with Certainty by reminding of the inevitability ahead while granting other areas where you can give back control in meaningful ways.

Give lots of warning up-front

‍If you're planning a big change that will clearly trigger reactance (Richards and Banas, 2015), giving time for the news to sink in, let people familiarise themselves with the new, uncomfortable normal will then reduce reactance when the change does come about.

146 people were asked to view one of four cell phones that had buttons made to look like a smile or a frown with either upturned or downturned eyes. They were then asked to rate how much they liked that particular phone.

Those who saw a friendly face liked their phone far more than those who saw a sad, negative face.

Make it human.

‍Doing so will speed up familiarity with abstract or complex products (Hart, 2013), or for new or lonely customers (Hart & Royne, 2017).

Where can you add warm humanness to your product?

Go all in.

‍In 2009, price comparison site Comparethemarket changed its fortunes overnight by introducing Aleksandr, a talking Russian meerkat. With his own language, highly active social media presence, soap opera, merchandise and even a pseudo-autobiography, he’s one of the most talked about ad campaigns in recent UK history.

Unboxing as ‘birth’.

‍Consider Flymo's Robotic Lawnmower. Many owner reviews on Amazon gave their 'new family member' a name, but Flymo could build this smoothly into the unboxing experience. How can you design for a subtle human bond at first sight? Doing so may create a stronger Ownership Bias and may lead consumers to take greater care of their product, along with being more tolerant of any of its characterful 'shortcomings'.

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.

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.

105 people were split into two groups, put in a room with either a zesty scent in the air, or no scent. They were then shown a mug, and were asked to bid for it with real money.

Those in the scented room exhibited a higher average willingness to pay for the mug.

Keep environmental scents simple...

...unless it's the brand differentiator (e.g. Aesop, Neal's Yard). Much like visual stimuli, in-store scents deemed simpler result in both higher average spending and cognitive processing (Hermann et al., 2013).

Be authentic.

‍You'll risk triggering skepticism if you substitute a real side-effect of production for something fake (Lunardo, 2012), i.e. a freshly-baked scent in a store with no oven. Better to have a complementary or no scent than have consumers think you’re patching over an inferior product.

Consider a product scent.

‍What sort of feeling do you want to evoke upon unboxing? Adams & Douce (2017) provide a brilliant analysis of possible scents. Make it subtle, appropriate and apply it consistently to the entire range. e.g. Tech company Apple is notorious for the sweet scent experienced when opening up a new computer for the first time. Even though you can't see it, you remember it deeply.

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.

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. 

22 students were shown a range of graduate yearbook photographs a varying number of times for 2 seconds each. They were then asked how much out of 7 they liked each person.

Results showed that the more times they’d seen a given graduate photo, the more they liked them.

Expose the unknown within the known.

Create trust for new, unfamiliar products by sample-bundling with existing products. UK supermarket, Waitrose did this expertly when it first introduced kiwi berries, managing consumer unfamiliarity by bundling a small free sample with large packs of trusted blueberries.

This approach is known as a Foot In The Door.

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Exposure first. Behavior change second.

Reduce people’s Risk Aversion by taking a staged approach to rolling out new ideas or policies.

Instead of starting by looking to change behavior, just expose people to some introductory aspect of it, using the Spacing Effect to spread experiences out across time and environment.

Let the new become the familiar for a while before making more advanced requests of people.

Overcome your own Confirmation Bias...

...by exposing yourself to new viewpoints. Though you may not agree with all you hear, you'll develop a skill to see common ground in an increasingly-polarized world.

The persuasiveness of your opinions with others with whom you disagree will  be strengthened by empathically considering their views alongside your own.

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.

310 US Amazon Prime customers were split into 2 groups, either on a free trial or on a paid membership. They were then queried about attitudes towards and value perceptions of Prime and its benefits.

Those on the paid subscription reported greater loyalty, perceived value and exhibited a higher monthly spend than those who were on the free trial.

This is driven by two core effects:

1) Sunk Cost Bias where we seek to justify past, non-recoverable costs (of membership access) with our current actions (more spending), even when it’s not in our best interests. 

2) A desire to remain consistent with our past commitments - “I’m a Prime customer now.” 

Create a members club. Putting a price on entry heightens our analysis of the benefits of joining in a way that we wouldn’t if it were free. Limiting access to certain products or benefits can signal higher perceived quality (Zeithaml, 1998) and an increased willingness to buy.

Amazon entice with convenience (‘free’ one-day shipping), priority (30-min Early Access Lightning Deals) and exclusive choice (a vast music, video and book library). What benefits would your own customers pay for? What feelings can gaining access promote?

52 people were split into two groups and given IKEA boxes: either fully-assembled or unassembled that  they were asked to put together.

Those tasked with assembling their box were willing to pay a 63% premium for it during the subsequent bidding process over those given the pre-assembled boxes.

Provide personalization options early in your order flow to engender a sense of ownership and significantly improve conversion. Apple do this with their customizations for a new computer, as do new car showrooms. How can you add a low-risk, satisfying sense of creation into your existing products or services, especially around your USPs?

Don’t create choice overload and stress with too many pre-purchase customizations. Similarly, keep any post-purchase building effort simple, fun and low risk.  What core parts of your product manufacture should always remain out of customer hands?

Frame involvement as a value-add experience and not a labour-cost-saving exercise. How much this is felt may depend on your brand, your product and what you allow to be crafted by customers. 

72 people were split into 3 groups: Humor, Neutral or Contentment and shown a respective video: Mr Bean (a British comedy show), an educational  video or a beach scene. They were then all asked to solve a secretly-impossible puzzle.

Those humored spent 50% more time and made 2x more attempts trying to solve the problem than others.

Make it funny. Consumers have more positive attitudes towards humorous ads and their brands, increasing intentions to buy (Eisend, 2008). However, levels are dictated by product category and how related the humor is to the product.

 Funny stories are more memorable than other positive emotions  like admiration or respect.  Puns are particularly memorable because they force us to simplify our humor delivery to a single line, reducing mental effort (Summerfelt et al., 2010).

Bring humor into the workplace. It helps boost employee satisfaction (Decker 1987), leads to higher productivity (Avolio et al. 1999) and boosts creativity (Brotherton 1996).  Ben & Jerry’s, Southwest Airlines and Sun Microsystems are well-known for their use of humor within organizational culture (Barbour, 1998). 

2230 people were tracked over a 19-year period and were asked to record their life satisfaction. All at some point during the study got married.

Results showed that despite average happiness peaking in the years surrounding their marriage, it eventually returned to the baseline.

Create unexpected secrets (Lyubomirsky, 2010).

As soon as your once-new product or service ceases to draw attention, it'll fail to be appreciated. What bundles, new variety or joyful hidden details can you build in and communicate to offset this?

Highlight new possibilities.

What ways can your product change customers' lives to set them on a new positive hedonic path? For example, a healthy snackbox subscription could add in recipe cards, unlocking a second-order effect of healthy food-pairing.

Reduce pain with certainty.

‍We revert to the mean faster for negative experiences when they're short and predictable. Banks offering loans shouldn’t just draw on the habitual pain of repayment but also seek to build a positive sense of closure around the joyous certainty of the final repayment. 

165 people were told of a printer maker and split into four 'halo' groups (environment, community, customers or employees) and a control. Each group were then told of its extra efforts in these areas and then quizzed about its Corporate Social Responsibility in general.

People assumed the halo groups to be more socially-responsible in unrelated areas, despite no evidence!

Invest in reputation. 

‍Since we take shortcuts when judging brand character, first impressions matter. Where in society, the environment, with customers or with employees can you foster initiatives that will trigger the Halo Effect?

Spend wisely

‍i.e. investing in employee and community relations has been found to more persuasively impact the judgements of corruption prosecutors than promoting diversity or being environmentally friendly (Hong & Liskovich, 2015).

Consider co-branding.

‍Evaluations of new products are heightened by the presence of at least one high-equity brand (Besharat, 2010). Instead of launching a sub-brand, consider partnering with other brands that complement your values or already make CSR efforts that you aspire to.

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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.

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.

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? 

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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.

88 household individuals were split into three groups and  asked to either wear a badge supporting a  charity, asked to wear one along with another family member or not to wear at all. That same evening, all groups were then asked for a financial donation to the charity.

Those who were first asked the small request were far more likely to go on and donate money than those who weren’t.

Start with a question promoting reflection on one’s values. Their answers will create a desire to be consistent with their beliefs.

Have people perform a small related action. e.g. People who put a small “Drive carefully” sign in their window are more likely to follow the instruction than those who merely say they will. Frame it as a social norm.

Prime the ‘helpful’, ‘cooperative’ ‘supporter’ with positive feedback prior to a future request. 

Make the target request a continuation of the initial one. The more similar the activity, the greater success. Also balance your request sizes. If the initial request is too big, people won’t do it, never getting to the target request. But too-small tasks will widen the gulf between the two.

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. 

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.

54 American football fans were offered the chance to watch their team from a luxury suite for the game and, if present, could bring along a friend (i.e. an entourage) for the experience. 17 had a friend to bring, but 37 didn’t. After, all fans were asked about their feelings of status.

Results showed those sharing the experience with friends rated their status much higher than those who were alone.

Permit guests to enhance status.

‍If you wish to make a VIP feel truly special,  grant them the ability to share some, if not all, of their benefits with their friends. Doing so will create a powerful sense of social prestige for the VIP that far exceeds the joy felt from the scarcity of their benefits.

See the VIP as a group, not a person. 

‍What group-specific social benefits can you provide in your programme?  

Also make sure that the VIP understands that they are the gatekeeper to such benefits and the entourage is clearly subordinate with Access contingent on the VIP’s presence.

Communicate the rules up front.

‍When granting special group benefits to a VIP, there may be times when this special social contract is broken. Therefore, it's key to respectfully state your rules with justification beforehand (Habel et al., 2017). This will highlight the two-way, trust-based nature of the relationship and remind the VIP (and group) how to behave to keep their elevated Status. 

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.   

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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.

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?

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. 

247 people were told of an NFL player endorsing a shoe brand and shown a news item of the player being guilty of a drug deal, of the brand faking employee insurance, or a no-news control. They were then asked to rate feelings towards both celebrity and product.

Products were found to suffer from worse perception after a bad celebrity act, but the celebrity was relatively untainted following a company failure.

The Devil is everywhere...

...and not particular to just humans, but also found within places, opinions, brands or symbols. In being Fast and Slow Thinkers, we look for shortcuts as to how the world is, and who to trust.

Be careful of your associations.

‍Think carefully about the connections you make and the potential risk of doing so. Consider the campaign by watch maker Swatch, themed around the Brexit referendum to design your own watch. Nobody wants to be reminded of painful division, especially when reduced to a quick sales opportunity.

Don't let the Devil get in your way.

‍We’re biased against a great idea from someone we don't like or a delicious recipe recommendation from someone with differing political views. If you discredit x just because of y, try to recognize the source of the devil and accept that we can hold many conflicting views and also be of great value to one other.

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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. 

153 people were asked to choose between a 5-star restaurant 25 mins away and a 3-star restaurant 5 mins away. A third decoy restaurant option was then added of 4-stars  at 35 mins away.

This decoy shifted preferences from the closer, cheaper restaurant towards the 5-star option.

Determine your target.

‍What is the product you want to sell more of, next to a lower-margin competing product? Build your decoy product around this with a price or attributes that inadvertently highlight the target's attractiveness.

Don't overwhelm.

‍Offering too much choice or highlighting too many competing attributes where neither option is clearly more attractive will trigger Analysis Paralysis, making consumers' decision processes more difficult.

How is your target clearly more attractive?

Test different decoy values to optimize the effect.

Huber et al., (2014) suggest that decoys work best when it’s really easy and quick to see the dominant product, when pre-decoy desire is roughly split between target and competitor and when people don’t strongly like / dislike the decoy.

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!

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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.

40 people were split into two groups and shown a list made up of either 10 unrelated items (a number, a syllable, a colour, a word etc.), or 9 numbers and one isolated syllable placed second in the list. After a 10-minute reading task, both groups were then asked to recall the list.

Those in the isolation group successfully recalled the syllable 70% of the time, as opposed to 40% in the control.

Use complementary contrast. When showing a list of similar products (e.g. beer), weave in a contrasting product to create complementary cross-selling (e.g. nuts) or up-selling (premium beer) opportunities. 

Use contrast for clarity. If you offer a range of products, draw the undecided consumer to a strategic option, preventing choice overload and assisting sales. How might customers become overwhelmed with your range? How can you create a clear sense of contrast that avoids this negative feeling?

Contrast through context. If your brand is familiar, how can you place it in relevant yet unexpected contexts to heighten recall? For instance, British food delivery service Deliveroo could have a movie tie-in shot in London, where its turquoise drivers whiz by in the background 2-3 times over the course of the narrative. 

67 people were asked if they prefer Coke, Pepsi or have no preference, split into taster groups and given 3 rounds of both in either unlabeled or labeled cups.

Taste preferences were split evenly when the drinks were unlabeled, but when labeled, they exhibited a strong taste preference for Coke, underlining the bias of brand attachment in consumer choice.

Test your assumptions. Decision-Makers often start new projects under judgements that are both unproven and erroneous. Bring key Decision-Makers together to list assumptions honestly. Use these as a basis for testing the validity of the idea in its simplest form. This avoids unnecessary costs further down the line. See the Lean Startup Model for further details.

Consider conflicting alternatives to strengthen your strategic decision-making process. Seek impartial feedback from trusted others who are less emotionally invested in the chosen route than you.

Repeatedly point out what you do well, especially with attention to small details around customer care or craftsmanship in process. Consumers will begin to notice and start to look for further evidence to support these newly-held beliefs.

121 students were shown one of 3 adverts for watch brand Swatch. Either a control with no sales event, a limited-time sale (6 days) or one limited in quantity available (100) triggering competition. They were then asked how likely they’d be to buy the watch.

Those in the competition condition were more likely to buy than those under time pressure.

A little competition can be fun.

‍We are naturally competitive; where there are numbers, there are games. And though it shouldn't be the only driver of behavior change, subtle uses with measurable goals, leaderboards and appropriate Rewards can provide benefit. What positive behaviors do you want to encourage? Tell the Story of why the competition exists to help motivate further. Ensure that the competition also aligns with others' own aspirations.

Allow everyone to ‘succeed’, regardless of ability.

Bad competition creates clear winners and losers, which can demotivate the latter and reduce behavior change. Good competition includes ways to celebrate all efforts to reach a goal. Be sensitive to our desire to compare, e.g. only show individuals their relative place in a leaderboard.

Make competition team-based.

‍Too much competition can reduce internal motivation. However competing as broader teams can prevent this. Collaboration is a powerful tool to use with competition to foster new collective norms around the intended behavior.

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.

Almost anything can be collected, but to promote collectibility of your products, you should release them in identifiable sets (Carey, 2008). Use names, symbols or colors to connect products. Even subtle additions like a numbering system can turn a mere range of products into a collection.

Self-identity is a primary motive for collecting (Smith et al., 2008), so creating distinction through scarcity (“I have this but you don’t”) is key to increasing consumer status.  Hold back or stop supply of certain items to create a secondary market. 

Create a community to foster social value of your collection. This provides social acceptance - one of the core reasons people collect (McIntosh and Schmeichel, 2004). Social also heightens resell value.

Release collectibles in waves over time (Bianchi, 1998). This will increase the overall enjoyment of the experience and increase the desire to collect. Never saturate the market with too many sets, variations within sets or too many limited editions (Hood, 2006). Overproduction will kill the magic and therefore consumers’ ongoing desire to collect. Don't make the pursuit too easy to achieve (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990), but also not so large a task as to be out of the reach of your audience (McIntosh and Schmeichel, 2004).

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.

80 people were asked to choose between two used cars with an equal number of positive and negative traits. Two days later, they had to recall which features were for their car and which were from the other.

The results showed that they incorrectly chose more positive features for their choice and more negatives for the car they didn’t choose.

Remind customers of their good choice.

Embrace rationalization and use this to help people feel great about their choices.

Post-purchase, don’t just send an order confirmation, send an order celebration, like Fitbit do. Finish on a Peak!

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Use as a platform for further steps.

‍Choices can also be validated by unlocking a new set of actions.

Joining the club, getting drip-fed how-to guides, booking an event ticket or sharing a referral code are all tasks that help support previous choices. Harry’s does this very well with its shaving advice.

What next steps do you want a new customer to take?

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• Prime and capture positive sentiment.

‍Send a follow-up email a short period of time after product use with a simple call-to-action, such as a one-click star rating button with Social Proof evidence.

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.

68 people were shown photos of shopping environments, either with or without plants. They were then asked about the environment’s percieved restorative power.

Those who saw the biophilic environment reported a higher restorative effect on wellbeing than those without plants.

Use nature to restore consumer attention and boost dwell time (Lee et al., 2015).

Even a short exposure will reduce mental fatigue. Where are the most stressful points along a customer journey? Focus on ‘biophying’ these areas first. 

Leaf the stress behind.

‍Research (Ulrich et al., 1991) suggests that having restorative green spaces in the workplace reduces stress, even though 58% of office workers still have no plants (Human Spaces, 2014).

Seeing plants from a worker's desk lowered self-reported sick leave next to those without a bio-optimized view (Bringslimark et al. 2007).

Start small and slowly work your way down the  list of biophilic enhancements. 

Create familiarity through nature.

‍Use natural references to ground marketing of technologically-complex or abstract products to boost understanding and brand warmth (Rafaeli and Vilnai-Yavetz, 2004). 

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36 medical students were first asked to diagnose six clinical cases (Phase 1). They were then asked to diagnose a further eight, four of which were similar to Phase 1, but were actually different (Phase 2). Their accuracy for successful diagnosis was rated out of four.

Average diagnosis scores were 17.5% lower for Phase 2 cases that were similar to those in Phase 1.

Create pre-experiences.

‍During product development sessions, prime attendees with prototypes to first tell a detailed story of an imagined future. This will increase innovative ideas by reducing both incremental thinking  (Liedtka, 2015) and inferior ideas brought about through Ownership Bias and any Sunk Costs.  

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Conduct reflective reviews.

‍After results are in from product experiments, reviewing the specific causes behind both failures and successes is critical. This will help you understand any assumptions or misdiagnosis brought about by merely relying on what comes easily to mind (Ellis and Davidi, 2005). 

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Include real customers in retrospectives.

‍Combining reflective reviews with real customer feedback will boost team performance (Schollaert, 2009) and help suppress the perils of your team's own Confirmation Bias.

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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. 

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? 

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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.

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425,744 sales of US shares were analyzed by determining which had gained value and which had lost value. Both groups were further analyzed to determine whether the shares were sold in groups or on their own.

The research found that investors were more likely to sell off losing trades in groups over those which were doing well, so as to ease the pain of loss.

Package the pain.

‍Releasing a whole bunch of bad news in one go is better than drip-feeding it across successive days.

Similarly, having four fillings in one go is preferable to spreading them out one a week for a month. It's less painful overall with fewer periods of worry.

How you Frame pain matters too.

Emphasize the short, one-off nature of the discomfort, the Fresh Start and comforting Certainty it will provide.

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Consolidate smaller losses into bigger gains. 

Even small bits of bad news can trigger overweighted negativity.

Consider bundling them as part of larger, positive announcements to reduce the pain felt.

Split off small gains from bigger losses.

‍What small victories can you hold back and share separately after a big bit of bad news?

What small feature can you release separately from a significant security update?