Designing for behaviour change

Phil Barrett Director Flow Interactive South Africa

A few techniques

Flickr:Heather H

opkins/ClevergrrlFlickr:M

el/Karamellzucker

Flickr:Darren Tunnicliff/Đ

āżŦ {mostly absent}Flickrr: Etolane

Remove the negative posts: people post more positive stuff.

Facebook manipulated 689,003 users’ emotions for science

Flickr:quantum bunny

Remove the positive posts: people post more negative stuff.

“I am worried about the ability of Facebook and others to manipulate people’s thoughts […]

If people are being thought-controlled in this kind of way, there needs to be protection and they at least need to know about it.

Jim Sheridan, MPMember of Commons Media Select committee

Facebook’s real motives

Facebook wants you to use Facebook more.

Facebook always builds a user’s feed by compiling “the content they will find most relevant and engaging.”

Facebook has built a behaviour in users: Smartphone users check Facebook 14 times a day.

…keeping us on Facebook!

Computers can change people’s behaviour

…So can TV, Radio, Books, Speeches, Posters, Games, Smells, Conversations, Balloons…

Behaviour-change is the measurable outcome of UX work

“Behaviour is our medium.

Robert FabricantFrog Design

Sustained behaviour change. Creating an itch that people want to keep on scratching

Hay D

ay: A great gam

e on facebook. Play it now!

And what about in the real world?

Exercise more, eat better, save for retirement, recycle, use less electricity, volunteer to help a charity, spend more time with the kids…

Flickr: El Alvi/alvi2047

MindbloomFitbit

Do these kinds of things work?A show of hands…

What kinds of behaviour change can we hope to achieve?

What techniques can we use?

Flickr: Jack Keane/whatknot

These are helping

Sebastian DeterdingCodingConduct.cc

Get people to take an action

Exploit mental quirks to persuade

Build habits

Design a compelling behavioural plan

Cheat Flickr: Jack Keane/whatknot

CONCEPT 1

Getting people to take action is hard

“BJ Fogg,

Professor of Persuasive Tech Stanford University

Three elements must converge at the same moment for a behavior to occur: Motivation, Ability, and Trigger.

Easy to doHard to do

Low motivation

High motivation

No action: Triggers fail here

Ability

Motivation

Action! Triggers succeed here

Easy to doHard to do

Low motivation

High motivation

No action: Triggers fail here

Action! Triggers succeed here

Ability

Motivation

More compelling

Less effort

Fogg’s motivation factors

Attain Avoid

Pleasure Pain

Hope Fear

Social acceptance Social rejection

Even harder: Behaviour change funnel

Execute action

CUE

REACTION

EVALUATION

ABILITY

TIMING

Distractions

Distractions

Distractions

Distractions

Distractions

Doesn’t notice

Negative reaction

Cost > benefit

Can’t act

No urgency

CREATE action funnel

CONCEPT 2

You can exploit mental quirks to get a more positive reaction

“System 1” “System 2”

Automatic vs deliberate thinking

• Does the job properly but uses a lot of glucose. • Substitutes easy questions for hard ones

• Believes things that are easy to believe • Operates using habits

System 2

System 1

Flickr: Thomas/Infidelic

Exploiting system 1: some examples

§ Free stuff. People make irrational decisions when things are free.

§ Loss aversion: People are more motivated by avoiding a loss than by acquiring a similar gain. If the same choice is framed as a loss, rather than a gain, people will behave differently.

§ Ikea effect: We value things we have made more highly.

§ Social proof: Everyone else is doing it, so it must be a good thing.

People behave strangely when things are free

Framing a choice as a loss makes it less popular

Imagine that the US is preparing for the outbreak of a lethal flu, which is expected to kill 600 people. Choose a program to address the problem. !a) 200 people will be saved !b) 1/3rd chance that 600 people will be saved. 2/3rd chance that no people will be saved.

72%

Framing a choice as a loss makes it less popular

Imagine that the US is preparing for the outbreak of a lethal flu, which is expected to kill 600 people. Choose a program to address the problem. !a) 400 people will die. !b) 1/3rd that no-one will die. 2/3rd chance that 600 people will die.

22%

The IKEA effect.

With origami frogs.

They were hard to make and most people did a bad job.

How much would people bid for their own frogs?

And the frogs of others? And expert -made frogs?

Flickr: Todd Jordan/Tojosan

We become attached to the things we make.

• Average bid for expert-made frog: 27¢

• Average bid for own frog: 23¢

• Average bid by someone else for that same frog: ¢5c

Flickr: Nanim

o

What’s this one?

And this one?

CONCEPT 3

For sustained behaviour change you need to create habits

Habits let system 2 offload much of the day’s effort onto system 1.

Create a habit, and the action can be performed many times without conscious thought from the rider.

Flickr: Thomas/Infidelic

Habit loop

Icons made by Icons8 from flaticon.com

Cue

Routine

Reward

triggers

provides

becomes associated with…

Habit loop: key details

Cue must be clear, unambiguous, single-purpose.

User must be motivated and able to do the routine.

User must know about the reward, want it and get it immediately after the routine.

Rewards

“Promising a reward for an activity is tantamount to declaring that the activity is not worth doing for its own sake.

Remove the reward and the behaviour stops

But in the commercial world, rewards don’t have to stop.

Variable rewardVariability causes increased levels of dopamine, the neurotransmitter that drives us to search for rewards.

Types of reward

TribeHunt Self

Old habits never die. But sometimes you can get past them.

• Avoid the cue

• Replace the routine

• Get people to think about the habit

• Mindfulness

• Crowd out the old habit with new behaviour

CONCEPT 4

Design a behaviour plan that helps people build ability and stay motivated

Behavioural plan*

Get shoes Decide route Set date 1st run!

Expensive Not sure of right distance

Feels unfamiliar Can’t commit

Might forget or chicken out

*AKA Customer journey

Run!

Behavioural plan*

Get shoes Decide route Set date 1st run!

Expensive Not sure of right distance

Feels unfamiliar Can’t commit

Might forget or chicken out

*AKA Customer journey

Run!

Suggest distance Suggest route Social proof

Social proof Behavioural bridge

Reminder Commitment contract Target/goal Social proof Behavioural bridge

Learn from game design!

We don’t need no stinkin’ badgesAdding points and badges does not make a bad game fun.

7 principles of good games

• Clear, worthwhile goal

• Clear, bite-sized actions and choices

• Clear action-goal relations

• Clear status

• Lots of positive feedback

• Scaffolded challenges

• Social comparison

Ingredients for a state of Flow

• Clear goal: You know what you’re trying to achieve • Rapid Feedback: Visibility of distance to go and of motion

towards the goal • Challenge/mastery: You have to play better over time if you

want to win

Skills

Challenge

Anxiety

BoredomFlow

A state of “Flow”

• Optimal performance

• Intense focus and concentration

• Time flies by

• Feels good

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Author of Flow

Epic meaning: Real or imaginary

Epic meaning: Real or imaginary

Epic meaning: Real or imaginary

Lots of positive feedback

Peggle

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Scaffolded challenges

Small challenges building to bigger ones.

Social, hunt and intrinsic rewards.

Like in Plants vs Zombies

Make the behaviour more challenging, not the interface

Sebastian Deterding, Just add points?

CONCEPT 5

Cheat

Choice architecture

In some situations you can make a lasting impact by choosing a positive default and allowing people to opt out.

“Employees did not have to spend time choosing a savings rate and an asset allocation; they could just tick a yes box for participation. As a result, participation rates jumped from 9 percent to 34 percent.

People really do want to join the plan, and if you dig a channel for them to slide down that removes the seemingly tiny barriers that are getting in their way, the results can be quite dramatic.”

Cheat for pension sign-up

Cheat for organ donation

Austria Germany

99% registered donors 12% registered donors

Opt in on driving licence

application

Opt out on driving licence application

Libertarian paternalism

In unfamiliar and complex situations where people often make the wrong choice, it’s best to make a choice for them but important to allow them the freedom to do what they want.

To create sustained behaviour change!• Be realistic: it’s hard!

• Exploit mental quirks to persuade

• Build habits

• Design a compelling behavioural plan

• Cheat

Thanks!Phil Barrett @philbuktoo @Flow_SA www.userexperience.co.za