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Change a behavior

To design something that helps people do what they already want to do. In each step, choose one or more entries; open “How it’s used” to decide without leaving this page.

  1. Step 1

    Understand why it happens

    What it takes for someone to act.

    How it’s used

    A model according to which any behavior needs three things at once: capability, opportunity and motivation.

    How it works

    1. Choose a specific behavior and ask what prevents it.
    2. Review each component: capability, opportunity and motivation.
    3. The intervention targets what is really missing.
    Avoid
    Responding to everything with motivation campaigns when what is missing is capability or opportunity.
    Full entry, with sources
    How it’s used

    A behavior happens when, at the same moment, there is enough motivation, the person is able to do it and something reminds them.

    How it works

    1. Motivation and ability offset each other: easy things require less desire.
    2. If the combination is enough, the behavior becomes possible.
    3. A prompt is needed at that moment for it to happen.
    Avoid
    Flooding with prompts someone who can't or doesn't want to do it: it only causes annoyance.
    Full entry, with sources
    How it’s used

    A way of describing two modes of thinking: one fast, automatic, and intuitive, and the other slow, deliberate, and effortful.

    Why it happens

    1. System 1 answers instantly with what seems obvious.
    2. System 2 could check it, but that takes effort and it often does not kick in.
    3. If nothing slows us down, we accept the first answer.
    Avoid
    Taking advantage of haste to get people to accept something they would reject if they were calm.
    Full entry, with sources

  2. Step 2

    Choose the mechanism

    Which small lever changes the decision.

    How it’s used

    We tend to stick with the option that comes chosen in advance, even when changing it takes very little effort.

    Why it happens

    1. Changing an option takes a little effort, and we often don't make it.
    2. The preselected option looks like a recommendation from whoever designed the form.
    3. Leaving it as it is feels safer, because you don't have to justify the change.
    Avoid
    Leaving subscriptions, insurance or permissions the person hasn't asked for preselected.
    Full entry, with sources
    How it’s used

    The same information, told in a different way, for example as a gain or as a loss, leads us to decide differently.

    Why it happens

    1. We don’t evaluate data in the abstract, but as they are presented to us.
    2. Talking about gains makes us cautious; talking about losses, risk-seeking.
    3. We rarely translate one frame into the other to check that they say the same thing.
    Avoid
    Choosing the frightening or reassuring frame to push a decision.
    Full entry, with sources
    How it’s used

    A nudge is a change in how options are presented that makes a behavior more likely, without banning anything or changing incentives.

    Why it happens

    1. Every choice is presented in some way. There is no neutral design.
    2. We tend to follow the easiest path, like leaving what comes preselected.
    3. Designing that path changes what is chosen without removing any option.
    Avoid
    Using design to push toward what suits the company rather than the person.
    Full entry, with sources
    How it’s used

    A loss affects us more than a gain of the same size, so we tend to avoid losing even if it means giving up a bigger gain.

    Why it happens

    1. We measure changes relative to what we already have, not the total amount.
    2. Dropping below that point is felt more than rising by the same amount.
    3. That’s why we avoid risks even when they suit us, and struggle to let go of what is already ours.
    Avoid
    Fake countdowns and offers that claim to expire and don’t.
    Full entry, with sources

  3. Step 3

    Design the intervention

    Make it easy, attractive, social, and timely.

    How it’s used

    A Behavioural Insights Team framework that sums up how to encourage a behavior: make it easy, attractive, social and timely.

    How it’s done

    1. Choose the behavior you want to encourage, specifically.
    2. Go through the four letters: remove effort, catch attention, show what others do and pick the moment.
    3. Run an experiment to see which version really works.
    Avoid
    Using social pressure with false or exaggerated data.
    Full entry, with sources

  4. Step 4

    Take care of the ethics

    Help without manipulating.

    How it’s used

    Interface designs that lead people to do something they didn't want to, like buying, subscribing or giving up data, by exploiting how we decide.

    Why it happens

    1. They exploit mental shortcuts such as haste, inertia or social pressure.
    2. They hide or make costlier the option that best serves the person.
    3. They work, which is why they have spread so widely.
    Avoid
    Hiding cancellation, preselecting extras or using guilt-tripping wording.
    Full entry, with sources