I give an overview of the research on behavioral change, then describe how to design products that help people change their behavior (to get in shape, save money, change habits, etc). Presentation on Action Design at UXCamp DC, 5 Jan 2013.

1. ACTION DESIGN
Developing products that change people’s behavior
voluntarily & transparently
Steve Wendel
Principal Scientist, HelloWallet
@sawendel
Informal Talk at UXCamp DC, 5 Jan 13

2. WHO IS THIS GUY?
Behavioral Social Scientist, working with UX & product folks,
to design software products that change people’s behavior
(voluntarily & transparently).
We’re codifying a method on how to do it called:
ACTION DESIGN
It’s Behavioral Research + UX Design + Qual. & Quant.
data analysis.
This is the first time we’ve talked about the details of Action
Design. And I’m asking for your help.

3. Where we started out:
OODLES OF BEHAVIORAL RESEARCH
• Two UX methods (Persuasive Design &
Behavioral
Economics &
Designing with Intent) already seek to change
Psychology behavior.
• But the recent & massive growth in research on
behavior change hasn’t been applied to UX yet
Product (e.g., Loss Aversion, Attention effects)
Qualitative &
Development,
Quantitative
Persuasive • Action Design makes this literature real and
Data Analysis
Design, UX
useful for UX and product people:
• Pulling in the latest behavioral research
• Measuring causal impact,
to show the ROI from solid designs
for users, clients & product managers
ACTION DESIGN
• Integrating UX and product expertise,
to ensure the resulting products are
still cool and interesting

4. ACTION DESIGN
• Traditional product design is about building good products:
products that people love using
• Action Design is about building products that are also effective
at helping people change their behavior, and do things they want to
do, but haven't been able to do before:
• getting back in shape
• paying off credit card debts
• volunteering for a political campaign
• …
• It’s not
• Coercion (no tricks, no forcing people to act)
• Persuasion (it assumes people want to act; opt-in)
Images: Clocky the rolling clock; Nike+ FuelBand; Livestrong MyQuit (Smoking) Coach

5. HOW IT WORKS
• The full process:
• Prepare: know your users and your behavioral goal
• Design: design the application to engender action
• Implement: convert the design into tested code
• Measure: run experiments & models to gauge impact
• Learn & Repeat: iteratively improve
• The “Design” part is one of the five steps.
It’s the most relevant here, and I’ll focus on that.

6. HOW WE DECIDE WHAT TO DO NEXT
1. We have two independent systems for decision making
= Dual Process Theory = The Rider and the Elephant
Image from
http://kazez.blogspot.com/
Metaphor from J. Haidt (2006)
& the Buddha (~500 B.C.)
2. We’ve known this for a long time. Now there’s solid research
showing, specifically, how the two systems work.

7. …HOW WE DECIDE WHAT TO DO NEXT
1. Most of the time, we’re not actually “choosing” what to do.
We’re using habits, intuitive (automatic, blazingly fast)
responses, and cognitive shortcuts.
2. Habits drive unconscious behavior in predictable ways.
Habits = Cue + Routine + Reward
Image From Duhigg (2012) The Power of Habit

8. …HOW WE DECIDE WHAT TO DO NEXT
3. Our intuitive minds hate work. There are HUNDREDS of cognitive
shortcuts it applies to avoid work.
But, most importantly,
when faced with a difficult problem,
we substitute it for a simpler one,
and answer that instead.
For example:
Question: “How do you figure out which speakers to trust?”
Conscious Mind: “Look up their backgrounds and prior history?”
Intuitive Mind: “Ug. That’s work. I’ll look for who’s best dressed
and the tallest.”*
Me: “Ah, Damn!”
4. … And lots more…. But let’s skip to how to apply it.
* Yes, there’s lots of research that our intuitive minds do exactly that.

9. THE “DESIGN” PART OF ACTION DESIGN
First, pick the core behavioral strategy:
1. Cheat.
Don’t make the user do work at all.
2. Build habits.
Cue + Routine + Reward
3. Help users make the choice, consciously.
If you must…
I’ll use a running example: Larklife Exercise Band & App

10. AN ODE TO CHEATING
If you want to help someone take action,
the best designs remove the need for them to.
Option 1: Set a default option that’s good for the user,
then let users change it if they want to.
Example: “Easy Mode” on fancy cameras;
401(k) auto-enrollment in new-employee software.
Option 2: Make it a side effect of something they’re already doing.
Example: Adding iron to flour; lotteries & education funding (sort of).
Option 3: Automate it, behind the scenes
Example: Paycheck deduction;
Automatic tracking of exercise (Larklife, FuelBand, FitBit, etc.)
The result: measurable, proven design impact, with little user work.

11. BUILD HABITS
Habits save the conscious mind from doing work.
They also have the benefit that once started, they are difficult to stop.
1. Lots of people talk about Gamification (badges, leader boards, etc.). Ok. It is
one option, but there are lots of others to build habits.
2. Identify a clear trigger (time of day, or event in life),
routine (something to do unconsciously),
and reward (random rewards especially effective for long term stuff)
Example: Larklife app provides time-of-day cues and
feel-good rewards for exercise & good eating (the routines).
3. Defeat old habits by avoiding the trigger, or substituting a different routine
with the same reward.
Example: Stop walking by that donut shop, already!
See, especially, The Power of Habit (Duhigg), NirAndFar.com

12. A CONSCIOUS CHOICE TO ACT, PART 1
Structure the Action itself
1. Break the action up into small,
manageable steps.
Image from money.cnn.com
2. Each should build up the users’
confidence & expectation of reward
3. Each gives clear feedback when the step is done
4. Make it easy to convey what to do physically, specifically
Example: Larklife sets daily exercise targets, w/ increasing
difficulty.

13. A CONSCIOUS CHOICE TO ACT, PART 2
Construct the environment for success
1. Motivate – why should they act at each step?
2. Facilitate – make it easy.
Make users believe they will succeed.
3. Trigger – actually ASK them to act, with Kairos.
Kairos, Greek God
4. Identify and neutralize competing of the opportune moment
Image from susandelagrange.com
motivations & triggers
5. This is very similar to Fogg’s M-A-T model,
but with more guidance on design part.
Example: Larklife can’t automate diet tracking, so it makes it easy and
triggers user to enter data at lunch time.

14. A CONSCIOUS CHOICE TO ACT, PART 3
Prepare the individual for action
1. Educate. Only if necessary. Most effort here is wasted.
2. Hook into prior positive associations & experiences
3. Develop a self-narrative that the user with succeed
Example: Students that are prompted to see themselves as
hardworkers, actually become hardworkers.
(After scientifically controlling for everything under the sun).

15. FROM A PLAN TO A BEAUTIFUL PRODUCT
• A behavioral plan is not a product.
It’s a design consideration.
• UX experts must be free to innovate & find creative, beautiful
ways to accomplish the plan (& keep users engaged overall).
• When there’s a product design ready, then start thinking
about behavior again. Look especially for:
• Loss aversion. Fear of loss ≈ 2x joy of gain
• Implementation intentions, concrete physical goals.
• Temporal Myopia. Make it about them, about the present.
• Vividness drives the real impact of promised rewards.
• Use peer effects. We all believe we’re being judged.
• … and many more tweaks you can apply…

16. AND THAT’S IT FOR NOW.
• Help, please.
• What’s clear, what’s not clear?
• How would this best help you, as designers?
• What’s missing?
• Who else is doing cool relevant stuff?
• We’ve formed a new Meetup for products-that-change-behavior
practitioners. See www.meetup.com/action-design-dc.
The next meetup, Jan 15th 6:30pm, is about how
LivingSocial is increasingly focusing on behavior change.
• Contact me anytime at steve@hellowallet.com or @sawendel

17. Thanks
Steve Wendel
@sawendel
steve@hellowallet.com