These are the full slides from my 3.5 hour workshops at UX Week 2015 - on how to design products that use behavioral economics and psychology to overcome obstacles and help users take action.

1. UX Week
August 2015
Stephen Wendel
Head of Behavioral Science
@sawendel
Designing for Behavior Change
An Introduction

2. Hi! I’m Steve.
Head of Behavioral Science
Morningstar

3. Until recently, I was here
Update screen
Personalized financial guidance that transforms
financial lives through behavioral economics

4. Now, I’m at
Leading provider of independent investment advice
serving millions of people everyday, around the world

5. My Job

6. A new wave of behavioral research

7. Some
cool
gadgets and
products

8. Powering leading companies behind the scenes

9. And that’s what we’re talking about today
Understand the decision making
process and potential behavioral
obstacles.
Discover the appropriate
behavioral intervention
and target audience.
Design the product or
communication, from concept
to implementation
Refine the products and materials
iteratively, using rigorous
experimental testing.
Image from Designing for Behavior Change

10. And you?
I don’t understand why our users don’t ______?

11. The Path Ahead
1 Oh, so very limited
2 The obstacles we face
3 Three big strategies for overcoming them
4 Exercise

12. Four
Big
Lessons
1: We’re of two minds 2: We’re imperfect
4: Our choices are relative,
contextual & social
3: Friction Matters

13. Justice is Blind?

14. No, Justice is Hungry

15. Just add the logo.
300% boost in
enrollment

16. The Path Ahead
1 A new wave of products
2 Obstacles we face
3 Three big strategies for overcoming them
4 Exercise

17. We are all unique.
To
From
To
But our minds go through a similar process.

18. 6 Potential Obstacles to Consumer Action
Image by Katie Palermo, and from Improving Employee Benefits

19. Cue: The Power of Simple Reminders
For Example, see: Karlan et al. 2010

20. Reaction: What does it evoke?

21. Reaction: Make It Normal With Peer
Comparisons or Social Proof
For Example, see: Allcott 2011

22. Evaluation: Do they know the benefits
(and costs)?

23. Evaluation: Most than economic costs
52% increase in clicks
See https://whichtestwon.com/

24. Ability: Can they actually take action
(and do they know it)?

25. Timing: Is there urgency to act now?

26. Timing: Time-based incentives can work
“...If you sign up by 7PM today,
you are eligible to win a free
iPad mini!”
“...If you are one of the first 100
people to sign up, you are
eligible to win a free iPad mini!”
7.5% clicked
9.6% clicked 13.1% clicked
See Balz and Wendel 2014

27. Today’s Path
1 Oh, so very limited
2 Obstacles we face
3 Three big strategies to overcome them
4 Exercise

28. So what’s a habit?
Adapted from ABC
Model (eg Miltenberger
2011) and Duhigg 2012

29. 3 strategies to pass the CREATE funnel

30. Today’s Path
1 A new wave of products
2 Obstacles we face
3 Three big strategies to overcome them
4 Exercise

31. Exercise!
{Page 8: Using the CREATE Action Funnel}
{Pick a volunteer & do the exercise as a group}

32. Practical
Exercises:
Identifying
Obstacles
with the
CREATE
Model

33. Practical Exercises: Evaluating Two Alternatives

34. UX Week
August 2015
Stephen Wendel
Head of Behavioral Science
@sawendel
Discovering
the right behavior to target

35. The Path Ahead
1 Taking a step back
2 Three things that can help
3 Exercise

36. What’s the best way to lose weight?

37. What’s the best way to lose weight?

38. What’s the best way to engage your users?

39. The Path Ahead
1 Taking a step back
2 Three things that can help
3 Exercise

40. Discover the Outcome, Actor & Action
Image from Designing for Behavior Change

41. The Outcome: How will the world change?

42. Make it tangible
Why do you really care?
Why would your users really care?

43. Make sure you can measure it
“Users will gain experience with exercise”
vs
“Americans will have an average BMI of 25”

44. Actions: What Might –Someone– Do?

45. Actor: Who’s your audience?

46. Who’s your audience?
Impact, Ease, Cost & Fit

47. Elicit additional constraints
Channel?
Timeframe?
“Tone” of App?
Constraints make us free

48. The Path Ahead
1 Taking a step back
2 Three things that can help
3 Exercise

49. Exercise!
{Page 10-13: Group exercise}
{Pick a behavioral problem, Discover the right action to target}

50. Practical Exercises: Discover - Outcome & Action

51. Practical Exercises: Discover - Personas

52. Practical Exercises: Discover - Evaluate

53. UX Week
August 2015
Stephen Wendel
Head of Behavioral Science
@sawendel
Designing
the product around that target action

54. Please don’t yell at the fish.

55. Three strategies for changing behavior
Image from Designing for Behavior Change

56. The Path Ahead
1 Structure the action
2 Design the environment
3 Prepare the user
4 Exercise

57. Write out the sequence of steps.
Make each step pleasant.
Straightforward. “Easy”.
Tailor it to their prior experiences.
Skip ahead where possible.
Take the garden path.
Structure the action:
Break down hard problems

58. Conceptual design: develop a story
How consumers progress from “just starting out” to “success!”
Customer experience map by Mel Edwards, desonance.wordpress.com

59. Example: Structure the Action

60. The Path Ahead
1 Structure the action
2 Design the environment
3 Prepare the user
4 Exercise

61. Grab the person’s
attention.
Make sure the
motivation is clear.
Provide urgency.
Remove distractions.
Construct the environment
to support action

62. Examples: Construct the environment

63. The Path Ahead
1 Structure the action
2 Design the environment
3 Prepare the user
4 Exercise

64. Help consumers see
and tell the story
of their successes.
Build on related,
positive experiences.
Educate consumers
about how to do
take action.
Prepare the person for the action

65. Examples: Prepare the person

66. Another exercise graphic!
{Page 14: Pick a volunteer}
{Design the behavioral plan}

67. Practical
Exercises:
The
Behavioral
Plan

68. UX Week
August 2015
Stephen Wendel
Head of Behavioral Science
@sawendel
Designing
the user interface

69. The Path Ahead
1 Take a break
2 A Bag of Tricks
3 Some Tips
4 Exercise

70. Let designers do their magic.

71. The Path Ahead
1 Take a break
2 A Bag of Tricks
3 Some Tips
4 Exercise

72. Techniques 1 2 3 4
Obstacle: Try This:
Cue Tell the Person What the Action Is
Make It Clear Where to Act
Clear the Page of Distractions
Reaction Make Site Beautiful and Professional
Deploy Social Proof
Display Strong Authority on the Subject
Be Authentic and Personal
Evaluation Prime Relevant Associations
Leverage Loss Aversion
Use Peer Comparisons
Run a Competition
Avoid Cognitive Overhead
Avoid Choice Overload
Avoid Direct Payments
Ability Elicit Implementation Intentions
Default Everything
Lessen Burden of Action and Information
Deploy (Positive) Peer Comparisons
Timing Frame text to avoid temporal myopia
Remind of prior commitment to act
Make it scarce

73. Cue

74. Give
people
a
clear
target

75. Two powerful cue words: You and Free

76. Align with when people have time
10:30am Monday 10:30am Tuesday 8pm Tuesday
3.7% clicked 7.1% clicked 1.6% clicked

77. Reaction

78. Build on a trusted relationship.
300% increase in engagement - from adding a logo.
Randomized control trial conducted by Pizarro and Wendel, 2014

79. Make It Normal With Peer Comparisons
or Social Proof
For Example, see: Allcott 2011

80. Beauty and Scan-ability Matter
Which version is more inviting?
27% boost in account creation
vs.

81. Evaluation

82. Losses
loom
larger
than
gains

83. Offer dominated alternatives

84. Don’t Offer Lots of Choices At Once
(Simplify or use a hierarchy)

85. Describe the Benefit of Action,
Not Just the Content
Describing the content versus describing the benefit?
62% increase
Source: WhichTestWon.com

86. Ability

87. Use Defaults
(especially where engagement isn’t needed)
Employees
joining shortly
before Apr. 1st
Employees
joining shortly
after Apr. 1st
49%
86%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Opt In Opt Out
Madrian and Shea (2001)

88. Make sure they know they’ll succeed
5.5% clicked8.5% clicked
See Wendel and Balz 2014

89. Ability: Elicit Plans to Act
(Implementation Intentions)
See Milkman et al. 2011

90. Timing

91. Make the Future into the Present
From Dan Goldstein

92. Limited Time Offers Still Work
How can you create urgency?
“...If you sign up by 7PM today,
you are eligible to win a free
iPad mini!”
“...If you are one of the first 100
people to sign up, you are
eligible to win a free iPad mini!”
7.5% clicked
9.6% clicked 13.1% clicked

93. The Path Ahead
1 Take a break
2 A Bag of Tricks
3 Some Tips
4 Exercise

94. Exercise!
{Page 15: Pick a volunteer}
{Design a simple user interface: email}

95. Practical Exercises: Designing the invite email

96. UX Week
August 2015
Stephen Wendel
Head of Behavioral Science
@sawendel
Refining
the design and learning faster

97. The Path Ahead
1 One Big Lesson
2 How Experiments Work
3 Fitting it Together: A Three-Step Process
4 Exercise

98. Hundreds of RCTs – Big and Small –
On Usage and Impact
“...If you sign up by
7PM today,
you are eligible to
win a free iPad mini!”
“...If you are one of
the first 100 people
to sign up, you are
eligible to win a free
iPad mini!”

99. Most of our efforts
just don’t do much.

100. Lots of possible solutions

101. Applicability,
not
generalizability

102. How?

103. Checking whether the darned thing works
Impact Experiment:
The Gold Standard
Statistical Models w. Controls:
Harder Work, For a Silver Medal

104. The Path Ahead
1 One Big Lesson: Learn Faster
2 How Experiments Work
3 Fitting it Together: A Three-Step Process
4 Exercise

105. Experiments
in 2 Minutes

106. Step 1: Define Success.
What metric, by what amount?

107. Step 2: Develop the approach(es).

108. Step 3: Apply the behavioral bag of tricks.

109. Step 4: Take Stock:
What Do You Want
to Learn?

110. 1) Does the darned thing work?
Type of Test: an “Impact Test”
Version A: Do Nothing
Version B: Your Communication

111. 2) Can we get anything to work better?
Type of Test: a “Kitchen Sink Test”
Version A: Current Underperforming Version
Version B: Your Best Shot, with everything

112. 3) What fundamentally
resonates with our
readers more, X or Y?
Type of Test:
an “Archetype Test”
Version A: Everything is X
Version B: Everything is Y

113. 4) What exactly
drives a result?
Type of Test:
“Isolated Intervention”
(Aka “Microscope Test”)
Version A: A baseline
communication
Version B: The exact
same communication,
with a single small
change

114. Step 5: Do you have enough people?

115. Step 6: Measure the Impact, Test if it’s Real

116. The Path Ahead
1 One Big Lesson: Learn Faster
2 How Experiments Work
3 Fitting it Together: A Three-Step Process
4 Exercise

117. Impact – Ideas – Measured Changes

118. Generating
Ideas:
Where’s
the
problem?

119. Generating
Ideas:
Why
is there
a problem?

120. Find the leading indictors
that save waiting time.

121. Vet ideas cheaply,
before proving their
impact expensively.

122. It all starts by being wrong.

123. The Path Ahead
1 One Big Lesson: Learn Faster
2 How Experiments Work
3 Fitting it Together: A Three-Step Process
4 Exercise

124. Practical Exercises: Calc Sample Size (1 of 2)

125. Practical Exercises: Calculate Sample Size

126. Practical Exercises: Refine

127. UX Week
August 2015
Stephen Wendel
Head of Behavioral Science
@sawendel
A quick recap

128. It’s not enough to have an
awesome product or
communication

129. We’re all pretty limited

130. Understand: 6 Obstacles to Action

131. Discover: Outcome, Actor, Action

132. Design: 3 Strategies for Action

133. Refine: Learn Faster

134. Comments? Suggestions?
steve.wendel@morningstar.com