Designing for Behavior Change: Applying Psychology and Behavioral Economics

by Stephen Wendel

Overview

Designers and managers hope their products become essential for users—integrated into their lives like Instagram, Lyft, and others have become. Such deep integration isn’t accidental: it’s a process of careful design and iterative learning, especially for technology companies. This guide shows you how to apply behavioral science—research that supports many products—to help your users achieve their goals using your product.

In this updated edition, Stephen Wendel, head of behavioral science at Morningstar, takes you step-by-step through the process of incorporating behavioral science into product design and development. Product managers, UX and interaction designers, and data analysts will learn a simple and effective approach for identifying target users and behaviors, building the product, and gauging its effectiveness.

• Learn the three main strategies to help people change behavior
• Identify behaviors your target audience seeks to change—and obstacles that stand in their way
• Develop effective designs that are enjoyable to use
• Measure your product’s impact and learn ways to improve it
• Combine behavioral science with data science to pinpoint problems and test potential solutions

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781492056034
Publisher:	O'Reilly Media, Incorporated
Publication date:	06/30/2020
Edition description:	2nd ed.
Pages:	382
Product dimensions:	6.90(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Stephen is a behavioral scientist who studies financial behavior and how digital products can help individuals manage their money more effectively. He serves as Head of Behavioral Science at Morningstar, where he leads a team of behavioral scientists and practitioners to conduct original research on saving and investment behavior.

Dr. Wendel has authored two books on applied behavioral science, Designing for Behavior Change and Improving Employee Benefits, and founded the non-profit Action Design Network, educating the public on how to apply behavioral research to product development with monthly events in ten cities.

Prior to joining Morningstar, he served as the Principal Scientist at HelloWallet, where he helped build an engaging product for users take control over their finances. The impetus for this book comes from the challenges he and the rest of the HelloWallet team faced along the way, as they learned to apply the behavioral literature to consumer products and consulted with companies similarly searching for effective ways to enable behavior change. Before HelloWallet, he co-founded two IT companies, and conducted research on the dynamics of political behavior.

Table of Contents

Foreword; Preface; What Does It Mean to Design for Behavior Change?; Who This Book Is For; What Types of Behaviors Can This Help With?; How This Book Came About; The Chapters Ahead; Let’s Talk; Acknowledgments; Understanding the Mind and Behavior Change; Chapter 1: How the Mind Decides What to Do Next; 1.1 The Deliberative and Intuitive Mind; 1.2 Making Sense of the Mind; 1.3 Most of the Time, We’re Not Actually “Choosing” What to Do Next; 1.4 Even When We “Choose,” Our Minds Save Work; 1.5 The Obvious, Simple Stuff Is Really Important; 1.6 A Map of the Decision-Making Process; 1.7 On a Napkin; Chapter 2: Why We Take Certain Actions and Not Others; 2.1 A Simple Model of When, and Why, We Act; 2.2 The Create Action Funnel; 2.3 On a Napkin; Chapter 3: Strategies for Behavior Change; 3.1 A Decision or a Reaction: Three Strategies to Change Behavior; 3.2 Strategy 1: Cheat!; 3.3 Strategy 2: Make or Change Habits; 3.4 Strategy 3: Support the Conscious Action; 3.5 A Recap of the Three Strategies; 3.6 On a Napkin; Discovering the Right Outcome, Action, and Actor; Chapter 4: Figuring Out What You Want to Accomplish; 4.1 Start with the Product Vision; 4.2 Nail Down the Target Outcome; 4.3 Identify Additional Constraints; 4.4 Generate a List of Possible Actions for Users to Take; 4.5 On a Napkin; Chapter 5: Selecting the Right Target Action; 5.1 Research Your Target Users; 5.2 Select the Ideal Target Action; 5.3 Define Success and Failure; 5.4 How to Handle Very Diverse Populations; 5.5 On a Napkin; Developing the Conceptual Design; Chapter 6: Structuring the Action; 6.1 Start the Behavioral Plan; 6.2 Tailor It; 6.3 Simplify It; 6.4 Make It “Easy”; 6.5 On a Napkin; Chapter 7: Constructing the Environment; 7.1 Tactics You Can Use; 7.2 Increase Motivation; 7.3 Cue the User to Act; 7.4 Generate a Feedback Loop; 7.5 Knock Out the Competition; 7.6 Remove or Avoid Obstacles; 7.7 Update the Behavioral Plan; 7.8 On A Napkin; Chapter 8: Preparing the User; 8.1 Tactics You Can Use; 8.2 Narrate the Past to Support Future Action; 8.3 Associate with the Positive and the Familiar; 8.4 Educate Your Users; 8.5 How Training Your Users Fits In; 8.6 Update the Behavioral Plan; 8.7 How Behavior Change Techniques Relate to the Thought the Behavior Requires; 8.8 On a Napkin; Designing the Interface and Implementing It; Chapter 9: Moving from Conceptual Designs to Interface Designs; 9.1 Take Stock; 9.2 Extract the Stories or Specs; 9.3 Provide Structure for Magic to Occur; 9.4 On a Napkin; Chapter 10: Reviewing and Fleshing Out the Interface Designs; 10.1 Look for Big Gaps; 10.2 Look for Tactical Opportunities; 10.3 On a Napkin; Chapter 11: Turning the Designs into Code; 11.1 Put the Interface Design in Front of Users; 11.2 Build the Product; 11.3 Go Lean If Possible; 11.4 On a Napkin; Refining the Product; Chapter 12: Measuring Impact; 12.1 Why Measure Impact?; 12.2 Where to Start: Outcomes and Metrics; 12.3 How to Measure Those Metrics; 12.4 Determining Impact: Running Experiments; 12.5 Determining Impact: Unique Actions and Outcomes; 12.6 Other Ways to Determine Impact; 12.7 What Happens If the Outcome Isn’t Measurable Within the Product?; 12.8 On a Napkin; Chapter 13: Identifying Obstacles to Behavior Change; 13.1 Watch Real People Using the Product; 13.2 Check Your Data; 13.3 Figure Out How to Fix the Obstacles; 13.4 On a Napkin; Chapter 14: Learning and Refining the Product; 14.1 Determine What Changes to Implement; 14.2 Measure the Impact of Each Major Change; 14.3 When Is It “Good Enough”?; 14.4 How to (Re-)Design for Behavior Change with an Existing Product; 14.5 On a Napkin; Putting It into Practice; Chapter 15: Common Questions and a Start-to-Finish Example; 15.1 An Example of the Approach; 15.2 Questions About How and Why We Act; 15.3 Questions About the Mechanics of Building Behavior Change Products; Chapter 16: Conclusion; 16.1 Four Lessons; 16.2 Themes; 16.3 Looking Ahead; Glossary of Terms; Resources to Learn More; Resources on Behavior and Decision Making; Bibliography; About the Author;