What drives user behaviour: some basic concepts

Behavioural design consultant Ash Donaldson has worked with companies like Wotif, the Commonwealth Bank, and Telstra. He says understanding user experience helps companies design products that people care about, and want to use. And of course, one of the companies best known for its design is Apple.

“With the iPhone, the initial thing people think about is the industrial design,” says Donaldson. “But in reality the success comes because the company looked at all the different details, all the touch points.”

“Every touch point of the iPhone makes the overall experience. User experience is an ecosystem, not a part of it.” It’s everything from the process to download a song on iTunes to the experience of opening the packaging.

Recent data from the Black Saturday sales in the U.S. showed that iOS users were better engaged. According to IBM, 77 percent of traffic came from Apple users, despite data showing iOS users account for just 32.4 percent of smartphones, and Android users accounting for 52.5 percent. It’s hard to say why, although there is plenty of speculation. Donaldson says it could come back to user experience driving engagement.

“These days everything is a commodity. But simply copying an interface doesn’t mean you’re copying an experience.”

So what then drives user experience? Speaking at the Exploring the Digital Frontier event in Sydney this week, Donaldson talked through some key concepts which can help startups design better products and services.

The three triggers

Stanford professor, Dr B.J. Fogg, developed a model showing what drives human behaviours. Fogg suggests that there are three elements which must converge in order for a behaviour to occur: motivation, ability and a trigger. If a behaviour, like buying a coffee or booking a hotel doesn’t occur, it’s because one of these ingredients is missing. The challenge, for a startup, is making sure the balance between motivation and ability is good enough to create the least amount of ‘friction’ for someone to make a purchasing decision.

Donaldson refers to the three triggers presented by Fogg:

1. Signal. This first signal, says Donaldson, is akin to a reminder alert on your phone. It goes off at 9.45am and you head to your 10am meeting. The signal trigger helps trigger your ability to undertake a behaviour. If you remember the event, you’ll be motivated to go;
2. Spark. A spark trigger works well when something is easy (i.e., the ability is high), but the motivation isn’t there. A great example was the way Facebook drove early user growth. Initially, when you sign up, the company will ask to send emails to your friends. This email tells them that you joined, and they should too. However, a more successful approach has been using social proof to drive signups — Facebook will send an email with a list of a bunch of your friends who are members;
3. Facilitator. The facilitator trigger makes the steps required to undertake a behaviour much easier. Again, using Facebook as an example — the ability to use the ‘connect with Facebook’ feature to sign up to a new website, makes a user more likely to register, than if they had to fill in a lengthy registration form. On the other end of the spectrum is when something is relatively easy to do, but the motivation is low.

What drives behaviour?

The big question is what drives human behaviour. One model used by plenty of designers  was developed by psychologist Kurt Lewin:

B = f(P,E)

The model shows behaviour (B) as a function of a person (P) and their environment (E).

Donaldson uses the obesity epidemic as an example. Why are so many Australians — there are now more than 14 million — overweight or obese? Because, humans have innate motivations. Thirst, hunger, and sex are some examples. People also like salty and sugary foods. The problem is that our environment has made it much easier to access these foods. It’s convenient to buy processed foods, or go through the drive through on the way home from work. Behaviour has been driven by a change of environment.

The human ‘biases’

This stuff is fascinating, and well worth researching if you’re involved with a startup. Humans are not always logical, so it’s worth understanding some of the biases that drive behaviour. There’s an extensive list of these biases at Rational Wiki, here are a few of the key biases:

1. Status quo bias. People prefer to stick with what they’ve got. It’s why it’s hard to throw out your old junk, or try and get people to change their behaviours at work. Organ donation is a particularly striking example. Countries that have an opt-in scheme have far fewer organ donations. In fact, in Germany, where people must ‘tick a box’ to have their organs donated, fewer than 12 percent of people donate. In Austria, which requires people to opt-out of donation, more than 99 percent of people donate.
2. Framing bias. Call it spin, PR, political dribble — it works. The way you present two choices will impact the way people perceive the situation. In a famous experiment, two psychologists created a hypothetical decision, where people were given the choice between a 33% chance of saving all 600 people, or a 33% chance that no one will die. Even though they are the same — chances are 200 will live and 400 will die — the way it was framed  changed peoples’ decisions. Option A was presented as saving 200 lives, while option B was presented as 400 people dying. 72% of people chose option A when it was presented. Only 22% chose option B when that option was provided.
3. Loss aversion bias. A study by Richard Thaler showed that people placed greater value on something they owned, than something they could buy. In one study, one group students were handed a coffee cup, while another group were left empty handed. The students with cups wouldn’t sell for less than $5.25, while their peers wouldn’t pay more than $2.25.

If you’re interested in reading more about these concepts check out Donaldson’s blog.