4 steps of designing foraction

A talk for Refresh Baltimore 18 April 2012 @Betamore

Steve Wendel Principal Scientist, HelloWallet@sawendel,

Pet stairs. Helping lazy pets move, one tiny carpeted step at a time.

Intro: what is Action Design?

The four steps of the design

Let’s try it out

Topics

What is Action Design?

• How to design good products……that are effective at changing behavior too

• So people can do things they want to do, but haven't been able to do before.

• From exercising more,to getting the most out of a product.

• Without:• Coercion • Persuasion• Trickery

An explosion of research in behavior economics and the psychology of judgment & decision making

We’ve learned a great deal, recently

The theory is fascinating.

Theory needs to be translated into practical tools.From Physics to Engineering.

And?

The process

Note: this is what happens when a researcher does graphic design…. We’ll talk about why designers need to be free to do beautiful things later.

Intro: what is Action Design?

Some Background on the Mind…

Four steps to the design

Topics

How we decide what do to next

1. We have two independent systems for decision making

= Dual Process Theory = The Rider & The Elephant

2. Most of the time, we’re not actually “choosing” what to do.

3. We’re using habits.

4. Or, we’re using hundreds of cognitive shortcuts.

Image from http://kazez.blogspot.com/Metaphor from J. Haidt (2006) & the Buddha

How we decide what do to next, 2

5. Shortcut: We don’t read webpages.

6. Shortcut: Beautiful = Easy to Read = True

7. Shortcut: We look to our peers. For what’s “right”, what’s enjoyable, and what’s expected.

8. Shortcut: We judge based on rough similarity & association.We judge before we think.

9. And a lot of obvious stuff. Easy, familiar, beautiful, pleasant, feasible -> all make action more likely.

How we decide what do to next, 3

1. Familiar is good.2. Easy is good.3. Common or socially expected is good.4. Not requiring conscious burden is good.5. Anything that can be defaulted is good.6. Any repeated action that can be habitualized is

good.

So: think strategically

Reduce the work. Cheat with automation.Build a habit.If you must, think.

Intro: what is Action Design?

Some background on the mind…

The four steps of the design

Topics

The 4 steps

1. Gather Knowledge2. Structure the Action

3.Construct the Environment4. Prepare the User

Gather Knowledge:Know your outcome

Maybe you want people to login. Maybe you want people to buy.

Ok.

What’s different about the world, if the product works perfectly?

Company outcomes vs. User outcomes

Gather Knowledge:Know your users

Each person is different.Skills. Life experiences.Family responsibilities.

How are they different with respect to:1) Experience with the action?2) Experience with the channel?3) Relationship to you?

Structure the Action:Break down hard problems

Take the garden path.

Make each step is pleasant.Straightforward. “Easy”.

Tailor it to their prior experiences. Skip ahead where possible.

Construct the environmentto support action

Grab the user’s attention.

Make sure the motivation is clear.

Provide urgency.

Remove distractions.

Prepare the user

Help users see and tell the story of their successes.

Build on related, positive experiences.

Educate usersabout how to do take action.

The goal: lock it in & move on.

Just get it done.

Make it a habit.

Fully automate it.

Automate tracking, and grab attention where needed.

The process again

Note: this is what happens when a researcher does graphic design…. We’ll talk about why designers need to be free to do beautiful things later.

And that’s it for now.

• Comments! Feedback!• What more do you need to know?• Examples in your own work?

• Check out actiondesign.hellowallet.com for more on this step-by-step method for designing for behavior change.

• Check out www.meetup.com/action-design-dcA Meetup on product-mediated, beneficial behavior change, where anyone in the community can swap notes.

The next meetup, May 14th 6:30pm: Opower will talk about how they do their magic.

• Contact me any time at steve@hellowallet.com or @sawendel

Steve Wendel@sawendelsteve@hellowallet.com

Thanks