Behavioral Economics: Getting Users to Act How You Want
Humans are well known for their biases, fallacies, and inaccurate judgments. Humans aren’t perfect, and neither are their decisions as users.
When designers create something like a service, they will use methods like journey maps to explore the user experience. However, designers are trying to obtain the ideal outcome and if they assume users will always act how they want them to, reality will disappoint. This is where Behavioral Economics comes into play.
What is Behavioral Economics?
Behavioral Economics (BE) is a field of study dedicated to understanding how and why people make certain decisions. According to Bridgerable’s article The Top 5 Behavioral Economics Principles for Designers, “Contrary to traditional theories of economics, BE says that people are irrational — meaning there is more to decision-making than simply providing accurate information and expecting people to act on it accordingly” (Bridgerable).
“Contrary to traditional theories of economics, BE says that people are irrational”
Design is all about communicating to users and guiding them through a process. This means it is extremely important to be able to predict what they will do, even if it’s unexpected.
Behavioral Economics Principles
Bridgerable outlines five main principles of Behavioral Economics that apply to design: Anchoring, Defaulting, Friction Costs, Ostrich Effect, and Social Proof
Anchoring
Anchoring is when the first number, figure, or stat a user hears about something becomes their reference for later decisions. The first price they hear for a product is what they compare all the other prices to.
Defaulting
If there’s an easier path forward, people will take it. If less decisions are required, people will go with it. Defaulting is when users follow whatever the “default” choice provided by the service is. Designers can input their desired outcome as the default to give consumers who may be overwhelmed by choice an easy answer.
Friction Costs
Friction Costs are the little obstacles that interrupt a user’s journey. These become moments where the user has to decide if they want to continue on or give up entirely. The less Friction Costs, the less motivation needed to complete an action and the smoother the whole process.
Ostrich Effect
Like an ostrich sticking its head in the sand, people would rather pretend a problem doesn’t exist than have to deal with it. The Ostrich Effect is when users avoid fixing an issue because they don’t want to face it.
Social Proof
People want to feel accepted and secure socially. Social Proof says that they are more likely to do something if it seems like many others are doing it.
Role in Design
Knowing how people may be influenced when making decisions is crucial for effective design. Minor changes in a website layout, a checkout process, or even wording can have major effects on whether a user chooses to do a desired action
