Perhaps you’ve already wondered why users don’t interact with the product as planned. Convincing a person to take a certain action, for example, to subscribe or buy something, seems to be a rather difficult task – regardless of the specifics of a particular industry. And especially if the expected action must be performed repeatedly.
UX professionals try to create the best user experience, but even the most practical interfaces don’t always generate engagement. Why is this happening? Psychological factors are the cornerstone of this or that user behavior.
Only through understanding the underlying psychological mechanisms, the incentives for certain actions, can we create useful interfaces and conduct research in relation to users.
This article was written in an attempt to explain from the point of view of psychology what causes behavioral characteristics. The following discussion also discusses how to use these consumer insights in practice.
What motivates behavior change?
Let’s say you need to develop a mobile application that could become an incentive for a person to visit the gym more often, but you are not quite sure about the factors that motivate behavior in such a situation.
In psychology, there are internal and external motivations. The latter assumes that external factors provoke a person to perform certain actions. This may be an opportunity to receive a reward, for example, cash. Or the pleasure of a certain activity.
An application that encourages more physical activity can also provide a kind of reward, thus extrinsic motivation arises. This idea is embedded in the Pact app: the user makes money and at the same time maintains a form.
Research results indicate that this approach is only appropriate if the user does not enjoy a certain type of activity (for example, when someone does not like exercise).
However, for people who enjoy a certain activity, the reward can provoke the opposite effect.
Rewarding something that is already pleasing to a person leads to a short-term increase in activity, but once the reward disappears, the work is often perceived with less enthusiasm than before the reward. The essence of this phenomenon is that to the already existing reason for which a person does something (an internal reason, for example, pleasure, from playing sports), another, external reason is unexpectedly added.
Since this is an effective way to change behavior in the short term, it is often tempting to add a reward option. The Freeletics project, which aims to promote intense exercise to keep fit, uses a popular way to solve the problem in question. To put oneself under stress, a person already requires a certain basic training. Hence the assumption that people are already accustomed to exercise and enjoy it (otherwise they would not have reached the basic level).
The project still uses external stimuli: in the form of stars for certain tasks. But a person receives a star only on the condition that he has completed all the exercises (sequence of actions) within one task. And it turns out that in this particular case, the remuneration is closely related to the efficiency of work; not only do you have to do something to be honored, you have to do it well. This type of reward turns out to be quite effective.
Motivation, opportunity, triggers
Unfortunately, motivation alone is not always enough to provoke the desired action. You may be over-motivated to participate in a bike race, but you cannot transform this motivation into real action without a bike.
A good example of what behavior entails is Dr. B.J. Fogg’s model. The essence of the model is that for a specific behavior it is necessary to simultaneously have three components: motivation, opportunity and triggers. According to the model, the probability that a specific action will occur is highest when a person is sufficiently motivated and has the appropriate capabilities (for example, when a racer is going to participate in a race and has a bicycle), and a trigger reminds him of the need to perform an action.
Triggers can be different, for example, notification of an upcoming race, or in the form of a visual hint – a bicycle helmet that sits on a shelf. This model of behavior, as shown in the figure, provides that triggers work quite effectively only when a person’s motivation and capabilities are at a sufficient level. A simple reminder of the imminent start of the race, even if a person knows how to ride and has a bicycle (i.e., an opportunity), will not be enough if, for example, it is raining outside, because it affects motivation.
Ways to change user behavior
While this model is interesting for a iPhone app development company or website, the three components may not be enough to create a compelling interface that encourages change in behavior. As you know, there are many ways to motivate a person. And what works for one group (reward) can have a negative effect on another.
The same applies to the level of capabilities, which is different for all users, and triggers – someone may prefer one, someone else. To develop a successful product, you need to select three components – motivation, opportunities, triggers – for a specific target audience, as well as conduct a thorough analysis of the target audience.
User motivation mapping
The psychologist always tries to find out more about the person before giving advice. A developer acts in a similar way, creating a solution that could change user behavior. First, you need to get some idea about the target group, about what motivates them to change their behavior. Not to mention simple demographic data such as age, area code, and gender. For what reason could they change their behavior today and not tomorrow? What have they tried before, what worked, what didn’t? What is the nature of their motivation – external or internal?
It is only with sufficient information about users and how they will interact with the product that a truly useful interface can be created.
Customer experience maps, customer portraits, and the route they take to conversions are all useful tools to provide the data you need, which in turn serve as a reliable guide to UX development and design. These maps can help identify motivational components in Fogg’s model. And at the same time, provide hints about user capabilities and effective triggers.
The possibility of access and removal of barriers
Before launching or updating the application, it will not be superfluous to answer a number of questions. Where will your users need the app? What actions will they take more often? What do they think of their skills? What errors or difficulties might they encounter? The answers to these questions will indicate the requirements that the interface of your product and, in fact, the product must meet.
The best way to collect this information is through a contextual survey, i.e. you need to accompany users at the time and place where they most often interact with your product (prototype). So, if you’ve built an app aimed at sports people, you’ll have to join them while you run. (Good luck with your notes.)
Perhaps this will seem like an unjustified waste of resources and that it may be more expedient to talk to users after they have gained some experience with the application. However, research shows that users are not always as honest as the interviewer would like. A lot of prejudices and stereotypes affect the final result of the survey. Much also depends on whether the person managed to remember specific details.
The information obtained during the observation allows you to compile a more complete picture of user interaction with the interface. You can also make sure that they have tools for the most common actions. In addition, when observing users, you may notice certain errors.
Running app designers may find that it should be possible to pause an app and then quickly resume running on a green light. In some applications, the pause and stop buttons perform this function, such as in Run keeper.
However, after resuming the run, the user can press the stop instead of pausing, which will result in the loss of the data recorded during the run. Or you will need to cancel the command, which is inconvenient, because additional effort is required. In the Map My Run application, this problem is solved as follows: in the interface there is only a pause button, and the fact that the run is over is communicated to the application using the swipe or scrolling gesture, i.e. more effort is required than, for example, a simple push. Therefore, there is less chance of accidentally pressing a button.
Run keeper has the option to pause or stop your run, but by mistake you can press stop instead of pausing.
In Map My Run, only the pause button is available, scrolling the screen to the right signals that the run is complete. This prevents accidental clicks and stops of data collection.
Selecting triggers
Understanding the motivating factors and how you can tailor your product to the customer’s capabilities are two important steps. But how do good intentions translate into tangible results and trigger certain behaviors? Mobile technology allows you to receive notifications at the exact time and in the right place for this. However, given the sheer volume of notifications that users have to deal with, a tool like notifications should be used wisely. Because otherwise, users may find it intrusive and simply turn off notifications. Fogg’s behavioral model shows that triggers are most effective when users are motivated and empowered. Hence the importance of timing. Daily sports notifications that appear For example, at the moment when a person goes to work, they will not be forced to immediately go back and start training. Late notifications are simply annoying.
The research techniques described above can be used to find out when and where people turn on applications. And with usage statistics, you get a better picture of interactions.
Users are known to be motivated by different things: instead of flooding the application with triggers, provide the ability to choose which triggers people want to see. Some may want an image that they can print and attach on their wall, while others prefer short messages reminding them of their goals. Work with your users to find motivational triggers, after all, you have one goal with them: to change behavior.
Summary
These are just a few examples of how UX and psychology can influence behavior. But there are no universal remedies. A number of applications that have been developed to change behavior have already implemented some of these techniques. Having a formal model, such as Fogg’s, can help structure the research and development process, making sure that user interests are taken into account.