Product Discovery - Behaviors Beneath Business
Balachandhiran Sankaran
Systems Coach and Story Listener- Connecting to Simplicity through Compelling Narratives | Member of NDLCA | Innovation Choice Architect | AI Agility | Open Banking- FinTech | Google Cloud Native Explorer
In a recent trip to the supermarket, I couldn't help but notice the intricate design that guided my every move—from navigating offers to checking prices and rating my experience. The supermarket's layout seemed almost engineered to drive us toward specific products.
It brought to mind an enlightening interview between Eric Johnson and Nir Eyal. Eric, the author of "The Elements of Choice: Why the Way We Decide Matters," highlighted the subtle yet profound impact of choice architecture on decision-making. He emphasized how the one presenting choices holds more influence than we might realize.
People have a vague sense that how choices are posed might influence them, but they lack a concrete awareness of how, exactly, they are being influenced - Eric Johnson
According to Eric, choice architecture shapes our preferences by altering what we remember about the options and influences what information we focus on. It's a reminder that the design of choices can significantly impact the paths we choose.
Embracing the role of a choice architect grants us the power to shape the way information is framed and choices are presented. Surprisingly, many individuals inadvertently find themselves in the position of choice architects, influencing decisions through the design of available options.
Whether it's organizing a presentation, designing a user interface, or even planning a menu, our choices as architects have a profound impact on how others navigate and decide.
Choice Architect : Someone who frames information and designs the presentation of choices. Many people turn out to be choice architects, without realizing it.
Recognizing this subtle yet influential role allows us to craft experiences that guide decision-making in ways we may not have fully appreciated.
History of Choice Architecture:
Choice architecture first emerged with Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein's 2008 book, Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness. Thaler coined the term "choice architecture" to describe how insights from behavioral economics could be leveraged to influence choices without changing their objective values.
Nudge theory is about using subtle changes in how choices are presented to guide people towards making better decisions without taking away their freedom of choice.
The concept of choice architecture aimed to minimize biases resulting from bounded rationality, taking into account limitations such as cognitive capabilities, problem difficulty, and time constraints in decision-making. By nudging humans towards beneficial choices, choice architects could help overcome these limitations.
In their exploration of choice architecture, Thaler and Sunstein drew inspiration from cognitive scientist and design researcher Donald Norman's 1990 book, The Design of Everyday Things. Norman's book emphasized the importance of designing products for ease of use, considering the multitude of choices and cues humans encounter daily.
Building on this idea, Thaler and Sunstein sought to provide principles of effective choice architecture to assist designers in aligning environments with human behavior.
Principles of Choice Architecture:
Choice architecture is guided by six key principles (NUDGES) that help shape decision-making processes and influence human behavior:
By applying these principles, choice architects can design environments and interventions that nudge individuals towards making choices that are aligned with their goals, values, and desired outcomes.
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Real-time examples:
Behaviors Build Business:
In his insightful exploration, Nir Eyal unveils a profound truth: the essence of exceptional products lies in understanding the intricacies of human behavior. He advocates for organizations to unravel the secrets governing human actions and channel this knowledge into crafting habit-forming products.
Habits, he contends, are behaviors executed with minimal conscious thought, and businesses that master the art of creating customer habits gain a formidable competitive edge. The magic lies in transforming user behavior and fostering intrinsic, unprompted engagement.
The future of technology will be one where we are more dependent upon habits.
Behavior can be designed:
In the fiercely competitive landscape where companies vie for a share of consumers' minds, the integration of concepts from behavioral design and science becomes increasingly pivotal. A striking revelation is that approximately half of daily decisions are rooted in habit, occurring with minimal conscious thought.
In the realm of human behavior, James Clear aptly characterizes the environment as the invisible hand that molds our actions. At the heart of any ethically driven product lies the ambition to cultivate healthy habits, steering individuals toward successful and fulfilling lives. The inception of positive habits hinges on cultivating awareness—understanding the existing patterns in customers' lives before seeking to instigate change.
In the upcoming article, we'll delve into Nir Eyal 's transformative "Hook" concept, exploring how it serves as a linchpin for the creation of habit-forming products that seamlessly integrate into users' daily routines.
Reference:
My hearty thanks to all my well-wishers Katrijn van Oudheusden Gab Ciminelli Mohammad Umar Farooq Piers Thurston John Sambrook Sairam Venkataraman Dr.Viswanatha Sivam Krishnamurthy Carlo Mahfouz Karolin Helbig Steve Tendon for the continuous encouragement