Breaking bad habits
What kind of habits do people struggle most with, and what can we do?
In this article I’m going to share three types of habits, and the best strategies to use with each.
A few years ago I wrote a book called The How of Habits, and since then I’ve provided a free “habits inventory” tool on my website that people can fill out to self-assess areas they’d like to improve.
I get the de-identified, aggregate data that indicates what people would most like to get...
Why a smaller ask can be easier refuse
Richard Branson was sharing a story about introducing TV screens to the back of airplane seats.
He went to his board and the banks but couldn’t get the $10 million loan he needed to retrofit his Virgin Atlantic planes.
So instead he called Boeing and asked “if I buy 15 new planes, could you include seat back video screens?”
“Of course!”, came Boeing’s reply.
Branson’s point was he couldn’t get a loan for $10 million, but he could for $2 billion....
Top 5 nudges to use right now
Nudges are all about subtly influencing behaviour. In this video, I talk through my top five principles from behavioural economics to apply to your business right now, to improve results.
You'll see examples from Twitter, eBay, Noom and others.
More about my Influencing Action course:
https://www.briwilliams.com/about-influencing-action-course
Additional Framing resources for you: -
The ridiculous reason I became vegan
I never would have imagined I would become vegan, but as someone who is deeply into behaviour change I thought I’d share the reason it happened.
In case you are still a little fuzzy about what a vegan diet entails, it is plant-based without meat, eggs or dairy. I had become vegetarian earlier in the year so eliminating meat wasn’t a significant step. Dairy was. So why did it need to happen?
Ice cream.
I had developed an ice-coffee habit, enjoying one most lunch times. Was this a...
Gaining, maintaining and directing attention
Let’s talk about why I love this ad.
Tweeted by @Karminker, I love this ad for the following reasons.
It’s true. The missing tooth absolutely wins focus and supports the importance of dental care.
It surprises. What looks like a boring ad is actually clever and witty.
It makes you experience your own information processing blind spots. Yes, the first thing we see is the smile, not the missing eyebrow.
And that’s what I want to talk about today - gaining, directing and...
What to say to different personality types
There’s a truckload of research on how best to frame messages to appeal to your audience.
For example, ads that are framed positively work best for people who are promotion-focussed – in other words, they seek to maximise the probability of obtaining a positive outcome (Lee, Liu and Cheng, 2018).
This was true regardless of whether the product was hedonic (like a massage, or holiday, or aesthetic attributes of a product like a laptop’s design) or utilitarian (think...
Where there’s a won’t there’s a way
Could telling yourself to do more of something be the worst thing you can do?
New research suggests so.
Framing your goal
We live in a world of more — of ‘shoulds’, particularly when it comes to wellbeing.
I should exercise more, save more, eat more healthily.
But maybe that pressure is backfiring on our ability to achieve our goals?
Researchers Tuk, Prokopec and Van den Bergh (2020) set out to see whether it would be more motivating to tell yourself “I’ll...
Is this manipulative?
What do you think of this?
It’s the product order page for a pet supplies website.
More specifically, what do you think about the auto delivery being defaulted?
Well, from personal experience I can tell you it is difficult to recognise you are committing yourself to auto-delivery and this inadvertent decision only occurs to you when boxes of Chicken Breast keep appearing on your doorstep.
So, is this business manipulating its customers?
Is nudging manipulative?
It’s an important...
Making your text messages more effective
Text messages are a big part of how organisations communicate with customers.
So you do you get them right?
Behavioural science of text message effectiveness
Not only are text messages a cost-effective tool, but there’s a significant amount of behavioural science available that proves how effective these messages can be.
In one study, the UK Behavioural Science Team were able to reduce missed medical appointments, or no-shows, by 25%.
The best performing message pointed out how much the...
How concrete language can change behaviour
Want an inexpensive way to bolster customer satisfaction and sell more? Use concrete language.
That was the finding from “How Concrete Language Shapes Customer Satisfaction” (2020) by Grant Packard and Jonah Berger.
In the study, Packard and Berger tested whether referring to items using abstract (e.g. “pants”) vs. concrete (e.g. “blue jeans”) descriptors impacted satisfaction, willingness to buy and purchase behaviour.
Abstract language is the realm of the...
