‘Motivation, certainty and visibility’: Three more ways to think like a behavioural scientist

Some of the best people to speak with are the ones who help you see the world differently. New lenses means new solutions. Psychologists rigorously study the human condition, and more than tell stories, I want to share with you how they think. Because a fresh viewpoint significantly increases our marketing problem-solving abilities.

That’s where this series – How to Think Like a Behavioural Scientist – comes in. Last time we explored the importance of context before making decisions, the perils of defaulting to discounting and why, somewhat counterintuitively, not doing as customers ask can sometimes be the smartest thing to do.

Here are the next three ‘commandments’ to start thinking like a behavioural scientist.

4. Make the invisible visible

Many cases of large-scale behaviour change are unlocked through making something unseen, well, seen.

A food processing factory in South America had a challenging time getting their workers to wash their hands. Failing spot checks had steep consequences for the factory from fines, product recalls, days of lost operating time, and not least, a risk of infection.

Despite years of trialling employee perks and penalties to drive hand washing behaviours, the factory was stuck for ideas. But when you think like a behavioural scientist you know there are more than carrots and sticks to change people.

Instead, a special hand stamp was filled with a sticky ink. The ink took the same time to wash off your hands, as the hand washing compliance dictated. Workers had their hands stamped upon entry to make the invisible germs visible and worked to wash it off. Incidences of dirty hands dropped by 63%.

Three steps to thinking more like a behavioural scientistBehaviour change depended on making the problem more salient. Turning an invisible problem into one that can be seen and dealt with.

Pension marketing did something similar and made substantial leaps forward when they made concrete the cost of living out the decade of your retirement. Many of us put our heads in the sand about our future as our challenges in the present occupy our attention. But when pension providers made it real what kind of lifestyle you will be living (which property type, how much disposable income, and what that will afford you) they significantly increased their product engagement. They didn’t change anything economically, just made the invisible visible for us.

Whatever the behaviour you are trying to change, consider what is currently invisible for the customer and bring that to the fore.

5. Don’t assume everything to be motivation

Many marketers assume customer motivation is the key to achieving their KPI. It’s easy to think in terms of getting people to do what you want them to do – but sometimes that assumption is highly misleading.

When London wanted to improve their household recycling rates they also sought to increase citizen motivation. But many Londoners did not have a second recycling bin in their homes, so even though sustainability attitudes in the city were relatively progressive, recycling behaviours were falling at the last hurdle.

When we rely on just the ‘want to’ factor we don’t maximise on behaviour change success.

When people had the right bin environment, they naturally did the right thing. The campaign ‘One Bin is Rubbish, Sort It Out’ was all about getting people to make recycling easier for themselves and get a recycling bin, rather than increasing their willingness to recycle. Across three years dual bin ownership doubled in London.

All human behaviour comes down to the ‘can do’ factor, the ‘want to’ factor and the ‘chance to’ factor. When we rely on just the ‘want to’ factor we don’t maximise on behaviour change success.

6. Almost always reduce uncertainty

We are creatures that crave control. Feeling uncertain of an outcome is the biggest way of stalling a decision. Not sure how to return an item online? Then you don’t buy. Not sure where the money goes in a charity? Then you don’t donate. Not sure if you’ll see your savings again? Then you don’t invest.

Adding certainty can be disproportionately powerful. The money back guarantee, the customer review, first month free. Even increasing certainty of a negative outcome and labelling a bin as ‘landfill’ rather than general waste leads to more appropriate usage.

Why It Works: How Oasis definitely (maybe) applied behavioural science to ticket salesCertainty is also a powerful way to reframe medical conditions. An adult diaper company had a hard time overcoming their category stigma and wanted to review the term ‘bladder weakness’

Several strategies were tested but gifting a sense of agency and calling it ‘manageable bladder weakness’ had the most powerful effect.

Feeling out of control makes us bury our heads in the sand, and being certain and concrete lifts it back out. The psychological lens brings focus for a marketer. In this case, rather than a flurry of re-researching product benefits or even discounting in desperation, they solved the customer problem head on.

What it means for you

In order to unlock some of the stickiest marketing challenges we have to view them through a sharper lens.

As my boss Rory Sutherland says, ‘any idiot can sell something by reducing the price’. By thinking like a behavioural scientist we can be more intelligent and imaginative about driving change. Sometimes that means shining a light on invisible problems, sometimes recognising that motivation is not the only job to be done, and often it’s adding certainty where it’s lacking.

But one thing is for certain – marketing challenges are people challenges. Give yourself the perspective of a behavioural scientist and it will make you the most useful person in the room.