1. 4 steps of
designing for
action
A talk for Refresh Baltimore
18 April 2012 @Betamore
Steve Wendel
Principal Scientist, HelloWallet
@sawendel,
Pet stairs. Helping lazy pets
move, one tiny carpeted
step at a time.

2. Intro: what is Action Design?
The four steps of the design
Let’s try it out
Topics

3. What is Action Design?
• How to design good products…
…that are effective at changing behavior too
• So people can do things they want to do,
but haven't been able to do before.
• From exercising more,
to getting the most out of a product.
• Without:
• Coercion
• Persuasion
• Trickery

4. An explosion of research in behavior economics and
the psychology of judgment & decision making
We’ve learned a great deal, recently

5. The theory is fascinating.
Theory needs to be translated into practical tools.
From Physics to Engineering.
And?

6. The process
Note: this is what happens when a
researcher does graphic design….
We’ll talk about why designers
need to be free to do beautiful
things later.

7. Intro: what is Action Design?
Some Background on the Mind…
Four steps to the design
Topics

8. How we decide what do to next
1. We have two independent
systems for decision making
= Dual Process Theory
= The Rider & The Elephant
2. Most of the time, we’re not
actually “choosing” what to do.
3. We’re using habits.
4. Or, we’re using hundreds of
cognitive shortcuts.
Image from http://kazez.blogspot.com/
Metaphor from J. Haidt (2006) & the Buddha

9. How we decide what do to next, 2
5. Shortcut: We don’t read webpages.
6. Shortcut: Beautiful = Easy to Read = True
7. Shortcut: We look to our peers. For what’s “right”, what’s
enjoyable, and what’s expected.
8. Shortcut: We judge based on rough similarity & association.
We judge before we think.
9. And a lot of obvious stuff. Easy, familiar, beautiful, pleasant,
feasible -> all make action more likely.

10. How we decide what do to next, 3
1. Familiar is good.
2. Easy is good.
3. Common or socially expected is good.
4. Not requiring conscious burden is good.
5. Anything that can be defaulted is good.
6. Any repeated action that can be habitualized is good.

11. So: think strategically
Reduce the work.
Cheat with automation.
Build a habit.
If you must, think.

12. Intro: what is Action Design?
Some background on the mind…
The four steps of the design
Topics

13. The 4 steps
1. Gather Knowledge
2. Structure the Action
3.Construct the Environment
4. Prepare the User

14. Gather Knowledge:
Know your outcome
Maybe you want people to login.
Maybe you want people to buy.
Ok.
What’s different about the
world, if the product works perfectly?
Company outcomes vs. User outcomes

15. Gather Knowledge:
Know your users
Each person is different.
Skills. Life experiences.
Family responsibilities.
How are they different with respect to:
1) Experience with the action?
2) Experience with the channel?
3) Relationship to you?

16. Structure the Action:
Break down hard problems
Take the garden path.
Make each step is pleasant.
Straightforward.
“Easy”.
Tailor it to their prior
experiences.
Skip ahead where possible.

17. Construct the environment
to support action
Grab the user’s
attention.
Make sure the
motivation is clear.
Provide urgency.
Remove distractions.

18. Prepare the user
Help users see
and tell the story
of their successes.
Build on related,
positive experiences.
Educate users
about how to do
take action.

19. The goal: lock it in & move on.
Just get it done.
Make it a habit.
Fully automate it.
Automate tracking, and
grab attention where
needed.

20. The process again
Note: this is what happens when a
researcher does graphic design….
We’ll talk about why designers
need to be free to do beautiful
things later.

21. And that’s it for now.
• Comments! Feedback!
• What more do you need to know?
• Examples in your own work?
• Check out actiondesign.hellowallet.com for more on this step-by-step
method for designing for behavior change.
• Check out www.meetup.com/action-design-dc
A Meetup on product-mediated, beneficial behavior change, where
anyone in the community can swap notes.
The next meetup, May 14th 6:30pm: Opower will talk about how they do
their magic.
• Contact me any time at steve@hellowallet.com or @sawendel

22. Steve Wendel
@sawendel
steve@hellowallet.com
Thanks