Archetypes
What are Archetypes; Archetypes V/S Personas; Cognitive Biases; Some common Cognitive Biases for Archetypes
Archetypes
Archetypes are based heavily on user or user group behavior patterns. They are defined by studying patterns of action during an experience: how and why people buy something — and why, and by what they are motivated to take action. By immersing yourself in their behavior, you see and experience things from their point of view. This results in a more accurate design strategy going forward. It also helps to more accurately mark and measure analytics that will be used later to iterate on the design solution.
“Archetypes are inborn tendencies which shape human behaviour, a pattern of behaviour upon which others are copied and emulated” — Carl Jung
Defining Archetypes
The first step in determining a person’s archetype is to ask questions during a series of user interviews. You can then follow up with additional questions during their profile setup, and then more questions sprinkled throughout the product experience as they utilize it over time. The goal is to clarify information that tells you what they care about, what motivates them, and what they value.
Determining aspects of their offline life — the life factors influencing their decision making — helps identify their mindset.
This data becomes more valuable as it is collected and interpreted over longer periods of time. Patterns slowly change as time passes, and by quantifying their activity and progression from this perspective, we begin to gather a story and a more in-depth picture of their life.
Based on the information gathered, there are many different ways you can define archetypes.
Archetypes v/s Personas?
Personas are great for defining an overall audience and its members, but they deal heavily with the facts and characteristics of a person and less about how they think. They define who we are talking to. Archetypes dive more deeply into the behavioural patterns a person operates with.
Cognitive Biases Affecting Archetypes
When over time people deviate from what is usually perceived as their behavioural norm, it is usually caused by some form of cognitive bias.
Coupling archetypes with the cognitive biases of users gives you clarity when creating a strategic content matrix. The matrix would indicate ways to respond to deviations from the norm in users’ behaviour.
There are hundreds of different biases out there. Following are some of the more common ones used in design —
Status Quo Bias
Having a status quo bias usually means you are highly resistant to change. Status quo people must be strongly motivated to try something new. These are not new product early adopters. Designing for this tendency means slow incremental goals over a longer amount of time.
Loss Aversion
Loss aversion is as it sounds: the tendency to fear losing something or not getting enough over time. This bias is often used by marketing to get you to buy a product now. Designing for this bias means highlighting what will be lost by not acting immediately.
For example: an online service offers a 30 day free trial. Towards the end of the trial, you receive messages saying “Your trial is about to expire. Don’t lose out on this special offer — buy now!”
Herd Mentality or the Bandwagon Effect
This is the tendency to do (or believe) things because many other people do (or believe) the same things. It is the tendency to want to belong to a group. Designing for this bias means highlighting what other people are doing on the site right now.
Availability Heuristic
Availability Heuristic is the quick assessment or decision about an issue, person, etc. based on current opinion. It is the tendency to make assumptions. Designing for this means making sure awareness of information isn’t assumed as users move through the journey. This also relates to the idea that if you hear something repeated long and often enough it must be true.
Hyperbolic Discounting
Hyperbolic discounting leads to choices that are inconsistent over time: People make choices today that their future selves would prefer not to have made despite using the same reasoning.
For example, let’s say you want to buy flowers online. You go through the steps to get those beautiful roses delivered and, at the end, you are offered a series of add-on products like chocolates, a teddy bear, etc. all at a discounted rate, but only if purchased now. You may decide to get the add-ons or not. It’s hard to predict. Things like how you feel that day, what your reason is (positive or negative) for getting the flowers, how much is in your bank account, and whether today was payday or not all play a part in whether or not you add that extra item. Designing for this bias means working into the design a feature known as “FOMO” or “fear of missing out” if you don’t act now.
Putting It All Together
By creating a foundation for your design using behavioural science — defining a person’s archetype and understanding strategically how to design using cognitive biases, you can more accurately shape interactive experiences that dynamically personalise content..
