Every day we are required to make dozens of decisions about what actions to take. These decisions naturally require our brains to process lots of information, but our capacity to do so is limited, so our brains have developed mental shortcuts to help us out. These shortcuts are known as heuristics, which allow us to make judgments quickly. Heuristics have given way to cognitive biases that map the way we think, allowing us to process information quicker and make choices faster.
Cognitive bias affects how we interpret information and act on it. This is particularly important to be aware of if you’re building a product or developing a service for others to use.
For your product or service to be successful, you need to consider the user experience and how people perceive your product and make judgments about it. To do this, it is important to understand cognitive biases and how they influence human behavior.
Here are five cognitive biases that are useful to consider when building a product or service for other people.
#1 Social Proof
Social proof bias is our tendency to assume other people are more knowledgeable in a given situation when we don’t know what to do. As a result, we follow the behavior of people we perceive to be more knowledgeable. We rely on this to help guide us when we are unsure of what decision to make in a particular situation.
For example, let’s say you want to buy a Smart TV, but you don’t know anything about TVs currently on the market. What would you do in this situation? Many of us would begin by researching TVs in price ranges we could afford and compare them. We may pour over the specifications and descriptions, but really what we want to know is if it’s worth the price and if the quality is suitable.
One of the best ways to find out is by looking at reviews from other consumers. If you see a TV with two stars and another TV with five stars for the same price, you’re probably going to choose the TV with the better rating, right?
In terms of building a product or service, consider adding customer ratings, reviews or testimonials if you want to help your customers make a purchasing decision. Make your most popular item more prominent to show what other people on your site love the most. Providing a way for customers to see what other people think about your service or product will help them determine what they should do.
#2 Reciprocation
When someone is kind to us, pays us a nice compliment or gives us a small gift, we are more likely to feel the need to reciprocate — this is also true if someone is unkind to us. Either way, we feel the need to respond similarly to the other person.
This behavior is a very important social norm in our society. In fact, scientists Richard Leakey and Roger Lewin argue that humans have survived due to this behavior of sharing and reciprocity.
Fortunately, there are many opportunities to prompt reciprocation in user experiences. Consider adding “surprise and delight” moments that make the user feel more inclined to use your service simply because you made them smile. Try offering a free trial period for customers to experience the benefits of your product or service. Or offer discounts and free shipping to make customers feel more inclined to purchase.
#3 Negativity Bias
Negativity bias is the idea that negative experiences will be remembered more than positive experiences. In other words, negative emotions will have a greater impact on our behavior and memory than positive ones, especially when it comes to customers using a product or service.
Imagine you’ve always booked your travel on a specific site because it’s easy and quick to reserve your flight. However, the next time you go to that site, it starts crashing every time you try to pay for your trip. Even worse, the site does not inform you what’s happening or why the payment isn’t going through. You may get frustrated enough to go to another site, and then the next time you go to book a flight, you’ll remember that one bad episode of the site crashing continuously.
It’s inevitable that there will occasionally be issues with a product or service — that’s life. But, to avoid a truly bad experience for your customer, it’s important to provide easy error recovery to help guide them back to the task they are trying to complete. When a user does reach an error page, try using entertaining copy or images to humor them. Humor can turn a potentially frustrating experience into a positive one, and people tend to be much more forgiving of an error if they find the message helpful or entertaining.
#4 Reason-Respective
Reason-Respective involves our inclination to accept something when we are given a logical reason to do so. We work better when we are given reasons versus being given a task without an understanding of why it needs to be done. Even illogical reasons can persuade us to take action merely because a reason was provided.
Ellen Langer, a psychologist at Harvard University, and her team conducted a study with people waiting in line for a copy machine while a researcher asked to cut in line to make copies. The study found that providing a reason — whether it was a logical one such as ”I’m in a rush” — or a reason that wasn’t very logical like ”I have to make copies” — had nearly the same result and the people waiting in line allowed the researcher to cut.
This bias is important to be aware of when you need to ask for sensitive information at sign up, such as a phone number or social security number. Because this information is sensitive and people will be more hesitant to give it out, you’ll want to provide a reason for asking for that information.
# 5 Loss Aversion
Loss aversion is the notion that losses are felt more intensely than gains. An item may not seem that valuable when we have it, however, it’s value may seem greater once it’s lost.
If you find $20 one week, then the next week on your walk to get coffee you lose $20 out of your pocket, you’ll feel that loss more intensely than the enthusiasm of finding $20. Similarly, if we miss out on an opportunity to take advantage of a good deal, that loss feels greater than the excitement of getting that deal.
In product design, you can trigger the loss aversion effect in a couple of different ways. One option is to offer limited-time deals or sales to motivate customers to purchase. Another option is to use free trials, where customers have experienced the value of your product or service and don’t want to lose the benefits it provides once the trial is over.
Although learning these biases helps us improve our user experience, it’s also important to be aware of these biases from an ethical standpoint. Many of these biases have the potential to be exploited and could lead to poor decision making on the customer’s part. If we want to build trust with our customers, it’s important to consider how these biases are triggered and to ensure that we are encouraging positive behaviors that benefit our customers when we build our products and services.
Bottom Line
Learning about the cognitive biases we all possess is key to understanding how potential customers will make decisions about your product or service. With this knowledge, we can build better user experiences that help our customers make the best choices possible.
Lisa Zangerl is a Senior Product Designer at Peerfit. She’s a photographer, cat lover and enthusiastic Peerfitter.
