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Introduction to Cue (or Nudge) Me
Introduction to Cue (or Nudge) Me
Subtle cues in built and digital environments about what to do and how to act are everywhere. While people may not realize it, the virtual and physical spaces surrounding them are often designed with particular goals in mind. Employing the choice architecture lever means deliberately designing an environment that influences people’s decisions — some call these designs “nudges” — or by changing what is on the “menu” of available options for people. For example, people’s attention can be directed or cognitive biases leveraged to shift choices towards or away from certain options implicitly.
Support and shortcuts can help people reach their behavior change goals. One way to think about choice architecture is like a GPS — it’s a guide that gives a person a recommended route on where to go, but it can always be turned off if people prefer to do something else. These strategies help quickly identify what to do, often subconsciously, in the moment.
Guidance for Theory of Change Development
Guidance for Theory of Change Development
Make sure you start developing the theory of change with the desired behavior change in mind. Cue me intervention will then best tie-in with psycho-social state intermediate results that relate to:
When the desired behavior is the default choice
When actors feel the desired behavior is simple or requires less effort
When actors are reminded in a timely moment about the behavior
Generic Pathways for Cue Me
Generic Pathways for Cue Me
Type A. Use timely moments and prompts
Type A. Use timely moments and prompts
Example(s) of Type A. Use timely moments and prompts
Example(s) of Type A. Use timely moments and prompts
On a California University campus, researchers found that putting prompts in a visible place to use less water (and conserve energy) while showering tripled water conservation behavior from the baseline data. Asking students to model this behavior boosted conservation behavior further (Aronson & O’Leary, 1982).
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Type B. Direct attention to key variables
Type B. Direct attention to key variables
Example(s) of Type B. Direct attention to key variables
Example(s) of Type B. Direct attention to key variables
An intervention seeking to increase green energy consumption for 40,000 German consumers swapped the typical ‘opting-in’ policy on green energy contracts to one where consumers were automatically enrolled unless they ‘opted out’, which created ten times more subscriptions (Ebeling and Lotz, 2015).
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A research team in the western United States found that adding and relocating recycling bins to increase their prominence increased recycling efficiency by 23% on a university campus (and decrease the number of recyclables in the trash by 13.38%) (McCoy et al, 2018).
A study in Nordic countries found that they could nudge potential phone buyers into making greener choices, like used phones, by simply altering how their options were presented. Where only 4% of customers typically chose to buy a used phone, 29% made that choice when the ‘green’ alternative of purchasing a used phone was actively offered. For screen repairs, the corresponding percentages were 87% when actively offered, and 67% when not (Stefansdotter et al, 2016).
The Fish Game is a powerful gamified learning experience for fishers because it gives them first hand exposure to concepts like fishing pressure, the importance of rules for ensuring fairness in fisheries, and prepares them to grasp the purpose of Managed Access and Reserves (MA+R).
A lab experiment looked at the effect on sales of high-emissions foods (e.g., beef soup) by adding food labels that described the energy used to make the product in lightbulb minutes. Those who saw the label purchased 50% fewer high-emissions products (Camilleri at al, 2019).
Type C. Facilitate planning and goal-setting
Type C. Facilitate planning and goal-setting
Example(s) of Type C. Facilitate planning and goal-setting
Example(s) of Type C. Facilitate planning and goal-setting
Highlighting transport information and encouraging people to deliberately plan their car trips has been demonstrated to be quite effective in reducing car usage (Bamberg, 2002).
A study found that public commitments combined with prompts to create lists in advance about what they plan to buy at the grocery store could lead German households to reduce food waste (Schmidt, 2016).
Type D. Simplify Messages
Type D. Simplify Messages
Example(s) of Type D. Simplify Messages
Example(s) of Type D. Simplify Messages
A field study found that specialized lids deterred non-recyclable items from being placed in the wrong bins and clarified which items should be recycled. The presence of these lids increased recycling rates by 34% compared to those bins without specialized lids, and the number of bins that contained non-recyclable items was reduced by 95% (Duffy and Vergas, 2009).
Using choice architecture to address the persistent issue of illegal undersized lobster harvesting in The Bahamas, the 'Size Matters' campaign focused on empowering fishermen with the motivation and tools—such as measuring gauges—to only catch lobsters of a certain size. The campaign was so successful and the spiny lobster population rebounded enough that the fishery was granted Marine Stewardship Council certification.
This lever is useful when target actors…
This lever is useful when target actors…
➡️Target actors’ intentions already align with the goals of the intervention designer.
➡️Target actors perform “the behavior that needs to change” automatically or out of habit, rather than through deliberate, reflective decision-making.
➡️Target actors are actively making a choice (whether consciously or not), or in a moment of disruption or transition.
This lever pairs well with...
This lever pairs well with...
Show Me (Information) where people are given relevant information at times when they can also act on it.
Sway Me (Emotional Appeals) by making behavior change opportunities more salient, easy to understand, interesting, and visually-appealing to draw on principles from both choice architecture and insights about people’s values, interests, and life goals
Tempt Me (Material Incentives) by significantly reducing the effort, time, or resources required in addition to changing smaller hassle factors and attention.
Common traps to avoid
Common traps to avoid
People are very sensitive to manipulation and may respond poorly to feeling that someone is trying to control their actions. Being transparent about your intentions has been shown to not hurt a solution’s impact.
Choice architecture, typically, are most effective when the behavioral intervention scope is small to medium in size. That is, when many people’s behavior needs to be swayed a little, rather than when a few people’s behavior needs to be swayed a lot.
Deploying a choice architecture intervention when people’s intention do not align with the intervention’s goals. For example, a nudge initiative to increase bike riders in a city will only work if the city’s roads are biker-friendly and people indeed want to bike.
Additional Information for Cue Me
Additional Information for Cue Me
Cover Image by Jason Houston.
Guidance for Theory of Change Image by Jason Houston.
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