Designing for Behavior Change: Applying Psychology and Behavioral Economics

Designers and managers hope their products become essential for users—integrated into their lives like Instagram, Lyft, and others have become. Such deep integration isn’t accidental: it’s a process of careful design and iterative learning, especially for technology companies. This guide shows you how to apply behavioral science—research that supports many products—to help your users achieve their goals using your product.

In this updated edition, Stephen Wendel, head of behavioral science at Morningstar, takes you step-by-step through the process of incorporating behavioral science into product design and development. Product managers, UX and interaction designers, and data analysts will learn a simple and effective approach for identifying target users and behaviors, building the product, and gauging its effectiveness.

• Learn the three main strategies to help people change behavior
• Identify behaviors your target audience seeks to change—and obstacles that stand in their way
• Develop effective designs that are enjoyable to use
• Measure your product’s impact and learn ways to improve it
• Combine behavioral science with data science to pinpoint problems and test potential solutions