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Irrational Labs The "3Bs" Approach

This document outlines an approach called the "3Bs" for designing behavior change interventions. The 3Bs are: 1) Identifying the key behavior - the specific, measurable action a user needs to take. Common mistakes are identifying an outcome instead of a behavior or being too vague. 2) Reducing barriers - the extra steps or friction that prevent users from the key behavior. Barriers, even small ones, should be minimized. 3) Amplifying benefits - the motivations that encourage the key behavior. Both existing benefits can be highlighted and new immediate benefits can be created. The 3Bs process focuses efforts on the most important behavioral factors to effectively design for behavior change.

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Marina Muñoz
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53 views2 pages

Irrational Labs The "3Bs" Approach

This document outlines an approach called the "3Bs" for designing behavior change interventions. The 3Bs are: 1) Identifying the key behavior - the specific, measurable action a user needs to take. Common mistakes are identifying an outcome instead of a behavior or being too vague. 2) Reducing barriers - the extra steps or friction that prevent users from the key behavior. Barriers, even small ones, should be minimized. 3) Amplifying benefits - the motivations that encourage the key behavior. Both existing benefits can be highlighted and new immediate benefits can be created. The 3Bs process focuses efforts on the most important behavioral factors to effectively design for behavior change.

Uploaded by

Marina Muñoz
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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THE “3B’S” APPROACH

It's a daunting task to list all of the behavioral economic principles for behavior change. From loss
aversion to social proof, the list can seem endless.
To help structure our principles, we created the “3Bs” approach to help design for behavior change
that improves lives. Among companies that have used our approach to design products are Facebook,

1 BEHAVIORS
Google, World Bank and JawBone.

IDENTIFYING KEY

THE KEY BEHAVIOR IS A SPECIFIC AND MEASURABLE ACTION YOU WANT A USER TO TAKE.
We ask ourselves:
- What action do you want the user to take?
- Is this the single most important behavior for them to do to meet the business goals? (If we don’t know, we
identify the assumptions we’re making)
- How often do you want the user to do this behavior? Some behaviors only need to happen once, but some
require habitual engagement.

TOP 3 MISTAKES PEOPLE MAKE WHEN IDENTIFYING THE KEY BEHAVIOR:

1) Mistaking an outcome for a behavior


An outcome is “losing 10 pounds” or “acquisition cost under $16.” Examples of behaviors are “eat fruit once a
day,” “exercise every Wednesday after work” or “open up a savings account during first use.”

2) Not getting uncomfortably specific


Get uncomfortably specific. Define the exact behavior you want someone to do, and when they should do it.
It should be as specific as: “Grab a red delicious apple from the kitchen fruit bowl every weekday morning,
right before walking out the door for work.” If you’re not a little bit uncomfortable defining your key behavior,
you’re doing it wrong.

3) Thinking log-in and sign-up are behaviors


“Log in” and “Sign up” don’t count as behaviors: What is the behavior we want users to do after they’ve
logged in?

www.irrationallabs.org
2 BARRIERS
REDUCING

BARRIERS ARE THE EXTRA STEPS AND THE HARD QUESTIONS.


BARRIERS ARE THE FRICTION THAT PREVENT USERS FROM DOING OUR KEY BEHAVIOR.
TO DESIGN FOR BEHAVIOR CHANGE, THESE SHOULD BE REDUCED.*
Example:
- Barriers can be big, like accessing and filling out long forms to apply for student loans or benefits, but they
can also be much smaller, like remembering your login and password.
- Every click, every field, every signature, every step, every call, adds friction.
- Having to think and/or make a decision is also a barrier. The more you can reduce this barrier, the better.
* There are times where we want to have barriers. Adding friction can keep people from doing undesirable
behaviors. For example: Keeping unhealthy food in a hard to reach place.

3 BENEFITS
AMPLIFYING

BENEFITS ENCOURAGE AND MOTIVATE USERS TO DO OUR KEY BEHAVIOR.


To design for behavior change, we want to amplify existing benefits or create new benefits. Where
barriers add friction, benefits add motivation.

In both cases we want to focus on creating immediate and hedonic benefits.


1) What would impact a user’s life right now?
2) Does the benefit appeal to someone’s emotion?

To amplify existing benefits we can use our behavioral tools like social proof and loss aversion.
To create new benefits we want to think about the product’s longer term benefits that we can make more
immediately salient.

USING THE 3BS PROCESS ALLOWS US TO HONE IN ON THE MOST CRITICAL AND ADDRESSABLE
ISSUES, LEADING TO MORE EFFECTIVE AND COST-EFFICIENT INTERVENTIONS.

www.irrationallabs.org Authors: Dan Ariely, Kristen Berman


Wendy De La Rosa, Bella Rozenkrants

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