Small pushes in the right direction can overcome people’s natural inertia and bring about large-scale social change. They call this effect nudge theory, and it applies when you need a little push.
Consider this simple experiment. Three hundred households in a California town were divided into two groups.
Half were sent normal power bills, and the other half had a smiley face on their bills if their consumption was below average, and a frowning face if their usage was higher than average.
The results could not have been more conclusive: within the group with faces on their bills, high users reduced their electricity consumption, and low users consumed even less than before.
Simple enough? The difference was a little yellow circle on a piece of paper, but it had a big impact. Professors Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein cite the smiley experiment as a simple example of their theory that people can be gently encouraged to behave in socially desirable ways.
Like shown here, even small incentives can improve people’s behavior. The two call it the nudge theory, quietly shepherding people in is the right direction.
Why should society need a nudge in the first place? The research team question one of the major assumptions of economic theory, homo economicus, which is the idea that humans act in an enlightened and rational way to maximize their wellbeing. Their theory says no emotions play a part in their behavior.
This argument is the central thesis of behavioral economics, which asserts that emotion is an important factor in market behavior. It asserts that people make decisions by gut feelings rather than careful analysis of all the available options.
Also, they’re lazy. People could save by switching to another power provider, but they can’t be bothered. Professor Sunstein freely admits that he’s no exception; for decades, he’s received newspapers he no longer wants, simply because he hasn’t gotten around to stopping the subscription.
Little things, like other people interfering ever so slightly in our lives, can help to push us along the right path. Nudge theory isn’t just about helping Californians to save energy; it has many applications.
Here are some great examples:
Need a little push … the overeating world
A healthy diet is something we can – and should – all aspire to. However, when questioned, 40% of households will perceive their diet quality to be significantly healthier than their actual diet quality.
What we see here is not a lack of awareness, but a lack of follow through!
The Welsh Health Survey researched the health of the people of Wales. In 2011, they discovered that a staggering 57% of adults and 35% of children were classed as either obese or overweight.
Moreover, the WHS found that only 33% of adults eat the recommended daily amount of fruit and vegetables. Obesity has been recognized as a significant threat that can be a cause of major diseases and in the long run, incurs a massive cost to the health systems.
What’s clear is that current strategies to raise awareness of healthy eating are not enough to tackle the problems we face.
The Campus Shop
In this experiment, our “nudge” was the introduction of green footprints on the floor of a campus shop. The footprints directed the customer from the shop entrance to the shelf where the fruit was located.
We kept them there for several weeks in the hope that the effect would prove to be more than just a “novelty” and would increase overall amounts of fruit purchased.
Why did we choose footprints? Hansen [6] utilized green footprints, directing pedestrians to bins, and discovered a reduced amount of litter on the streets of Copenhagen by 46 %.
We thought to advance this study by exploring how footprints would influence people’s behavior in a different environment, i.e., the campus shop, and promoting different behaviors, i.e., the purchasing of fruit.
After six weeks (half the time with footprints present, half the time without – so we could measure the difference) we found the fruit sales had gone up nearly 100% (99.6% to be precise).
Consider the implications; first, we have shown that a simple intervention, such as green footprints, can majorly affect people’s eating habits, hopefully making their overall diet healthier.
For example, a customer walks into a shop and, because of the footprints, will choose to purchase a healthy banana instead of an unhealthy chocolate bar.
The footprints serve as a great example of a Nudge because they alter the environment in some measurable way, increase a certain, targeted behavior and still leave prospective shoppers free to load up on all the chocolate they want! All without requiring a mentally taxing “conscious” decision.
Also read: 5 kitchen nudges to improve your health
Need a little push … University Cafeteria
The second Nudge we conducted was in a University cafeteria. This study involved the concept of availability and convenience.
Previous findings suggest that if products are placed in a more convenient location – at eye
level or by the checkout, for example – then the product is more likely to sell.
Building upon these findings, we changed the location of fruit in the cafeteria to a more convenient and accessible one.
Originally the fruit was placed in a basket in the corner of a shelf; by all accounts an inaccessible and inconvenient location!
We decided that a little relocation was in order, so we moved the fruit near to the entrance and at eye level in a long basket, on green tissue paper (to make the fruit more appealing).
Similar to the “footprint study” we also ran this intervention for six weeks. Upon analysis of the sales data, we found an impressive increase in sales of 137.14%! This is an unprecedented increase in product sales through environmental manipulation.
Together these two studies show how easy it is to increase the amount of fruit an individual is purchasing, and by extension, how easy it is to improve a person’s diet without resorting to draconian restrictions.
Need a little push … a fruitful nudge
The ever-present, attractive, and cheap convenience food of the modern world is both a blessing (isn’t it amazing that you can get a fully cooked meal in a few short minutes.
Up until now, the problem has been framed regarding one of willpower, however, with the use of simple, low-cost nudges, such as green footprints and location manipulation, foods like fruit and vegetables can become more accessible and convenient to the consumer.
The nudges we employed suggest it would be simple to increase the widespread use of nudges. With nudges similar to the ones used in this study obesity rates could decrease.
Conversely, obesity is an international epidemic and may need more than just a few nudges for a significant effect to be observed.
Nevertheless, with the application of nudges people’s diet quality will significantly increase and this will inevitably aid the process of decreasing obesity.
Need a little push … campaigns
”Cool bus,” ”Six a week” ” Get moving kids” are all examples of well-composed payoffs from various Danish information campaigns aimed at increasing the number of Danes who go by public transportation, eats enough fruit and exercise.
These are award-winning campaigns with humorous and amazing visual elements, composed with a knack for generating hits on Facebook and Youtube, promote Apps, involving the target groups in competitions and creating awareness through various Outdoor elements and events.
And all of them share the same raison d’être of changing the actual behavior or decisions made by the target group.
Last week I overheard an interview with a representative from the company that ordered ”The cool bus” campaign.
When asked about impact, she told that it had been “a very successful campaign” and referred to the amount of traffic it had generated on social media as an indicator for said success.
When prodded about increases in passenger figures, she said, that the campaign had had no impact on that what so ever.
Danish organizations, both public and private, spend millions on behavior orientated campaigns similar to the “Cool Bus” ad every year, which is just fine if the goal is to create as many hits on Facebook as possible or increase momentary awareness.
But we have to pay attention to the limits of traditional campaigns and advertisement ”toolbox ” when it comes to generating measurable changes in actual behavior.
Almost all examples in this article are connected to the three upper steps in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs – self-actualization, self-esteem, and love/belonging.
If we can communicate to one of these needs, and preferably more, we optimize our chances of making people change behavior through communication.
I see great potential in using the knowledge of nudging in the strategic development of communication.
Especially, the public sector needs to upgrade its toolbox when it comes to communication and developing action plans.
Regulations, threats, taxes, and infomercials do not always bring about the changes we are looking for. Try nudging.
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Mike Schoultz is a digital marketing and customer service expert. With 48 years of business experience, he consults on and writes about topics to help improve the performance of the small business. Find him on G+, Facebook, Twitter, Digital Spark Marketing, and LinkedIn.