Behavioral Science Can Help to Create the Right Mental Model for your Users
Mental models are a bit like windows in a house. If you look outside from one window, your view is different from another. As product designers, we get to build the windows, and the customers get the view! The good news is that it’s incredibly easy to build windows on Day 1 – the customer’s view is unobstructed. On Day 2, the customer is already used to the window and the view. To change it, you’d need to build a new mental model for them. It’s possible, but it’s much harder than on Day 1. In other words, build the right mental model from the beginning, and you’ll be a model of success.
The Scientific Approach to Designing for Behavior Change
In a previous article, we wrote about how user research can sometimes be misleading. How do we bridge this gap and design products based on actual user behavior? That’s where behavioral design comes in. Behavioral design takes into account that consumers aren’t good at predicting their behavior thanks to an abundance of cognitive biases and digs deeper into the psychology of decision making—behavioral science.
The Scientific Approach to Designing for Behavior Change
In a previous article, we wrote about how user research can sometimes be misleading. How do we bridge this gap and design products based on actual user behavior? That’s where behavioral design comes in. Behavioral design takes into account that consumers aren’t good at predicting their behavior thanks to an abundance of cognitive biases and digs deeper into the psychology of decision making—behavioral science.
[Don’t] listen to your customers
Today’s product and design leaders often rely heavily on the word of their customers when building their product road maps; whether it’s a customer survey or a phone interview, loads of qualitative data through these methods is being collected and used to dictate how to design and develop products. Seems like a foolproof plan, right? Actually, no—a sole reliance on customer input and feedback is built on an antiquated model of human decision making that assumes humans are rational.
[Don’t] listen to your customers
Today’s product and design leaders often rely heavily on the word of their customers when building their product road maps; whether it’s a customer survey or a phone interview, loads of qualitative data through these methods is being collected and used to dictate how to design and develop products. Seems like a foolproof plan, right? Actually, no—a sole reliance on customer input and feedback is built on an antiquated model of human decision making that assumes humans are rational.