From the Great Before to the Unknowable after
As we patiently waited for medical science to catch up, behavioural science has played a key role in protecting us from COVID. It has shown us how to stand in well-spaced circles in line at the store and helped us learn how long to wash our hands (as long as it takes to sing happy birthday). We’ve also seen what happens when we fail to implement good behavioural design, with confusing messaging about masks and unclear guidelines around stay-at-home policies creating behavioural loopholes just big enough for the virus to squeeze through.
As we move achingly slowly toward mass vaccination, I’m actually getting worried about how I’ll cope when things go “back to normal” (or a reasonable facsimile thereof). My introverted self has been just fine sitting at home in soft pants with a pile of books at the ready. I’ve learned that I can live without a lot of things I thought were necessary for my happiness. If you are a consumer-facing brand, you should be worried. Even if you think you understood your customers in the Great Before, you don’t anymore.
People have changed. At best we’ve figured out how to be “COVID fine” – as good as can be expected given the circumstances. At worst, we’ve lost loved ones, jobs, or our own health. We’ve learned how to avoid hugs, stand in lines, order what we need online and survive without social interactions. Humans have evolved to adapt quickly to fear, our “fight or flight” response wired into our every cell. We’re much less adept at letting go of anxiety once it has served us.
Brands have also changed. Remember the old days when all brands used to do was sell us stuff? Now when we visit their locations, they watch out for our health, ensuring that we wear our masks and don’t get too close to other people or touch anything unnecessarily. They’ve scrambled to move products and services online so that we can engage from the safety of our homes. They’ve told us over and over again that they applaud first responders, value our safety and care for our wellbeing.
The proverbial toothpaste is out of the tube.
As we head toward the Unknowable After, Behavioural Design is key to enabling brands to:
Actively participate in the design of the future using the evidence-based principles of human behaviour, as defined through years of scientific research. Regardless of what happens, people will continue to be loss averse and responsive to social proof, just as we’ve been for thousands of years. The way we build trust or anticipate negative consequences isn’t going to fundamentally change. So even when everything looks different, brands don’t have to go in blind when it comes to human behaviour. Start with the science and build from there.
Engage with consumers using empathy-based approaches to understand the nuance of the behaviours and uncover new unmet needs to generate innovative ideas to enable people to meet new challenges as they arise. Start getting to know your customers all over again by talking to them. The fundamentals of human behaviour may stay relatively static, but the nuances will change with the evolving context.
Test out new concepts using rigourish* applications of behavioural science methodologies, such as hypothesis-driven experimental designs to determine causal relationships, as best as one can outside of a lab environment.
Interpret the mountains of customer data you’ve gained from your e-commerce experience. Predictive analytics can tell us a lot about what is happening and when, but it cannot tell us why or how to change customer behaviour. Bringing a behavioural science lens to your customer data can provide evidence-based insights into why people do what they do and how smart interventions can nudge them to behave differently.
Go beyond nudging to explore new psychological and emotional relationships and spheres of influence. If a brand can look out for my physical safety, why not my psychological safety? For example, can we design banking to be less anxiety-provoking? Can a brand play a role in helping customers feel happy? Empowered?
Behavioural Design is already and underutilized tool. By combining scientific evidence and empathy to understand human behaviour in context, we can help customers move forward into whatever is coming next.
* [ˈriɡəriSH] ADJECTIVE: Extremely thorough, exhaustive, or accurate. Well, as much as one can be when solving really complicated problems with real people in the real world
