Nudge Theory Best-Practices For Business (With Examples)

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There's been a lot of talk recently about Nudge Theory in online marketing and customer-engagement circles. So what, exactly, are nudges? We define nudges as an intervention in choice-architecture that causes a person to behave in a desired way or to choose a preferred option over alternatives. Nudges work by taking advantage of our mental shortcuts (AKA heuristics) People are more likely to choose the default options than to modify. If you want a customer to take one option over others, make the preferred choice a default! Getting a person to take a position or make a commitment to do something greatly increases the chances they will follow through on it. Because of our social hardwiring, we’re more likely to do something if we believe that’s what others are doing (especially our colleagues, peer groups and personal networks). People value what they currently possess more than what they don’t yet own. We’re more motivated by potential losses than potential gains. Adding game playing elements such as scoring, competitions, changing difficulty levels and random rewards lets you encourage higher engagement levels for a service, product or policy.