Persuasive technology is a concept that has received some attention lately, as researchers merge concepts from psychology and technology to help people improve their own lives. By providing incentives and disincentives, companies can design new social games that influence customers to use products and services that help them improve skills and acquire healthier habits. While the science of persuasion advances, so do Web, mobile and software interfaces that can guide users into specific behavior. Some very powerful and useful examples have emerged lately, in the form of Nike+, Vive Coach, Booyah, and others.

Nike+, an online community of runners, is a great example of how peer encouragement, shared achievements, and technology can enhance people’s performance. Nike+ uses a pedometer to track a runner’s performance, and pumps the data through an iPod or iPhone to the Nike+ Web site where the community can view, encourage and support one another around their fitness goals.  This social game, which takes advantage of a well-known psychological concept called the Hawthorne effect comes into play: People perform better when they believe they are being watched.  By sharing one’s goals, improvements and success with the community, individuals perform better and are more likely to complete those goals. A great example of someone taking advantage of these concepts is Floyd Mayweather. Floyd purposely works out in front of other people so that he feels compelled to work harder. Nike+ scales this “public performance” and encourages everyone to share their workout in view of others. This creates the environment that pushes peoples performance beyond their normal level.

In e-commerce, flash sales sites like RueLaLa.com and Gilt.com use persuasive technology to great effect. The psychological triggers used in these sites are: a) the sense of urgency b) limited availability, c) rare discount, d) affordable luxury.  People don’t want to miss the train and loose out on the opportunity to buy luxury items at a discount.

Woot is another site that operates under the same principle: offering only one product per day at a big discount, in limited quantities. In this social game, there is a disincentive to waiting and the incentive is the discount. They have designed a model where the lack of visiting their site on a daily basis would create an aversive experience.  How is this possible?  These sites create a situation where it is easier to simply make a quick visit to the site in the morning rather than risk the disappointment of missing a deal.  This student video does a great job of explaining the concept of “alarm clocking”.

Mint.com similarly uses a number of methods to help users change their behavior.  This site pulls data from the users various financial institutions and displays this data in a very useful way.  In doing this, Mint makes it easy for the user to see where much of their income is being misspent. Once a user sees this graph, or one showing how much they can save by switching brokerages for example, the user becomes much more open to advice from the program.  This is an important concept for a range of sites that may be interested in changing user behavior.

Persuasive technology enhances existing social games and protocols and provides a conceptual framework for creating new social games in which both incentives and disincentives are used to change attitudes and behaviors.  These social games may build off existing social games, for example: in a sales situation when something is given away for free, that encourages the recipient to reciprocate.  Our tendency to “give back” that is built into our biology and cultural education is universally human.  By building off of such almost automatic behaviors, persuasive technology can provide businesses with an ability to reach, engage and even transact with customers on a much grander scale than is possible person-to-person.  By understanding the existing social games people play, and by designing social games using incentives and disincentives, testing them experimentally with real customers (see Naviscent’s Experience Revolution methodology) these persuasive technologies can be effective, scalable, and powerful for businesses and customers.

Written with Chris Bierbower

Term: Persuasive technology (also known as captology) Noun:   A mechanism designed to change attitudes or behaviors of the users through persuasion and social influence, but not through coercion.

Related links: http://econsultancy.com/blog/905-interview-persuasion-guru-bj-fogg