Design Thinking Applications

Build it and they will come? 🤔 When product teams launch a highly-requested feature, they tend to expect users to engage with it. But things don’t always work out that way. 😬 This is what Lyft discovered when they launched Women+ Connect. Despite the clear benefits and the demand for the feature, not all drivers who were eligible were opting into it. 🔍 The challenge? Simply telling users about a feature isn’t always enough to drive action. When Irrational Labs partnered with Lyft, here’s what our brilliant behavioral scientist Isabel Macdonald, PhD and team learned, working closely with Robyn Bald and Kirsten M.: 🚀 A simple shift in messaging—based on behavioral science—can massively impact feature engagement. Irrational Labs tested several behaviorally-informed messages and all outperformed the control. The winning message? “Just checking. Looks like you are not opted into Women+ Connect. Is this correct? Tap to review.” What this does: The question creates a desire for resolution and nudges the driver to take action (versus do nothing). The result? Compared to the control group, this approach got 173% more opt-ins from new drivers. 📈 So, what’s the takeaway for product teams? 👉🏼 Product success doesn’t come just from building great features. You have to frame them in ways that resonate with your users, capture their attention, and motivate them to act. 💡 Curious to see how small changes can lead to massive impact? Check out the link in the comments to learn how we helped Lyft get great engagement with a great feature. 👇🏼 #BehavioralScience #ProductManagement #UserEngagement #WomenInTech #IrrationalLabs #Lyft

As we reach the final month of the year, it’s a good time to reflect on how we’re combining Science and Design. When I started to integrate behavioral science into how products and experiences are designed, it became clear how much value a systematic, evidence-based approach can bring to organizations. One principle I emphasize with advisory clients is the importance of working from a well-formed hypothesis.. why, because testing structured hypotheses helps de-risk decisions and saves resources compared to relying purely on instinct. Behavioral theories and frameworks provide a way to identify the drivers and barriers that shape how employees and customers experience your organization. Moving beyond “behavior theater” means focusing on the actual behaviors that matter, and mapping what enables or constrains them. Creating a behavioral blueprint is one effective way to do this, it’s a visual artefact that maps the behaviors happening at each stage of an experience, alongside the behavioral drivers and barriers. These could be everything from beliefs, fears, and skills to policies and social norms. I know most organizations understand functional barriers well, but the personal and emotional ones often remain invisible.. and these are the areas where behavioral insight adds the most value. You can develop these maps in many ways, as long as they’re grounded in a solid behavioral model. If you’re looking for inspiration on how to structure these artefacts from a design perspective, these books are a great starting point: -This is Service Design Doing: Marc Stickdorn, Adam StJohn Lawrence, Markus Edgar Hormeß -The Design Thinking Playbook and Toolbox: Michael Lewrick -Mapping Experiences: Jim Kalbach -The Service Innovation Handbook: Lucy Kimbell -The Journey Mapping Playbook: Jerry Angrave -Strategic Design: Giulia Calabretta -Testing Business Ideas: Alexander Osterwalder & David Bland As this year closes, how are you developing better experiences and closing gaps?

I just spoke with Elijah Woolery and Aarron Walter of the Design Better podcast about the hidden forces that drive product adoption and behavior change. Here's what product managers and growth leaders need to know: 🧠💡 Humans don't act rationally, and the environment affects behavior more than attitudes, preferences, or beliefs. This isn't just theory—it's the foundation of effective product design. A few insights worth noting: 🔄 Your biggest competitor isn't who you think. It's the status quo—what users are already doing. The biggest predictor that I'll exercise today is whether I exercised yesterday. 👁️ Don't ask users what they want; watch what they do. Brazil's stock exchange thought their users needed better information about expiring bonds. The problem? People don't remember expiration dates from 10 years ago. By focusing on the behavior (reinvestment) rather than awareness, we increased bond reinvestment 5X. 🎯 For truly successful product engagement, focus on what I call "uncomfortably specific key behaviors" rather than abstract metrics like retention or engagement. At One Medical, we increased bookings by 20% not by asking people to "get care" (who thinks that way?) but by recommending a specific doctor. ✨ Your users don't come in with fixed preferences—you help create them. The Significant Objects Project sold junk shop items on eBay with compelling stories, turning $50 worth of items into $3,500. As a product leader, it's your job to help users understand value, not assume they already know it. ⏱️ Present bias is real: Chime switched from "save money on overdraft fees" (future benefit) to "get paid two days earlier" (immediate benefit)—and saw dramatically better conversion. I run Irrational Labs, a behavioral economics consultancy with Dan Ariely, where we apply these principles to help products drive meaningful behavior change. What hidden forces are affecting your product experience? Listen to the full conversation here: https://lnkd.in/efB6FD_6 #BehavioralEconomics #ProductDesign #GrowthMarketing

Most product growth strategies still assume one thing: 👉 Users behave rationally. But decades of behavioral science, along with recent 2025 research, show the opposite. Users are predictably irrational. A 2025 behavioral economics study highlights that decisions in digital products are strongly shaped by: • Cognitive biases like anchoring and loss aversion • Social proof such as reviews and ratings • Emotional triggers over logical evaluation And yet, most growth teams still optimize for features, not behavior. Here’s what actually drives product growth, backed by research: 1. Loss aversion > value creation Users are more motivated to avoid loss than gain value. That’s why “Don’t lose your progress” often outperforms “Unlock more features.” 2. Anchoring defines perceived value The first experience, whether pricing, onboarding, or UI, sets the benchmark. Everything after is judged relative to that anchor. 3. Personalization drives retention Studies on streaming platforms show personalized recommendations are among the strongest drivers of repeat engagement and loyalty. 4. Behavior ≠ sentiment Even when consumer sentiment drops, usage and spending often continue. Decisions are driven by habit, convenience, and context, not just satisfaction. 5. Social norms influence willingness to pay Users are more likely to pay when a product aligns with identity, trends, or perceived social behavior. The takeaway: Growth is not just about building better products. It is about designing better decisions. The best product teams today do not just ask: “What should we build?” They ask: “How will the user think, feel, and decide in this moment?” Because the real growth loop is: Perception → Emotion → Decision → Habit → Growth #ProductGrowth #BehavioralEconomics #Psychology #UserBehavior #GrowthStrategy #ProductManagement

6+ years ago, Sebastian and I invited world-renowned behavioral scientist Dan Ariely to Shabbat dinner. We were just getting started on JOON: an employee benefits company that needed to feel people-first, even though we were building financial technology behind the scenes. We’d been influenced by Dan’s work and were lucky enough to be invited to the startup workshop of our dreams: a weekend with him and his lab of behavioral scientists at Duke. Many HR tech platforms and software products often ignore the realities of how people actually behave. At JOON, we’ve worked hard to change that by aligning our product with human psychology — removing friction, adding delight, and making benefits feel like magic. Here are a few lessons from our time with Dan that still shape JOON today: 1. Reduce the “pain of paying” By connecting JOON to employees’ cards, we minimize the number of steps needed to get reimbursed. 2. Use “active choice” at the right moments During onboarding, we asked employees to imagine how they’ll use their benefit — reinforcing intention and nudging real engagement. 3. Eliminate unnecessary decisions Instead of asking employees to navigate a maze of portals with a restrictive list of vendors, JOON lets people use their benefit on brands they already love. That weekend didn’t just inspire our product — it helped validate our company philosophy: Build for behavior, not idealized intent. That’s how you go from “benefit offered” to “benefit used.” #behavioralscience #employeeexperience #employeewellbeing #employeebenefits #joon #danarielyy #lsa #behavioraleconomics

Shirin Oreizy helped a tech brand increase user adoption of a new savings feature from 16% to 73% using behavioral science. But only AFTER they realized the company hadn't considered this one human instinct: The “default” option. It’s a well-known concept in behavioral science. Once people set their defaults, it’s really hard to get them to change. You would think… if this new feature will save people money, they should be flocking to it, right? But nope, sign-ups were around 16%, which was way below their target adoption rate. The company had missed the phase when their customers were the most “activated,” aka during the sign-up flow. And trying to push people to change their settings AFTER the fact is super hard, even with excellent marketing emails, push notifications… the works. So what did they do? They added this savings feature into the sign-up flow. This allowed people to set it as a “default.” And… (I love this part), they first ran an experiment to make sure it would work 🙂. The result? Sign-ups increased to 73%. I see a lot of teams struggle with marketing new features to old users. At a certain point, there’s only so much you can push to your users. This is where behavioral science comes in and allows you to rethink your strategy. (And, of course, always test it first!) Hear more of Shirin and I’s behavioral science discussion on The Marketing Scientists, link in the comments ⬇️