Maeve Catherine

A bad habit of mine is adding things to my physical and digital shopping carts even when I have set list of products that I am looking for. This is most commonly due to sales. I have fallen into the trap of adding items to my TikTok shopping cart because of sales that “are too good to pass up” and “limited time offers”. This isn’t me being impulsive, but instead, it’s behavioral economics at work.

The design world is good at using behavioral economics to make us fall in love with their products.

Influencing Factors

Behavioral economics is the study of economics that focuses on the psychological, social and emotional factors that influence a person’s decision-making. Bridgeable, a service design consultancy, explains that economists utilize a list of principles that describe consumers irregular behaviors in relation to specific circumstances. There are many useful principles used a lot by service and experience designers because they help marketers improve the relationships between a company and their customers.

It was this price…

The principle I see used most often is the anchoring principle. Customers, including myself, rely heavily on the information that is offered to them first because it becomes a benchmark for how much they could be spending. With Black Friday around the corner many retail stores are discounting their products and using this method in store and online.

The Levi’s website formats the original retail price to be a light grey and struck-through. The discounted price is in the brands signature red, which catches the customers eye, encourages them to add the item to the cart, and highlights the automatic change from the anchored price.

Additionally, Levi’s removes the obstacle of remembering discount codes by coding them with specific products, which is an example of the friction costs principle. Bridgeable explains, “Friction costs are the little speed bumps that people hit when engaging with a service. …(Designs should) direct users or help them complete a task by removing small barriers. Conversely, add small barriers to hinder undesirable behavior”. Wether signed in or not, a Levi’s customer can add a discounted product to their cart the appropriate discount is automatically added in the checkout page.

The World like Walt Wanted

Disney Parks are thought to be some of the cleanest communities and the experience designers are a huge reason for this because of their commitment to help build sustainable environment.

According to the Walt Disney Company’s 2030 Environmental Goals Whitepaper, “Disney is committed to taking meaningful and measurable action to support a healthier planet for future generations as we operate and grow our businesses.”

At the Disney parks, trash cans are said to be placed about 30 feet apart. This strategy encourages guests to see and use them frequently which reduces waste seen on the properties. This design subtly communicates that disposing of trash properly is the social norm, so guests will think to themselves, “Everyone else is doing their part, so I should too”. When guests see spotless paths and others using trash cans, they’re more likely to follow suit which is why Walt Disney’s experience design is a great example of the social proof principle. Nielsen Norman Group writer, Jen Cardello explains that “social proof plays off our insecurities and desire to do the “right thing”. The social proof principle aims to present the action as a normal behavior which a new user will reference as a guide.

Not only does Disney’s trash can layout design help encourage the guests to throw items out but the design also influenced behaviors outside of the parks. In 2015, Mike Dunn, a writer CBS Philadelphia, shared the news about Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown’s bill, requiring trash and recycling bins to be in front of corner stores, being approved. Reynolds Brown said, “”Restaurants in particular, corner stores especially, will now be required to have some type of trash receptacle and a recycling bin outside of their establishment. Because if we accept the Disneyland theory, when citizens do not have a receptacle within thirty steps of leaving the store, it ends up on the corner. So (this) is a small step toward trying to clean up our city beyond the boundaries of the Center City District”. The councilwoman explains the ways that Disney’s design has proven to work and visitors are less likely to litter and instead keep Philadelphia clean, without the need for excessive signage or enforcement.

Buying into Designs

The design industry has been able to use behavioral economics to create user-centered services and experiences that resonate deeply with human psychology. A designers goal is to use behavioral economic principles to get consumers to make fast decisions, spend our money, and feel good about them.