Psychology of Engagement with Amy Bucher

This episode features a fantastic conversation with is Amy Bucher, VP of Behavior Change Design at Mad*Pow and author of Engaged: Designing for Behavior Change. The book offers a wonderful exploration of how we can incorporate behavioral design into our products and services.

We cover a lot of ground in this episode including user research and tips on running a behavioral diagnosis. We also explore several concrete examples of how to design for behavior change and cover feedback loops, personalization, cats 😻, and much more.

Key Points:

• Understanding the “problem space” via both stakeholder interviews and end user interviews is the core element of the discovery phase of designing for behaviour change.
• Understanding the context of a given desired behaviour allows for greater personalization of a behavioural intervention.
• Personalising an intervention’s imagery and messaging on a demographic basis leads to the intervention being considered more self-relevant.
• Feedback should be provided on multiple levels to contextualise immediate actions alongside the desired long-term outcomes.
• Well-designed “quick wins” can create an immediate sense of accomplishment and increase engagement over time.
• Feedback should be actionable, and be framed as a success if possible
• Shaping your personal environment to encourage your desired behaviour is a powerful form of self-applied behavioural science.

Links:

• Amy's website, Twitter & LinkedIn
• Engaged: Designing for Behavior Change
• Mad*Pow
• Habit Weekly Pro

Timestamps:

03:53: Amy details her behavioural science background

06:30: Would Amy have done anything differently on her career path?

09.31: The overlap between designers and behavioural scientists

12:12: How have different professional environments shaped Amy’s work

15:11: The diagnosis/discovery phase of designing for behaviour change

20:23: Creating Engagement (Weight Loss App Example, pt.1)

23:23: The psychographics that unveil how best to design for behaviour change

25.53: Creating Engagement (Weight Loss App Example, pt.2)

28:17: Expectation Setting & “Quick Win” Feedback

32:42: What makes good feedback and bad feedback?

35:52: Overrated vs Underrated

• Baking
• COM-B
• Boston
• Meditation
• Gamification
• Writing a book
• Cats

45:16: How does Amy apply behavioural science in her personal life

47:35: Concluding remarks

The song used is Murgatroyd by David Pizzaro.