The 4 types of ‘Why’: What is the driving force behind your product?

 

Catherine (Kit) Ulrich

I recently wrote about a framework I created called the Ladder of Needs, a simple tool for product people to create a compelling vision. It combines the best of Simon Sinek’s ideas from Start with Why and Clay Christensen’s classic framework of ‘jobs to be done’.

So, how do you determine the ‘Why’ behind your product?

Start by considering this gem from Jeff Bezos:

“People often ask what will be different in the world in 10 years, the more important question is what will be the same” — Jeff Bezos

So true, because the fundamentals of what people want and need are exactly that…fundamental truths. In my time as a product leader, I have found 4 models that apply to almost all consumer experiences and products. These are not mutually exclusive — they are ideas that overlap in many ways, but one will likely call to you more than the others.

What is your customer’s scarcest resource? It tends to be either money, time, energy.

You may have seen this meme on Twitter or Instagram before (I’d love to know whom to credit with it’s creation). It’s a great framework for products.

This is why Bezos’ answer to his own question, ‘what will be the same in the world in 10 years’, was that Amazon customers would always want lower prices (money) and faster shipping (time). Amazon’s strategy was built by focusing on these core customer needs.

This is also why Uber isn’t in the business of selling rides, it is in the business of selling time.

I have found that Tony Robbins is a bit of a lightning rod figure. When I mention his name people generally respond in one of two camps: ‘I love him, he is awesome’ or ‘he is a cult leader’. No matter what your personal perspective is, his framework on the 6 core human needs is still a classic.

Tony advocates that there are 6 core human needs that drive our behaviors:

• Certainty: The need for safety, stability, predictability, comfort
• Uncertainty/Variety: The need for surprise, excitement, novelty, change
• Love & Connection: The need for social attachment, approval. To feel connected and loved
• Significance: The need to have meaning, pride. To feel special and wanted
• Growth: The need for constant development, intellectually, emotionally, spiritually
• Contribution: The need to give to others. To protect, care for, serve

Even more fascinating, is that Tony believes any experience, product, or action is addictive if it serves 3 of these needs.

For example, Facebook solves for (1) love & connection…by feeling connected with your friends, (2) significance…by receiving feedback/prominence from what you post and (3) variety….you never know what will appear in your feed.

Taking a slightly more negative spin, many products also solve for one of the seven deadly sins:

• Pride
• Greed
• Lust
• Envy
• Gluttony
• Sloth
• Wrath

Targeting one of these seven deadly sins often makes a product addictive. In this framework, Facebook solves for pride. Uber and Amazon solve for sloth and greed.

Last but not least, several psychologists have offered up frameworks for the purpose of life:

• For Freud, it was the search for pleasure
• For Nietzsche, it was the search for power
• For Frankl, it was the search for meaning

One key principle behind behavior change and our cognitive biases is that we seek pleasure and avoid pain. This has always been a great insight to use as you design your product experiences.

We are seeing the rise of products and services that focus on customers’ search for meaning. For example, the rise of mindfulness and meditation products. Or, products such as Toms and Feed which give back to the world.

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Cognitive Biases in UX design and research

 

Why knowing about cognitive biases is important?

Cognitive Psychology and UX design are two closely related fields: users apply their cognitive functions during their interaction with digital products (services).

Cognitive biases are shortcuts, distortions in our perceptions, parts of our cognitive activity. The important thing to understand here is that biases are not necessarily bad: as Rüdiger F. Pohl expresses in his book, Cognitive Illusions:

“The question of whether a decision, judgement, or memory is “correct” (in a normative way) is usually secondary to the question of whether that decision, judgement, or memory is helpful in the current situation.”

So by understanding the effects of the most relevant cognitive biases, we can improve user experience not only by trying to avoid the possible negative consequences, but also by taking advantage of them!

Another significant aspect is that we, designers also have cognitive biases, so we need to pay attention to these during the research and design process.

Cognitive Biases: the first 6

The second part of the Cognitive Bias UX Knowledge Base Sketch series describes 6 cognitive biases:

• Dunning-Kruger Effect
• Information Bias
• Loss Aversion
• Confirmation Bias
• Distinction Bias
• Negativity Bias

All these have important implications on how we should design with the users’ cognitive tendencies in mind.

Cognitive Biases: 6 more to explore

The third part of the Cognitive Bias UX Knowledge Base Sketch series describes these cognitive biases:

• Framing Effect
• Bandwagon Bias
• Focusing Effect
• Outcome Bias
• Anchoring Effect
• Selection Bias

Cognitive Biases: 6 more to explore

The fourth part of the Cognitive Bias UX Knowledge Base Sketch series describes these cognitive biases:

• IKEA Effect
• Survivorship Bias
• Ambiguity Effect
• Peak-End Rule
• Observer-Expectancy Effect
• Attentional Bias

Cognitive Biases: 6 more to explore

The fifth (and for now the last) part of the Cognitive Bias UX Knowledge Base Sketch series describes these cognitive biases:

• False Consensus Effect
• Sunk Cost Bias
• Clustering Illusion
• Social Desirability Bias
• Empathy Gap
• Fundamental Attribution Error

Recommended Reading & Useful Links

• Ariely, D. (2010). Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions
• Phol, F. R. (2005). Cognitive Illusions: A Handbook on Fallacies and Biases in Thinking, Judgement and Memory
• Gilovich, T.; Griffin, D.; Kahneman, D. (2002). Heuristics and Biases: The Psychology of Intuitive Judgment
• Kahneman, D. (2013). Thinking, Fast and Slow
• 67 Ways to Increase Conversion with Cognitive Biases
• The Importance of Cognitive Bias in Experience Design
• Are we in control of our own decisions? — TED Talk by Dan Ariely
• Tversky, A.; Kahneman, D. (1991.) Loss Aversion in Riskless Choice: A Reference-Dependent Model
• Kruger J.; Dunning D., (1999). Unskilled and unaware of it: how difficulties in recognizing one’s own incompetence lead to inflated self-assessments.
• Hsee C. K.; Zhang, J. (2004). Distinction Bias: Misprediction and Mischoice Due to Joint Evaluation
• Does comparison really lead to better choices?
• The Negativity Bias in User Experience
• Don’t Let Your Brain Deceive You: Avoiding Bias In Your UX Feedback
• 67 Ways to Increase Conversion with Cognitive Biases
• Prospect Theory and Loss Aversion: How Users Make Decisions
• Tversky, A., Kahneman, D. (1981). The Framing of decisions and the psychology of choice
• Kahneman, D., Krueger, A. B., Schkade D., Schwarz N., Stone, A. A. (2006). Would you be happier if you were richer? A focusing illusion
• Cherubini, P., Mazzocco, K., Rumiatic, R. (2002). Rethinking the focusing effect in decision-making
• Baron, J., Hershey, J. C. (1988). Outcome bias in decision evaluation
• Decision Frames: How Cognitive Biases Affect UX Practitioners
• 67 Ways to Increase Conversion with Cognitive Biases
• Reward Framing & Its Stunning Impact On Conversion Optimization: What You Need To Know
• The Bandwagon Bias — The Dangers of Groupthink
• Empty Your Cup: How to Address Biases in UX
• Outcome Bias — Not All Outcomes are Created Equal
• The Types of Cognitive Biases that You Need to be aware of as a Researcher
• Overcoming Cognitive Bias in User Research
• 4 basic problems cause all the cognitive biases that screw up our judgement
• User Memory Design: How To Design For Experiences That Last
• Design principles: Selection bias
• Avoiding Bias from the Survivor Effect
• Overcoming survivorship bias in data-driven experience design
• Overcoming bias in research and product design
• 6 common cognitive biases UXers should know
• Cognitive Biases in Digital: Why users are irrational and how to design for it (Part 1)
• Attentional Bias and Your Decisions
• Aronson, E. (2008). The Social Animal 10th Edition, p167
• Cognitive psychology for UX: how to avoid the false consensus effect
• You Are Not the User: The False-Consensus Effect
• Don’t Let Your Brain Deceive You: Avoiding Bias In Your UX Feedback
• You Are Not Your User
• Cognitive biases in user research — 2
• Sunk-Cost Fallacy: How to Avoid Bias Based on Past Decisions
• Design principle: Know when to quit
• The Types of Cognitive Biases that You Need to be aware of as a Researcher
• Psycho Wednesday #2 Clustering illusion
• 18 Cognitive Biases You Can Use for Conversion Optimization
• UX & Social Desirability
• 9 Biases In Usability Testing
• 6 common cognitive biases UXers should know
• Overcoming the social desirability bias in UX research
• Empathy Gap
• Cognitive Biases in Digital: Why users are irrational and how to design for it (Part 2)
• UX 6 of 10: The Fundamental Attribution Error
• The Fundamental Attribution Error
• Fundamental Attribution Error and the User

Krisztina Szerovay

https://tinyurl.com/3rryezet