Building for Behavior Change
Behavior Design Collective is a Behavioral Science consulting firm. We systematically apply validated models, methods, and frameworks from diverse fields of behavioral science to products, programs, and services. From research to strategy, design, and development our Behavior-First approach and custom Behavioral Architecture results in solutions that drive sustainable behavior change at scale for clients in healthcare, financial services, and consumer technology.
95% of human behavior is driven by our unconscious.
It is currently estimated that up to 95% of what we do in a day, week, or year is driven by our unconscious with little or no input from our conscious mind. And yet, most products, programs, and interventions overlook the unconscious mind and often provide too much weight to conscious customer statements.
We’re here to embrace the role of the unconscious mind.
What I do > What I say
Because so much of what we do is driven by our unconscious, we put more weight on what people do than on what they say they will do in a situation. When we conduct interviews and get self-reported data, we have a systematic approach to cut through the conscious storytelling to get to the real factors (whether the person is conscious of them or not) driving or inhibiting a behavior.
Predictably Irrational
On the surface, human beings may seem irrational. We eat unhealthy food today even though we know it increases our risk of heart disease, hypertension, and diabetes in the future. However, when we zoom out and consider any one decision in the context of all the decisions a human being has to make in a day and the number of priorities they juggle across different environments and interactions with different people, human beings are pretty rational. Using Behavior Science helps us build a better understanding of all the factors that drive a behavior.
Grounded In Science
Behavior Design takes best practices from design including methodologies like Design Thinking, Human Centered Design, Agile Development and we add in Behavior Science models, methods, and frameworks which help us understand human behavior more clearly and design for behavior change more effectively. Human Behavior is HARD. Behavior Design brings a systematic and scientific process to increase the chance you will succeed in supporting sustainable behavior change at scale.
Our Approach
Behaviors drive outcomes.
Behaviors are the black box in product design. Traditional design identifies a problem, defines a desired outcome, then begins designing features to solve the problem and achieve the outcome. But Features don’t drive outcomes, Behaviors do. We work from Outcomes -> Behaviors -> Features -> Product/Solution. That way when customers use your product, the features are designed to reliably facilitate the behaviors needed to achieve the desired outcome.
We view the world through the lens of behavior science.
At Behavior Design Collective, we believe behavioral science is the foundation from which great products, programs, and interventions are designed. We begin each of our projects with a deep-dive into behavioral science to understand the conscious and unconscious operating models for each stakeholder. We ask questions like, “what brain shortcuts are our customers taking without even knowing it?” “Is there too much friction between the user and the outcome?”, and “What are the immediate and long term benefits our customer expects for the effort they are investing in this product?” Then we systematically apply models, methods and frameworks from diverse fields of behavior science to uncover the answers.
Foundations in Academia, Flourishing in Industry.
Academia.
Born out of the Stanford Behavior Design Lab, working under Dr. BJ Fogg , our passion for scientific rigor led us to seek models and methods that can be applied to change real-world behavior. We poured over scientific research to translate findings into rubrics and processes that can be used in interventions at-scale.
Despite our focus on delivering insights to industry clients, we remain connected to leading behavioral science labs and institutions to apprise ourselves of the most cutting edge developments.
Industry.
Staying true to our evidence-based foundation, we serve our clients by identifying and designing interventions that work with natural behavior change patterns of the brain. We work on projects in private, public, and non-profit sectors to improve outcomes in engagement, habit formation, and retention.
Our interdisciplinary work at Stanford’s Behavior Design Lab supplied us with the opportunity to work with innovators and industry leaders who are boldly pursuing a behavioral approach in their unique fields.
How do you translate behavior science into products, programs, and interventions?
That’s where we come in.