Customers
Progress – A Little Often Leads to A Lot
Ever notice that as a goal gets closer, you feel more motivated to cross the finish line? In behavioral economics, this is known as goal gradient theory, and one practical application of this theory is to take long-term goals and break them into a series of shorter-term goals. For example, take the long-term goal of…
Read MoreHow You Say It Really Matters!
At Understood Connections, we are fascinated by language, and that’s a good thing because much of the research around how people analyze choices and make decisions focuses on how simple shifts in language can have a significant impact on the behaviors. Behavioral Economics (BE) gives us a number of ways to use language to nudge…
Read MoreUse Tax Refunds to Reduce Debt
The Federal Reserve reported household debt reached a new all-time high of $13.21 trillion in the first quarter of 2018. Clearly, the economy is growing, lenders are lending and borrowers are finding the money they need. But at what cost? The rate of student loans, vehicle loans, and credit card loans is growing and…
Read MoreRethinking Tax Refunds
Did you know the tax refund check is the largest income “windfall” for many households? Every spring this money shows up in accounts, some without a plan for its use. Most likely, many of your members would be better off if they saved a significant portion of their tax refund. Here’s a fresh idea: roll…
Read MoreReminders – Simple and Powerful
It’s a question that has bugged economists and social scientists for generations – why so often do people fail to do things they have committed to doing? Even in situations where the benefits of doing something are significant, or the consequences of not doing something are severe, compliance with deadlines, obligations or commitments is often…
Read MoreBehavioral Economics – Its Complicated
At a recent workshop, we discussed a behavioral economics experiment that showed how stressing the positive or negative aspects of a situation altered the way participants responded to the risk inherent in the situation. We demonstrated the famous test regarding treatment options that were framed to highlight either the number of patients who would die…
Read MoreConsumer Engagement – You Don’t Need a Diamond Ring
Many of the executives we talk to are searching for ways to build stronger relationships with their customers. Their research tells them customers have become primarily value or price shoppers and at any point, a new, low price entrant could disrupt their market. These executives often focus on the solutions they’ve traditionally used, finding ways…
Read MoreChoice Architecture – Designing for Better Results
‘Game-changing’ ‘Provocative’ ‘Useful’ This is the feedback we hear when introducing the concept of behavioral economics (BE) to strategic leaders around the US. They realize their organizations don’t really understand how consumers analyze choices and make decisions. Our discussions then uncover missed opportunities, both with engagement and performance. The idea they can use BE to…
Read MoreLearn To Positively Impact Consumers
Understood Connections just conducted our first open workshop for 2018, and the experience for both the participants and the UC staff was wonderful. Participants came from a number of different industries, presenting Credit Unions, Insurance Companies, Universities, Staffing and Training, Churches, Payments Companies and Marketing Firms. We held it at HQ Greensboro, a terrific…
Read MoreBehavioral Economics And Friction – A Little Dab Will Do Ya.
As an executive at some of the world’s largest banks, I spent most of my career working aggressively to get friction out of the products we offered. Our goal was to automate as much of the transaction initiation and approval steps as possible; to remove customer and bank intervention (and thinking) from the process. Originally…
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