PSYCHOLOGY OF DESIGN
Designing for motivation with the goal-gradient effect
3 examples of how behavioural design techniques can influence people to increase their efforts towards reaching a goal
Imagine the scenario: you’re just days away from the vacation that you booked several months ago. To date, you’ve been feeling pretty complacent about your lack of planning, but now the realisation of being unprepared is beginning to dawn on you. The closer you approach your holiday, the more effort you put into making last-minute preparations, including shopping for sun-tan lotion and turning your house upside down to find your passport.
Does this story sound familiar? You’ve likely exhibited this type of behaviour before when approaching closer to your birthday or bidding for a unique item on eBay. The phenomenon of increasing your efforts as you progress closer to your goal is known as the goal-gradient effect.
The goal-gradient effect
American Behaviouralist, Clark Leonard Hull, hypothesised that the goal-gradient effect is a tendency to increase efforts when approaching a goal that’s in proximity. Hull tested his theory by experimenting with rats in a maze. He concluded that the furry rodents run faster as they near a reward — a piece of cheese, than at the beginning of the path.
“Rats run faster as they approach a food reward” — Hull, 1934
The same theory applies to humans. In 2006, Kivetz, Urminsky, & Zheng, built on Hull’s hypothesis in their paper titled — The Goal-Gradient Hypothesis Resurrected: Purchase Acceleration, Illusionary Goal Progress, and Customer Retention.
“Humans increase effort as they approach rewards such as gift certificates” — Kivetz, Urminsky, & Zheng
After conducting various field experiments, the authors made the following key findings:
- Participants in a cafe reward programme purchase coffee more frequently the closer they are to earning a free drink
- Internet users who rate songs in return for gift certificates visit the rating website more often, rate more songs than often and persist longer in the rating effort as they approach the reward goal
- The illusion of progress toward the goal induces purchase acceleration
- A stronger tendency to accelerate toward a goal predicts greater retention and faster reengagement in a programme
However, if the perception of the reward remains too far off, then people are unlikely to exhibit goal-gradient behaviour.
Three ways to increase goal-gradient behaviour
Next up, we’ll observe some behavioural design techniques which have been applied to different digital products in retail, education, hospitality, and health and fitness. Plus, there’s a cheeky bonus example right at the end.
1. Progress visualisation
Making progress visible in any type of activity is essential for development and task completion. If we’re unable to see that we’re moving towards a goal, then we’ll likely give up. This is why visualising both the journey and our efforts is essential for stimulating goal-gradient behaviour.
Visual milestones can increase goal-gradient behaviour in long and fatiguing journeys
The Interaction Design Foundation, an e-learning platform, applies interesting behavioural design techniques to help motivate students. Firstly, learners can visualise their course progress by persuing different milestones, including a 70% pass, top 10%, and 100% best in class. Secondly, predicted point scoring is automatically applied to written answers that are yet to be graded by a tutor; this helps participants see their future development and keep them engaged.
2. Gamification
An activity that is made fun and rewarding will likely keep people invested and coming back for more. In retail, loyalty programmes are often designed with gamification techniques, including points and rewards, to boost customer goal-gradient behaviour.
Making an activity fun can help boost goal-gradient behaviour, even if it involves ordering a pizza
Take these examples: the Starbucks Rewards app keeps consumers hooked by rewarding bonus stars for completing challenges; Dominos make ordering a pizza an exciting activity by allowing hungry users to track the progress of their orders — from preparation to delivery. By applying these gamification techniques, brands can add the thrill of the hunt to their products, and increase customer goal-gradient behaviour.
Bonus events can help increase customer goal-gradient behaviour in reaching a reward
Morrison’s, a humble UK supermarket chain, utilise a novel gamification technique to increase engagement in their ‘More’ loyalty programme. Frequent purchases are incentivised by earning points; accumulate enough virtual currency to acclaim a gift voucher. To accelerate goal-gradient behaviour, customers are motivated by bonus events designed to speed up their progress towards reaching their reward.
3. Activity tracking
Health and fitness apps have innovated ways to keep users on track of their activities — whether they’re training outside or from the comfort of their own home. Personalised workout plans, nutrition advice, and community feedback are key motivators for boosting goal-gradient behaviour.
If someone is struggling to keep on top of their activities, then they’ll likely demolish their goal-gradient behaviour
When training becomes too difficult, however, people become at risk of diminishing their goal-gradient behaviour. The Nike Training app is designed to help members avoid this phenomenon by providing them with flexible plans tailored to their needs. During workouts, members can follow a sequence of small sets, which are complemented by visual progress bars, video demonstrations, and music from their playlist. After each activity, there is the option to provide feedback on how much effort they applied.
Social features can also have a positive effect on goal-gradient behaviour. For instance, in the Strava fitness app, friends can give and receive kudos in the form of comments or simple thumbs-ups. This type of community-led motivation can inspire people to grow their confidence and accelerate their efforts towards completing bigger challenges
Bonus: Alien motion tracking
Even the Colonial Marines in the 1986 science fiction film, Aliens, applied the goal-gradient effect to their motion tracker technology. Also known as the motion scanner, the simple ultrasound device was integral to increasing an audience’s fear and anticipation.
A visual mark or sound can increase anticipation and goal-gradient behaviour
At peak times in the film, a small target would move on the digital display of the motion tracker. As the pixelated dot moved closer with the growing frequency of pulsating sounds, viewers would feel their heart rate increase with anticipation, waiting for the inevitable.
The goal-gradient effect is a powerful force that keeps us moving towards a goal or a reward. Visual progress, gamification, activity tracking, and even motion trackers, are behavioural design techniques that can help accelerate our efforts in whatever task we may perform. Before you move on, here are some final thoughts…
Takeaways
- People are more inclined to increase their efforts when their goal is nearby
- Like small pieces of cheese in a maze, strategically place visual goals for people to work towards
- Keep people interested and invested by offering different challenges throughout their journey
- An increase in sound or changes in language can also heighten sensations and influence goal-gradient behaviour
- Provide flexibility to adjust the difficulty in reaching a goal to avoid depleting goal-gradient behaviour
Special mentions
- The Goal-Gradient Hypothesis Resurrected: Purchase Acceleration, Illusionary Goal Progress, and Customer Retention — Kivetz, Urminsky, & Zheng
- Kawaii icons (used in all illustrations) — Freepik
