How can you design e-commerce experiences that change user behavior?

As a UX researcher, you want to create e-commerce experiences that not only meet user needs, but also influence their behavior and persuade them to take action. Whether you want to increase conversions, loyalty, retention, or referrals, you need to understand how to design for behavior change. In this article, you will learn some principles and techniques that can help you design e-commerce experiences that change user behavior.

1 What is behavior change and why does it matter?

Behavior change is the process of altering or modifying an individual's actions, habits, or attitudes. Behavior change can be intentional or unintentional, conscious or unconscious, and influenced by internal or external factors. For e-commerce, behavior change matters because it can affect how users perceive, interact, and engage with your products or services. By designing for behavior change, you can create more satisfying, meaningful, and profitable e-commerce experiences for your users and your business.

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Anatolii Ivashynenko 🇺🇦

Head of Product
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Designing e-commerce experiences to change user behavior involves leveraging insights from psychology and user research to create intuitive and engaging pathways that guide users towards desired actions. For example, applying the principle of scarcity by showing limited stock for products can motivate users to make quicker purchasing decisions. Similarly, incorporating social proof through user reviews and ratings directly on product pages can enhance trust and influence buying behavior.

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2 How to apply the Fogg Behavior Model to e-commerce

One of the most popular and useful frameworks for designing for behavior change is the Fogg Behavior Model, developed by Stanford researcher BJ Fogg. The Fogg Behavior Model states that behavior occurs when three elements come together: motivation, ability, and trigger. Motivation is the desire to perform a behavior, ability is the ease of performing a behavior, and trigger is the cue that prompts a behavior. To design for behavior change, you need to increase motivation, increase ability, and provide triggers at the right moments.

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Anatolii Ivashynenko 🇺🇦

Head of Product
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Applying the Fogg Behavior Model to e-commerce requires thoughtful design to ensure that motivation, ability, and triggers align perfectly with user experiences. For example, to enhance motivation, e-commerce sites can showcase limited-time offers or exclusive discounts. To increase ability, simplifying the checkout process reduces barriers to completing a purchase. Finally, incorporating triggers like timely reminders or personalized recommendations can prompt users to take action. This model ensures that e-commerce experiences are crafted in a way that naturally guides users toward desired behaviors, such as making a purchase or signing up for a newsletter, by addressing the underlying factors that influence these actions.

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3 How to increase motivation for e-commerce users

Motivation is the driving force behind behavior change and can be influenced by rewards, emotions, values, social norms, and scarcity. To increase motivation for e-commerce users, you can offer incentives, discounts, or freebies for completing a desired action. Additionally, create a sense of urgency or exclusivity through countdown timers, limited stock, or flash sales. Furthermore, build trust and credibility by displaying testimonials, ratings, or badges. Appealing to users' emotions with positive or negative feedback, storytelling, or humor is also effective. Finally, align with users' values by showing social impact, environmental benefits, or personal growth.

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Anatolii Ivashynenko 🇺🇦

Head of Product
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To increase motivation among e-commerce users, emphasizing personalized experiences can be highly effective. Tailoring rewards and incentives based on individual user behavior, such as offering special discounts on items they've shown interest in or abandoned in their cart, can significantly boost motivation. Engaging users with content that resonates with their values and preferences, like showcasing eco-friendly products to environmentally conscious customers, further amplifies this effect.

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Tassia Forasteiro

UX Designer | MSc Industrial System Engineering
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In the opposite, the sense of urgency is often considered a deceptive UX pattern, because it can manipulate users into making rushed decisions without fully considering their options or understanding the consequences. This can lead to user frustration, distrust, and ultimately a negative user experience.

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4 How to increase ability for e-commerce users

Ability is the capability to perform a behavior, which can be influenced by various factors such as time, money, physical effort, mental effort, and social deviance. To increase ability for e-commerce users, you can simplify the user interface by reducing clutter, steps, or choices; provide guidance and support with clear instructions, tooltips, or chatbots; enable autofill, autocomplete, or personalization with data, cookies, or preferences; reduce friction and risk with free shipping, returns, or guarantees; and leverage social proof and conformity by showing popularity, recommendations, or reviews.

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5 How to provide triggers for e-commerce users

Triggers are the signals that prompt a behavior, and they can be external or internal. To provide triggers for e-commerce users, you can use different techniques such as call-to-action buttons or banners, notifications or emails, gamification or rewards, social media or word-of-mouth, and A/B testing or analytics. These should be visible, clear, compelling, relevant, timely, personalized, and incentivized in order to be effective. Additionally, you should test and optimize triggers to ensure they are having the desired effect.

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6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?

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How can you design e-commerce experiences that change user behavior?

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1 What is behavior change and why does it matter?

2 How to apply the Fogg Behavior Model to e-commerce

3 How to increase motivation for e-commerce users

4 How to increase ability for e-commerce users

5 How to provide triggers for e-commerce users

6 Here’s what else to consider

User Research

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How can you design e-commerce experiences that change user behavior?

1

2

3

4

5

6

1 What is behavior change and why does it matter?

2 How to apply the Fogg Behavior Model to e-commerce

3 How to increase motivation for e-commerce users

4 How to increase ability for e-commerce users

5 How to provide triggers for e-commerce users

6 Here’s what else to consider

User Research

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