DAILY RESOLUTION Calming habits…one small step at a time

Resolutions are hard to keep

25%

% Dropped After 1 Week

Resolutions are hard to keep

29%

% Dropped After 2 Weeks

Resolutions are hard to keep

36%

% Dropped After 1 Month

Resolutions are hard to keep

54%

% Dropped After 6 Month

Goal Motivate people to exercise regularly…using only SMS 100% retention after 2 weeks 20-30% increase in exercise frequency 200+ self-reported exercise sessions

Results

Secret Ingredient #1: Escalation of Commitments

Secret Ingredient #2: Social Pressure

My Method Daily SMS

Social Statistics

Positive Reinforcements

frontend + backend

My Guinea Pigs

20 Days across 2 trials

Results: surprises People love to share or brag!

> 50% of replies contained more than Yes/No

People exercised even when they said “No”. Motivated by having to report later

People are competitive! 70% proactively asked about how they stack up

Results: expected People exercised more, a lot more.

20-30% increase in activity level

Social pressure really works. 4% broken promises vs. 8% without social elements

We all love compliments.

“Yay, Thank you! You just made my day.”

People loved the pilot. Exercising became enjoyable. Everyone wants to keep going!

Mission Accomplished?

What’s next? Bigger pivots? Beyond SMS? Beyond exercise?

QUESTIONS?

Calming habits…one small step at a time

Expert Methodology – Applying Escalation of Commitments to Behavior Design

•  Premise – People are more likely to follow through on things if they made prior commitment or promises to do so. This is especially true for public declarations or promises made to others.

•  Application – By incorporating elements of pre-commitment into behavior design, one can raise the motivation level for subjects to perform the desired behaviors.

•  Example – ‘Daily Resolution’ Calming Technology Project http://slidesha.re/dailyresolution

Yi Yin – MBA/MS Stanford University, YiYin@Stanford.edu