Digital Nudging A Deep Dive

Ever find that a phrase bubbles up in life all the time but never gets properly explained? Let’s take a deep dive into one of the important ideas of recent times: ‘digital nudging’. You might already have come across some of its effects, but its truly awesome potential could be a lot better understood. And let’s not forget that knowledge is power: the real magic happens when you leverage change in your own life and surroundings using digital nudging platforms and tools.

So let’s dig in by getting to the definitions involved and how we can rapidly get these knowledge and tools to work for us.

What is digital nudging

Nudging, to start with, is a way of signposting, offering an individual a choice at a particular point in time. So, for instance, your car might nudge you to fasten your seatbelt when you start to move your car. You could ignore the nudge, but it has been designed with your well-being in mind: it is better to drive with a seatbelt on (and frequently illegal not to!)

Digital nudging takes this principle into the digital environment, in which so many of us spend our time now. We are well used to our phones nudging us, for example, telling us that the battery is running low. This is a helpful digital nudge as, if we do not do something about it, we will soon lose access to our phone’s features, which need power to function. 

Again, the notification is not a command: nudges are always towards an ‘options choice’ for the user.

Often in fact nudges are tied to what we want in life. It is irritating when our phone loses all power: we want it to be available for our use at all times so the nudge is in line with what we want. Ever had a helpful sports coach? They will always spot things like your arms dropping or your breathing patterns being suboptimal: when they call out to let you know, they are nudging you towards a goal you presumably want (being a better athlete) or you would not be there in the first place!

GPS systems are a good example of digital nudges too: when we drive somewhere the GPS system has been told where we need to go and tells us the best turns to take to get there safely and most efficiently. Each time the GPS tells us to take a left or a right it is giving us a digital nudge. Of course, you could ignore the GPS advice: the advice to take an option is always the user’s choice.

Nudges, whether digital or otherwise, remind us that we have a choice, framing simple decisions in a way that highlights a desirable outcome.

Where nudging came from 

In the mid-1970s, eminent psychologists began publishing research highlighting the hidden biases that are baked into human behaviour; one of the most important ones is our tendency to perceive more clearly the value of short-term gain rather than the long-term benefits. 

One result is that we can do things in the moment that feel good but take us away from our deeper goals in life. We happily chomp down on junk food even though we know well that fresh fruit and vegetables have far better health outcomes over our lifetimes! 

The Fogg Behaviour Model

Dr Brian Fogg, a sociologist at Stanford University, later developed a theoretical model that x-rays our behaviour to show the basic structure of a human action:

1:  a motivation: at some level, we want to do the action in question

2:  a capability: a sense that we have what it takes to complete the action

3:  a trigger or prompt to take the action

That third one is key: high-performing people and teams take care to add triggers to their day. When someone is planning or designing triggers with intention we call that nudging.

There have been a lot of books and papers written about these discoveries: the key thing to remember is that nudging hooks in perfectly to our human way of doing things and compensates for our unfortunate preference for short-term thinking.

Nudging in the real world

One fun example in nudging was demonstrated by a Volkswagen-sponsored team that converted an underground staircase for Swedish commuters into a musical instrument: once the stairs looked like a piano keyboard and sounded a different note on every step the rate of users choosing the stairs over the escalator beside it immediately rose by two thirds! 

You can see a video showing the contrast in before and after behaviour.

The result of this particular nudge was that many more people got a little energy boost through unexpected exercise before emerging back onto the city streets.

Healthier outcomes can be engineered in all sorts of ways: in another example, moving sweets and chocolate bars to less accessible shelves in shops while putting more nutritious options in their place makes it that bit easier and appealing for shoppers to buy snacks that are over time better for their health. 

Nudges have their place too in our homes and private spaces: how about laying out your running gear before you go to bed? That way you are more likely to get dressed for action the next morning: once you're dressed for the part, it is much easier to get out and active.

The top e-commerce sites are expert at all kinds of nudging, with little particles of data fed to users such as scarcity of merchandise or FOMO or bundling deals. Other techniques include sharing positive feedback about the merchandise from other  consumers, offering a limited-time upgrade, reassuring ditherers that shipping will be free or quality guaranteed, loyalty card invitations, labelling items as distinguished in some way, buy-now-pay-later nudges and so on: the list of nudges used online is almost endless.

Once you know how to spot a nudge you will see them everywhere, especially online!

But What Does It Have to Do with Safety?

Reducing Human Error:

‍Digital nudging helps cut down on mistakes, a major factor in safety incidents. By sending timely prompts, it keeps individuals alert and guides them toward safer decisions.
Example: A daily nudge that prompts employees to assess their mental and emotional state can help identify stress or distractions that might impact their safety.

Building Better Safety Habits

Creating Consistent Practices:
Regular nudges reinforce good habits, turning safety measures into second nature. Over time, these small prompts create a safer work environment.
Example: Instead of lengthy safety training sessions, quick nudge reminders with key insights can keep safety top-of-mind.

Although the fact often slips our mind in the day to day, there is really almost nothing in life, whether at work or elsewhere, that is more important than our wellbeing and safety.  Luckily error-reduction skills, like a muscle, can be developed through regular, mindful repetitions.

Digital nudging is the perfect solution for keeping us on track to minimise risk and maximise satisfaction. A leading example is our YOUFactors platform, which prompts users at optimals time to check and mitigate the hazard levels of their situation or environment. As it does so YOUFactors also brings about small changes in behaviour and reflexes that become habitual over time. 

Used by a team well-grounded in the eye-opening concepts of YOUFactors, this habitual upgrade, over time, radically improves the culture of safety and performance!

Why? In a nutshell, YOUFactors bridges the gap between good intentions and consistent action. Awareness and resilience are dramatically enhanced, and proactivity around safety and performance is powerfully developed.

Besides this, the YOUFactors digital nudge platform comes with powerful Digital Learning Courses and Refresher Capsules, Error Anticipation and ‘Rate-Your-State’ tools, Close-call analysis features and a Social Sharing portal.

The takeaways 

As we have seen digital nudges are taking their place in all areas of everyday life, from shopping and commuting to travel and fitness. Let’s recap:

• Positive change happens if we work on our behaviours daily
• Regular nudges offer us options, building better habits as we go
• Human actions require motivation, personal capability and a trigger
• Nudges provide that trigger or cue at the optimal time!
• Digital nudges are perfect to get to new levels of personal and workplace safety

YOUFactors is a digital nudge companion underpinned by decades of research and workplace experience that uses the neuroscience of learning to dramatically improve workplace safety. Book a no-obligation demo or learn more about YOUFactors today!

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