The Three B's of Behavior Change
Change user behavior by picking a specific Behavior, removing Barriers, and adding immediate Benefits.
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time to result
- ~weeks to results
- Steps
- 3
- Confidence
- 90%
Kristen Berman's model from Irrational Labs for applying behavioral science to product: pick a specific Behavior, reduce the logistical and cognitive Barriers, and add immediate Benefits. Used at Google, Microsoft and LinkedIn, it forces teams to get uncomfortably specific about the action they want and the psychology around it.
Origin
From Kristen Berman, founder of Irrational Labs; used with Google, Microsoft, and LinkedIn.
Core principles
- 01To change behavior you must first pick a specific behavior — an action, not an outcome.
- 02'Log in' is the only wrong behavior; what matters is what happens after login.
- 03Barriers are both logistical (form fields, credit card) and cognitive (uncertainty aversion, status quo bias).
- 04Because people are present-biased, benefits must be immediate, not future.
How to run it
- 1
Behavior — pick a specific action
Define uncomfortably specifically the action you want the user to take. Companies are good at outcomes but not at naming the behavior.
Pro tip Get concrete, e.g. 'within seven days of starting the app, do two 10-minute workouts with two different instructors'.
Watch out The only wrong answer is 'log in' — it's about what you do after logging in; without a defined behavior you can't identify the psychologies affecting it.
- 2
Barriers — reduce logistical and cognitive friction
Remove the two kinds of barriers: logistical (credit card entry, form fields) and cognitive (uncertainty aversion, optimism bias, information aversion, status quo bias).
Pro tip Uncertainty (like not knowing when your Lyft arrives) makes people seek alternatives or make no decision at all.
Watch out Status quo effect is huge — people default to the easiest path, which is usually what they did yesterday.
- 3
Benefits — add immediate rewards
Increase the immediate benefits of the action, because people are present-biased and prioritise their present over future self. Build in immediate psychological payoffs.
Pro tip Lean on completion bias (checking the box) and social-desirability bias (teammates seeing you finish) as immediate benefits, e.g. Asana logging a task.
Watch out Giving only the rational future reason (the project ships on time) isn't enough — you must give a reason to act today.
In the wild
As a Peloton PM, Berman would define the target behavior as 'within seven days of starting the app they do two 10-minute workouts with two different instructors' rather than a vague outcome.
→ The wildly specific behavior lets the team identify the exact psychologies affecting that decision.
The rational reason to log a task is on-time delivery, but the real immediate drivers are completion bias (seeing the checkbox) and social-desirability bias (a notification to teammates).
→ Building those immediate benefits into the feature drives actual usage.
Common mistakes
Targeting outcomes instead of behaviors
Companies optimise for outcomes but never name the specific action, so they can't identify the psychologies that affect that action or design for it.
Relying on future benefits for present-biased users
People prioritise their present self, so a benefit that only pays off later (the project ships on time) fails to motivate action today; you must supply an immediate reward.
Is it for you?
Best for
Product managers and marketers trying to drive a specific new user behavior in a product or feature.
Not ideal for
Teams unwilling to narrow to one concrete behavior, or purely outcome-level strategy work.
From the transcript
“3B framework first B is actually not a psychology but it is the most important part of behavior change”
“by the way the only wrong answer here is log in”
“the third B is benefits so this is where you want to increase the not just benefits but the immediate benefits of doing something so…”
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