Another way to lower the cost of becoming a potential buyer is to lower the initial purchase requirement. The Introductory Pricing feature we recently did for app ordering allows you to do this.

It is important to note that the way prices are displayed has a significant impact on the perception of prices when we consider perceived costs.

1. Anchoring effect

Developers and retailers often try to “push” users to buy a particular product by stacking words like “good,” “better,” and “best.” This method works because the marker price is placed with a cheaper or more expensive price point. The higher-priced “best” option acts as a reference point, or anchor, to make the standard price look like a cheaper and better value option.

In certain situations, we tend to favor intermediate prices because they look “fair.” — Derek Thompson, The Atlantic

Dan Ariely caught our attention with a now-famous example of an economist’s price strategy in his book Predictably Irrational. The magazine offers three options: a $59 digital version, a $125 print version and a $125 package that includes both print and digital versions. Ariely points out that “the e-plus paper option looks significantly better than the paper-only option,” which convinces us to buy the third option because it is “easier” to evaluate the value of something when it is placed next to another option that is significantly worse.

2. Framing effect

Given the choice of paying $60 a year or $5 a month, which would you choose? Many subscription-based apps highlight annual, rather than monthly, prices to potential buyers. Because it’s perceived to be cheaper, even though they cost the same over the course of a year.

Reduce cognitive load

The more choices you give your users, the more psychological burden they have to weigh on comparing choices and making decisions.

As a developer, in addition to evaluating the choices you offer your users at critical points in their usage process, it’s worth evaluating how you present the choices as well, as this will have a huge impact on the decision-making process.

Value of limitation

For example, a search on the flight app Skyscanner often yields thousands of results. You can rationally argue that customers should weigh the value of each individual outcome. But hampered by limited time and cognitive burden, Skyscanner decided to aggregate results in a more understandable way, limiting choice. When the same number of results were returned, this simple change in page presentation increased the conversion rate by 14%.

The importance of default

In general, people follow the path of least resistance. This means that pre-set options can be a powerful tool for optimizing user behavior, especially when those default options have obvious benefits for the user.

• For example, recipe app Simple Feast decided to emphasize their annual subscription on the page of its value-added service. They are presented in a visually emphatic way and set as the default user choice. As a result, they saw an increase in the number of users opting for annual subscriptions.

• A small cosmetic change to the checkbox can have a huge impact. The power of default has been harnessed to great effect, and in areas such as organ donation, many national forms have “opt-out” policies. Click to see higher rates of organ donation consent. Why is that? Because people tend to stick with the status quo.

Step 2. Trigger positive user behavior

The second step in encouraging desired user behavior is to demonstrate operability by setting relevant triggers in the relevant paths of active users. BJ Fogg had a memorable quote: “Put hot triggers in the path of active users.” A trigger is often unfamiliar to the user because it is a prompt, reminder, or call to action from the developer’s perspective that is intended to influence the user’s next action. A push is a trigger in this sense, and can be very effective when it is actionable, customized, and timed appropriately.

Antoine Sakho, product director at language learning software Busuu, explained in his Medium post how they applied Nir Eyal’s hook model to their push strategy, achieving a 300% increase in push open rates. He wrote:

First, we use personalized push to prompt users _ (external trigger) _ to arouse curiosity (internal trigger). Click on the push and they will undergo a test **(behavior)**. At the end of the test, they are presented with a congratulations page containing the score _ (bonus). Finally, by training the words they already learned, they strengthened long-term memory (engagement).

Hook model, applied to Busuu user recall activities

While there is some guarantee that push will be effective in recalling users, you should avoid these common pitfalls:

1. Pushing notifications at inappropriate times or information irrelevant to the user’s environment can be hugely counterproductive.
2. Users can quickly get bored pushing the same notifications all the time: Follow Busuu’s lead and never push the same notifications twice.
3. Don’t rely on push to drive user behavior. Habits are eventually formed when users can actively participate in the content without having to be reminded. Nir Eyal sums it up in his Medium article:

Habit-forming products combine perceived internal triggers (such as uncertainty or boredom) with external triggers (such as push) to make users habit-forming.

The most successful external stimulus is immediate feedback. So how do you construct moments of clarity. So how do you structure that feedback with the idea that users should take action at certain moments? According to Prospect theory, people tend to act to avoid losses because the pain of a loss is greater than the gain for the same amount. This means that we are more likely to avoid missing things than we are to maintain acquired things.

Limited-time promotions are the core tool that many developers use to drive users to buy now rather than later. These devices are driven by our aversion to loss. After all, inaction quickly leads to the possibility of “missing” a deal or item. The idea can also be used to construct a more persuasive message. For example, you can choose to focus on what your users would lose if they didn’t act, but what they would gain if they did.

Health and lifestyle App Lifesum saw a 15% increase on its first day of joining a limited-time “starter pack” for new users. The “only today” message creates a sense of urgency to avoid missing out and drives users to act now.

Key conclusions:

• Users will not act when costs and necessary resources are not clearly linked to the end value.
• If it is difficult to evaluate and choose between alternatives, users are not inclined to act.
• If you give users relevant, actionable triggers in your content, users are more likely to do what the developer wants them to do.

Join or visit Google I/O Talk, “Boost User Retention with Behavioral Insights,” on Friday, March 19 at ****8:30 am (PST) for more information. I’m going to sit down with Sami Ben Hassine, CEO of The Fabulous, to talk about how developers can apply behavioral ideas to build more compelling app experiences.

What do you think?

Do you have any questions or ideas about optimizing user decisions? Continue the discussion in the comments section below or let us know with the hashtag #AskPlayDev, and we’ll respond to it at @Googleplaydev (where we regularly share news and tips on how to succeed on GooglePlay).

In my second post, I’ll explain some of the details of the third step of behavior change — motivating users. I’m going to explore positive psychology, its relationship to gamification, and the right way to reward.

Special thanks to Aaron Otani for his feedback in writing this draft blog post.

The translator’s note: