Using behavioral science to improve your product | Kristen Berman (Irrational Labs)

ℹ️ EPISODE INFO

Released

October 2, 2022

Duration

56m

Channel

Lenny's Podcast

Watch on YouTube

▶ Open ↗

📝 EPISODE DESCRIPTION

Kristen Berman is the CEO and co-founder of Irrational Labs, where she helps companies like Google, Airbnb, PayPal, Microsoft, and LinkedIn improve their products and services through behavioral design research. She is also the co-founder of Common Cents Lab, a Duke University initiative dedicated to improving the financial well-being of low- to middle-class Americans. In today’s episode, Kristen shares the 3B Framework of Behavioral Design and uses real-life examples to illustrate what influences behavior change and the common biases that get in the way of building successful products. She also explains how to keep users engaged and how you can implement behavioral design research to drive innovation and growth. Find the full transcript here: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/using-behavioral-science-to-improve-your-product-kristen-berman-irrational-labs/#transcript — Where to find Kristen Berman:

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/bermster
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristenberman/
• Website: https://irrationallabs.com/

— Where to find Lenny:

• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/lennysan
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/

— Thank you to our wonderful sponsors for making this episode possible:

• Flatfile: https://www.flatfile.com/lenny
• Whimsical: https://whimsical.com/lenny
• Lenny’s Job Board: https://www.lennysjobs.com/talent

— Referenced: Learn more behavioral science:

• 3B Behavioral Design Framework https://miro.com/miroverse/3b-behavioral-design-framework/
• Irrational Labs newsletter, with latest BE and behavioral design insights: https://irrationallabs.com/newsletter/
• Join the Behavioral Design Online Bootcamp (use code “Lenny” for 10% off): https://behavioraleconomicsbootcamp.com/
• Get the 3B Framework: https://irrationallabs.com/3bs-download/
• Behavioral Design & Diagnosis Cheat Sheet: https://irrationallabs.com/download-behavioral-design-guide/
• The 16 Critical Cognitive Biases (Plus Key Academic Research): https://irrationallabs.com/blog/cognitive-biases-and-academic-research/
• Behavioral Game Design: 7 Lessons: https://irrationallabs.com/blog/behavioral-game-design-7-lessons-from-behavioral-science-to-help-change-user-behavior/
• Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions:  https://www.amazon.com/Predictably-Irrational-Revised-Expanded-Decisions/dp/0061353248/
• Prolific testing platform: https://www.prolific.co/
• Kristen’s guest post on Lenny’s Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/people/23170097-kristen-berman
• Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion: https://www.amazon.com/Influence-New-Expanded-Psychology-Persuasion/dp/0062937650
• The Darwin Economy: Liberty, Competition, and the Common Good: https://www.amazon.com/Darwin-Economy-Liberty-Competition-Common/dp/0691156689/
• The Science of Change podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-science-of-change/id1587407079
• No Stupid Questions podcast: https://freakonomics.com/series/nsq/
• Stream The Rehearsal on HBO Max: https://www.hbo.com/the-rehearsal
• Chris York’s website: https://www.chrisyork.co/

- Case studies mentioned:

• Budgeting fintech: https://irrationallabs.com/case-studies/budgeting/
• TikTok: https://irrationallabs.com/case-studies/tiktok-how-behavioral-science-reduced-the-spread-of-misinformation/
• One Medical: https://irrationallabs.com/case-studies/one-medical-case-study/
• Credit Karma: https://irrationallabs.com/case-studies/behavioral-design-credit-karma-money/
• TytoCare: https://irrationallabs.com/case-studies/tytocare-virtual-medical-visits/
• Kiva: https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/mind-guest-blog/the-deadline-made-me-do-it/
• When to Make Your Sign-Up Flow Harder: https://irrationallabs.com/blog/its-not-always-about-making-things-easier-when-to-make-your-sign-up-flow-harder/

— In this episode, we cover: (00:00) What is Irrational Labs, and what do they do? (05:45) What are behavioral economics and behavioral design? (06:50) The fintech budgeting experiment (10:46) What drives behavior change? (11:35) Why increasing friction can sometimes increase conversion (13:51) How to ask the right questions for user engagement (16:09) How Kristen got her start in behavioral economics (18:10) The 3B model of behavior change (20:37) Cognitive barriers (22:02) The importance of building products with immediate benefits to the user (24:20) How exploitation can occur (26:45) How to set customer-friendly incentives (29:15) How Kristen reduced the sharing of misinformation on TikTok (31:58) Tips for researching and solving problems (35:36) The One Medical case study (38:31) Rules of thumb for improving flow (41:46) What is right-for-wrong? (47:00) How to get started using behavioral design (49:33) The Behavioral Design Bootcamp (52:01) Lightning round! — Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.

🎤 SPEAKERS

• Kristen Berman

  guest

• Lenny Rachitsky

  host

• Narrator

  other

• Narrator

  other

🧾 EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of Lenny's Podcast, featuring Kristen Berman and Lenny Rachitsky, Using behavioral science to improve your product | Kristen Berman (Irrational Labs) explores Designing Products That Nudge Real Behavior Change, Not Just Intentions Behavioral scientist Kristen Berman explains how to apply behavioral economics to product design, focusing on what people actually do versus what they say. She introduces the "3B" framework—Behavior, Barriers, Benefits—as a practical model teams can use to drive meaningful behavior change. Through case studies from TikTok, One Medical, fintech apps, and onboarding flows, she shows how small, psychology-informed product tweaks can significantly change outcomes. She also addresses the ethics and incentive structures that determine whether these tools help or exploit users.

🔗 RELATED EPISODES

How to build a high-performing growth team | Adam Fishman (Patreon, Lyft, Imperfect Foods)

Developing a growth model + marketplace growth strategy | Dan Hockenmaier

Build better products with continuous product discovery | Teresa Torres

Customer-led growth | Georgiana Laudi (Forget The Funnel)

Why product-led growth is the future | Elena Verna (Amplitude, Miro, Surveymonkey)

Building a meaningful career | Jason Shah (Airbnb, Amazon, Microsoft, Alchemy)