Our Approach

When is Behavioral Optimisation Applicable?

It is possible to pursue behavioral optimization at different levels and with problems of different scale. It can be useful with something as focused and specific as pricing where a business can end up with different consumer outcomes depending on small details such as whether the price ends on a 5 or a 9, whether the price comes before or after the product description and whether the description makes reference to another comparable offering.

At the same time, behavioral optimization can make a significant difference in the tackling of complex large-scale challenges such as minimizing the energy footprint of the tourism economy on a destination or eliminating single-use plastics from the tourism system, or even facilitating a transition to new destination design that is COVID-19-safe and that prioritizes human wellbeing.

See a summary of the different levels at which behavioral optimization can be applied in the tourism system.

Summary of Behavioral Optimisation Levels

Business Tactics

Commercial and sustainability tactics that help individual travel operators and service providers to align product design, pricing, communications, and operations with the likely behavioral patterns of their clients.

Destination Management

Solutions that optimize destination management efforts by activating behavioral thinking across the different strategic areas of destination leadership, including promotional efforts.

Footprint Management

Approaches to the proactive setting of desired behavioral norms for both travelers and locally operating service providers to optimize the footprint of tourism and minimize the possibility for unsustainable acts.

Policy Refinement

Policy adjustments, which facilitate the transition towards desired behavioral norms among destination stakeholders (including travelers), or which can enhance other sustainability interventions through formal behavioral incentives or barriers.

ReDesign

Incorporating behavior-smart design to new projects for physical infrastructure or intangible solutions from the early ideation stage throughout the execution cycle.

Steps in the BehaviorSMART™ approach

Solve

Model

Activate

Result

Transition

For more ideas on how behavioral optimization can help you, explore the more detailed examples in the Services section.

Regardless of the scope and scale of the problem we are solving behavioral optimization requires careful tailoring with smart consideration of contextual and individual specifics. To ensure that we optimize the understanding and tackling of every project, we apply our specialized proprietary BehaviorSMART methodology that involves five steps for understanding the problem we need to Solve, through identifying the specific behavioral forces that Model the challenge, through exploring a wide variety of solutions that can help Activate the desired behavioral change, through analysis of the options that Result in the pursued outcomes, and to the execution of steps that help Transition to the desired state.

1. Solve

What are we trying to SOLVE?

The first step of the process is to clearly formulate the problem at hand and the desired state that we want to reach.

This involves defining the challenge that needs to be addressed, identifying the reasons why the current state is undesired, and how we imagine the optimized alternative. At the step, we take a very realistic and honest look at what is not working, and where behavioral patterns work against the desired outcomes we are actually looking to achieve. The biggest pain points that need to be addressed are points at which the design of the process or journey assumes behavior that is different from the natural/ realistic behavioral pattern, which actually governs decisions and acts. Part of this step is identifying these behavioral pain points.

EXAMPLE:
Guests forget to wear their masks when they walk into a closed attraction thus risking the health of their guide.

2. Model

What incentives and barriers MODEL the problem?

The second step of the process is to identify the exact behavioral mechanisms that encourage undesired behavior and/or suppress the desired behavior.

This involves a careful behavioral scan of the entire journey that leads to the outcomes we are seeking to modify and identifying the exact behavioral forces that explain them. The result of this process is a map of all forces and factors along the behavioral journey that lead to the undesired situation and that need to be addressed with our solutions. The analysis at this step is both qualitative and temporal as it identifies the precise incentive/ barrier mechanisms as well as diagnose their sequence and the exact point at which they influence the behavioral journey.

EXAMPLE:
The analysis finds that there are two reasons guests do not wear their masks. First, they forget to put them on when they walk in as they are much more focused on the site they are visiting and consider that a small insignificant detail. Second, even if they remember at some point, they see that the rest of the group does not have their masks on and proceed without a mask.

3. Activate

How can we ACTIVATE a transition to a new journey that leads to the desired outcomes?

The third step of the process is about generating a set of possible behavioral mechanisms that can be applied to achieve the desired behavioral change.

This phase of the work process leans on the most up-to-date knowledge in behavioral sciences to identify relevant incentives and barriers that can help remodel the target behavioral journey. The identification of the relevant behavioral mechanisms involves analysis of the applicable mechanisms in terms of resources, required time, and other characteristics that determine relevance in the particular context. Based on practical consideration and applicability, this step concludes with a small set of priority interventions, which will be tested.

EXAMPLE:
Among the ways to minimize the likelihood that guests will forget is to incorporate reminders at the appropriate moments or to increase the importance of wearing a mask. The first can be done with special signs, with audio reminders or with verbal reminders by the guide but a careful analysis reveals that signs and audio reminders cannot be installed at historical sites as this is technologically impossible. Guides are focused on many of their other responsibilities so they cannot remind about masks. Therefore the most relevant approach seems to be to increase the importance of masks by adding personal information about the guide and his family and linking mask to their safety.

4. Result

Which approaches RESULT in the desired change?

The fourth step of the process is to test the selected solutions in the specific context to confirm their potency in addressing the targeted challenge.

This phase of the process involves applying the selected at the previous step solutions in the target context in order to test their impact. Behavioral solutions are strongly dependent on context so testing is a required step in any process seeking to introduce behavioral change. Of great importance is the exact design of the test and the careful consideration of all relevant factors that can influence the effectiveness and relevance of the particular tactics.

EXAMPLE:
The identified solution is tested with three different groups and shows that at the beginning the group remembers to put the mask on but that later in the day as the information about the guide’s family fades, they forget. An additional intervention that is identified to help sustain the effect is to assign one or two guests as responsible for mask reminders, which ensures that the majority will put them on and will create social pressure for the rest. Follow on tests confirm that the mix of these interventions secures long-term results.

5. Transition

What are the exact steps that will help TRANSITION to the behaviorally-optimised state?

The fifth final step of the process involves outlining the action steps towards applying the new behavioral journey design in order to reach the desired behavioral optimization.

This phase of the process facilitates the transition to the new behavioral patterns. It involves outlining the transition journey with the specific steps that need to be taken in order to roll out the planned behavioral solutions and reach the desired outputs. The team also support the execution process and provides ongoing guidance until the ideal state is reached. At the end of this process, the behavioral journey of interest is much more aligned with natural behavioral patterns and yields the desired outcomes without tension touchpoints.

EXAMPLE:
The roll out phase involves the outlining of specific steps towards the changed processes, including planning the exact moment and format of communicating personal information about the guide, linking that to mask wearing, assigning responsible guests and monitoring results.