Be honest: how many times have you re-watched the same episodes of your favourite show? Or ordered the same thing from your local takeaway?

Like it or not, most of us are creatures of habit. Once we know what we like and get into a routine it can be tough to break out of our comfort zone and try something new.

This tendency can pose a challenge for innovators – and it’s part of the reason why over 95% of new products fail.  

Whether it’s getting people to try out a new product, use a new online password, or switch from a petrol vehicle to an EV for the first time – if people don’t want to break out of their usual patterns, they simply won’t buy in.

No matter how good the technology is, how effectively it solves a problem or even how well it is marketed, if we don’t work with the principles of human behaviour – we are setting ourselves up for failure.

So, how can we manage this? Is there a way to encourage people to embrace innovation and try something new or different?

Introducing... Behavioural science. The study of how people make decisions and behave, behavioural science can help us to understand why people do the things they do, even when it doesn't seem to make sense.  

In this way, behavioural science can be a secret weapon in encouraging people to adopt new innovations. Applying a behavioural insights lens to innovation and new behaviour adoption can help improve that 5% success rate and get people more comfortable with trying new and different things.

Let’s look at some ways that behavioural science can be used to boost innovation and first-time behaviour adoption (and some examples of organisations doing just that):    

1. Solving a behavioural problem

The starting point for innovation is often solving a problem. There are many different problems that organisations need to solve: from solving a problem for customers, through to organisational problems such as cost-saving, supply-chain or time-management.

Overcoming behavioural barriers that our audience face - the ‘behavioural problem’- is an important step to help ensure the success of the innovation.  

Let’s look at an example of a behavioural problem: reducing household food waste going to landfill.

The city of Salisbury, Australia developed a successful waste collection system for food waste that factored in household behaviour. The city wanted to introduce a new system for food waste, but knew the solution had to match people’s existing behaviour within the kitchen.  

They recognised that many people were not going to take action to get a new bin or go outside, so instead of designing a standard large rubbish and recycling bins which are typically kept outside, they created a small bin that could fit on the countertop or under the sink.

This small change in bin size is a great example of an important, behaviour-informed change that made a difference. These smaller bins have had a great uptake with the citizens of Salisbury, collecting much more food waste than if they had tried to implement larger bins that would have most likely gone unused outside of the home.  

Put yourself in the position of your audience encountering your innovation for the first time. What are the behavioural barriers your end audience faces to adopting a new behaviour?

2. Removing ambiguity

Change is difficult and new things can be scary. Behavioural insights recognises the bias of ‘ambiguity aversion’ which is our preference toward what is known over the unknown.  

One way we can overcome ambiguity is to signal what to expect through trials, demonstrations and tutorials. This is the principle behind supermarkets offering free samples of new products in-store or in grocery deliveries.  

Another way to overcome ambiguity is to anchor the unknown product, service or behaviour to something that is known.  

The insect protein ‘cricket flour’  – essentially crickets ground into a fine powder – does this anchoring by aligning itself with something very familiar and known with the word ‘flour’.  

By calling itself ‘flour’, rather than ‘ground crickets’ or ‘cricket meal’, the product signals that you can use the product in baking and cooking like you would regular flour. This helps normalise the new product and signal how it can be used.  

Consider the different ways your organisation can signal what to expect and showcase the new behaviour so it becomes more familiar. What commonplace behaviour, product or service can you anchor the innovation to so it feels more familiar?

3. Implementing the innovation and getting people to take action

You have a great new innovation, product or service – wonderful! But we still need people to use it and take up the new behaviour. Behavioural insights and nudges can help support the uptake of new behaviours.  

The University of Auckland has developed effective asthma inhalers that are easier for children to use – easier to pump and better suited to smaller faces.

However, behavioural research identified that it was not just the design of the physical inhaler, but understanding how to support the behaviour and uptake that made a real difference. In this case, it was important to understand that children and busy parents get easily distracted and can forget to use the inhaler. Adding an integrated timer with a variety of ringtones to remind children and parents to use the inhaler was a fantastic feature that addressed this behavioural problem. The result? A huge increase in the uptake of the new inhalers.  

"The results astounded researchers, with children who used the device in the trial taking their inhalers an average of 84 per cent of the time, compared with those who didn't only remembering to take their medication 30 per cent of the time." - University of Auckland lead researcher, Amy Chan

Think about how to use behavioural insights in your go-to-market strategy. How will the innovation will be used by people in their everyday context?

4. Moments that matter: implementing the innovation during disruption

The timing of a new innovation is important. When considering how to integrate our new product, service or innovation into people’s lives, we should look at the times when people are more open to change – because habits are much easier to implement when the routine behaviour has been disrupted.

The fresh start effect is a documented phenomenon in understanding when and how habits are formed. A fresh start includes special occasions or ‘temporal landmarks’ where people are more likely to reflect and take action, such as New Year’s Eve or a birthday.

A fresh start doesn’t need to be linked to a special occasion, however. In our previous research into cybersecurity behaviour, we found that people are more likely to implement a cybersecurity action - like trying out a password manager for the first time - when they have recently bought a new device or are setting up a new financial service. In fact, 63% of people said that they would typically implement a cyber security measure when setting up a new device, and 48% when setting a financial service.

Look at what time would be best to introduce your innovation. What are the moments that people are more open to trialling your new product, service or message?

5. Normalising the behaviour for growth

“When faced with uncertainty and choice, we look outwards, to others” - Professor Robert Cialdini, author of ‘Influence: The Power of Persuasion’

Humans are social creatures and other people’s behaviour tends to shape our own behaviour.  

To normalise new behaviours we can adopt ‘social proof’ measures and showcase that many others are taking action.  

This can be in the form of celebrity endorsements: celebrities Tiki Taane and Osher Günsberg were used to promote EVs to the market, in New Zealand and Australia respectively.

Social proof can also utilise the power of crowds. When opening a new cycle path, there will often be an opening event to show crowds of people using the new path to normalise cycling on the new route.  

Other forms of social proof include reviews, referrals, data and metrics to show that a new product or behaviour is on the rise. Get TRA’s guide to social proof for a full range of different social proof opportunities.

Consider who is already using the new innovation or adopting the new behaviour that could be showcased to others. Who does the target audience trust and turn to for support and advice that we can show using the new innovation?

This is just the beginning.

We have outlined just some of the ways you can use behavioural science to increase the likelihood of innovation success.  

Whether you’re an innovator, entrepreneur, insights professional or product designer, (or something else entirely), these tips can form a great starting-point to discover how to use behavioural science to create and implement innovations that people love and adopt.