Jason
Hrera,
head
of
product,
behavioural
sciences
at
Walmart,
speaks
at
the
Persuasive
Technology
Conference
at
the
University
of
Waterloo
on
Wednesday.
-
David
Bebee
,
Waterloo
Region
Record
WATERLOO — People wearing Google Glass sparked fist fights in San Francisco bars because the internet search giant did not bring enough behavioural science into the design of the product, says an expert in the field.
"This actually did happen on multiple occasions," said Jason Hreha, a behavioural scientist and speaker Wednesday at the Persuasive Technology Conference at the University of Waterloo.
Google Glass included a computer, scanner, monitor and camera. It was hyped as a huge advance in wearable technology.
"The problem with Google Glass is that when you wear it, people know they are being watched, making people very uncomfortable," said Hreha, head of product, behavioural sciences at Walmart.
The term "Glasshole" was quickly applied to the early adopters.
The technology violated so many social norms, including the automatic recording of people without their permission, it sparked violence, Hreha said.
There was no way to save it without getting rid of the look, and the technology inside, so the product was pulled, he said.
Hreha has a PhD in neuroscience from Stanford University and uses his research to increase shoppers' engagement and spending at Walmart, the world's largest retailer.
Many product failures could have been avoided if behavioural scientists had been involved in design from the beginning of development, said Hreha, founder of Dompamine, the first behavioural design firm in Silicon Valley.
Behavioural scientists should be viewed as core architects of new products, not optimizers and saviours who are brought in to save something that is already failing. He says a company needs to get the product right the first time, or it never will.
Behavioural science exposed big myths about what motivates people — that everyone is rational, information alone will change behaviour, and new habits are formed in as little as 21 days, Hreha said.
What motivates consumers 70 per cent of the time is what behavioural scientists call "signalling," he said. That means using a product to be perceived as cool, smart, powerful, righteous, sexy, wealthy, cultured, well read, well travelled, kind, generous and nice, said Hreha.
Entertainment is the main driver of consumer behaviour between and 10 and 20 per cent of the time, he said. Practical considerations get the same weight as entertainment.
The consumer landscape is littered with products that failed because these insights were not used in their design and marketing, Hreha said.
There are many examples of high-profile failures. They include New Coke in 1985 and Qwikster, a DVD-only service launched by Netflix in 2011, but pulled after 11 days. A redesign of the main page for Snapchat outraged users, and Google+, the internet company's foray into social media, floundered from the beginning, said Hreha.
When it comes to wearable technology, only one company — Apple — got it right, said Hreha. The Apple Watch succeeds where others failed because it piggybacks on a deeply ingrained repertoire of behaviour — wearing a watch, he said. It has health-related features as cool additions, not main attractions.
"You are already wearing this thing, let me show you your heart rate, let me show you your steps, as a kind of bonus," said Hreha.
Developers of new product features and marketing campaigns must realize most people are lazy when it comes to changing routines. They don't want to make more than one or two clicks when shopping online. And when the default option is good enough, very few people will ask for anything else, said Hreha.
A lot of behaviours are triggered by cues from other people and things in the environment, he said.
"We understand that there are real drivers of behaviour that are almost invisible, that unless you key into them you don't really see them."
tpender@therecord.com , Twitter: @PenderRecord