Tactics database (Full).

Persuasion, engagement, and behavior change tactics to help you implement behavior and gamification design effectively

Easy

Automation

Help users complete achieve a goal with minimal input.

Easy

Clarity

Remove ambiguity and confusion from information and course to action (e..g, instructions)

Easy

Default Option

Pre-select the most desirable option.

Easy

Defer account creation

Allows new users to experience the value of your product before asking them to sign up.

Easy

Familiar behaviours

Leverage familiar and thus, easier behaviours (e.g., routines)

Easy

Familiar patterns

Leverage existing mental models to help users focus on their tasks rather than on learning new models.

Easy

Minimise Task Perception

Reduce the perceived effort (psychological friction) to take action.

Easy

Mnemonic Device

Use memory aids to help you translate pieces of information from short-term memory to long-term memory.

Easy

Picture Superiority Effect

Pictures and images are more easily processed and more likely to be remembered than (a thousand) words.

Easy

Piggy-backing

Engage users by leveraging actions they are already doing (e.g, (e.g., additional feedback or rewards)

Easy

Power of FREE

Remove frictions derived by paying.

Easy

Progressive Disclosure

Reduce users’ cognitive load by keeping the number of options/features on display limited by default, but offer a route to expand to more options or more advance features later on.

Easy

Psychological inertia

Leverage our tendency to not change the course of action.

Easy

Recency effect

It is easier for us to access particular items in our memory when we have recently been exposed to related stimuli.

Easy

Recognition rather than recall

Minimise user’s memory load by making objects, actions, and options easily retrievable whenever appropriate (e.g., quick and easy shortcuts to recent activity).

Easy

Reduce Choice (Hick’s Law)

Help people make decisions faster by decreasing the number and the complexity of choices.

Easy

Reduction

Remove unnecessary tasks and steps (perceived as a hassle) between the person and the goal.

Easy

Reflection Point

Introduce friction points to trigger reflection and eventually confirm the course of action to avoid regrettable outcomes.

Easy

Relative Cost

Influence how people evaluate the perceived cost of an action (money, time, effort) by comparing it to other seemingly easy actions/goals.

Easy

Replace Action

Replace an action with a simpler one (e.g., from gesture to vocal) to achieve the same outcome.

Easy

Sequencing

Break down complex or time-consuming tasks into small and easily completed actions to make it easier for people to start engaging in that behavior.

Easy

Serial position effect

Leverage our propensity to best remember the first and last items in a series by positioning key information and actions on the far left and right within elements (e.g., navigation).

Easy

Staged Disclosure (wizard pattern)

Provide a step-by-step process that allows users to input information in a prescribed order and in which subsequent steps may depend on information entered in previous ones.

Easy

Suggestion

Help users overcome choice overload and uncertainty by suggesting choices and course of action.

Easy

Tailoring (ease)

Remove irrelevant information for people to filter by tailoring the experience.

Easy

Timely prompt

Group information into familiar, manageable units which people can easily process and remember.

Easy

Tiny Habit

Lower the bar by simplifying the behaviour to build a tiny habit (e.g., bite-size learning).

Obvious

Analogy

Translate ambiguous goals and concepts into familiar, concrete analogies to grab attention, illustrate significance and motivate action.

Obvious

Contrast

Use colour constrast of an item or choice to stick out to increase the likelihood it will be noticed and remembered.

Obvious

Detailed description

Present information and future outcomes (goals, outcomes, benefits and rewards) in a concrete form (rather than pallid and abstract) by providing detailed descriptions.

Obvious

Gaze Magnet

Leverage humans’ natural tendency of looking at what others look at.

Obvious

Glowing Choice

Create a glowing effect around an item or choice to stick out and increase the likelihood it will be noticed.

Obvious

Isolation effect

Make one or few items stick out to increase the likelihood they will be noticed and remembered.

Obvious

Metaphor

Help people understand abstract concepts in terms of more tangible ones with conceptual metaphors

Obvious

Movement

Draw people’s attention with moving informational content and call to actions.

Obvious

Operational transparency

Make actions, processes, and outcomes transparent to users, providing clear visibility and understanding of how things work and the consequences of their actions.

Obvious

Present-Future Bridge

Bring the future-self closer to the present to counteract the preference for immediate benefits (present-bias) and help people make choices today with long-term benefits.

Obvious

Prompt visualisation

Utilise visualisation questions to make the future feel more concrete and to encourage planning.

Obvious

Scale

Increase the size of the element compared to surrounding elements to draw people’s attention and prompt desired actions.

Obvious

Story form

Present information and future outcomes (goals, outcomes, benefits and rewards) in a concrete form (rather than pallid and abstract) via stories.

Obvious

Top 10 effect

Group things into round-number groups, ending in a 5 or 0 to grab people’s attention and increase the perceived value

Obvious

Top of Mind

Keep the desired behavior or goal at the forefront of users' minds through frequent reminders, prompts, and visual cues to maintain focus and reinforce the importance of the task or objective.

Obvious

Vivid images

Present information and future outcomes (goals, outcomes, benefits and rewards) in a concrete form (rather than pallid and abstract) via images to evoke imagination.

Timely

Anchor habit

Add a new behavior to the beginning or end of an existing routine.

Timely

Decision point

Introduce prompts the moment the person is about to make the decision or perform the behaviour.

Timely

Emotional lever

Introduce strategic calls to action or leverage existing emotions (such as excitement, inspiration, empathy, or joy) to prompt desired behaviors.

Timely

Event-driven triggers

Capitalise on specific events or occasions (such as holidays, milestones, or special promotions), to align behavior prompts and rewards with the event context.

Timely

Event-driven triggers

Capitalise on specific events or occasions (such as holidays, milestones, or special promotions), to align behavior prompts and rewards with the event context.

Timely

Fresh Start effect

Leverage temporal landmarks that represent new beginnings to encourage takign action.

Timely

Immediate need

Provide information, call to actions or offers when users are more likely to find it relevant and useful (e.g., time-based recommendations)

Timely

Progressive unlock

Strategically leverage specific triggers (e.g., events, user actions) to dynamically and progressively reveal or unlocking content, features or benefits.

Timely

Seasonal Themes and Events

Align the design, content, and interactions with the current season to create a timely and relatable user experience (e.g, seasonal events, promotions, or themed content updates).

Timely

Teachable moments

Leverage naturally occurring health events to motivate individuals to adopt risk-reducing health behaviors spontaneously

Timely

Timely prompt

Provide a timely specific and actionable prompt to perform the behavior.

Timely

Timely reminder

Provide a timely, specific and actionable reminder to perform the behaviour.

Timely

Timely rewards

Balance immediate rewards to maintain short-term engagement and delayed rewards to foster long-term motivation to ensure a dynamic and satisfying user experience.

Attractive

Anchoring and Comparative Framing

Shape user perceptions and drive favorable decision-making by strategically introducing reference points and comparisons.

Attractive

Associative priming

Expose users to a particular stimulus (e.g., word, image, or concept) to influences an individual's subsequent thoughts, behaviours, or perceptions by activating a related mental associations or constructs.

Attractive

Classical aesthetics

Conform to aesthetic principles (orderliness, symmetry, proportion, clarity, harmony, consistency) to create clarity, a sense of calmness and eventually increased perceived usability and credibility (e.g., minimalist design)

Attractive

Compliment

Express admiration, appreciation, or positive feedback towards someone's actions, qualities, or achievements. They are often subjective in nature and aim to evoke positive emotions. (e.g, hope)

Attractive

Connect to priorities

Refer to users' existing priorities, pain points, aspirations or core values when communicating the significance and value of goals/actions to activate relevant motivations.

Attractive

Cuteness effect

Leverage the innate human tendency to find certain features, such as big eyes, rounded shapes, or small body proportions, appealing and emotionally engaging.(e.g., cute mascot).

Attractive

Decoy effect

People tend to have a specific change in preference between two options when also presented with a third option that is inferior in all respects to one option.

Attractive

Emotional appeal

Tap into users' emotions by evoking positive feelings or addressing pain points and illustrating how the choices, goals, and experiences offered can bring immediate emotional benefits.

Attractive

Expressive aesthetics

Increase engagement by convey the brand's personality and intentionally evoking specific positive emotions to (e.g., visual storytelling, micro-interactions)

Attractive

First Impression

Create a good first impression to affect users’ relationships with a product, brand, or other people in the long term.

Attractive

Gain-frame (highlight benefits)

Frame a message to emphasise the benefits that can be acquired by following the suggested course of action.

Attractive

Halo Effect

The tendency for positive impressions of a person, company, brand or product in one area to positively influence one's opinion or feelings in other areas

Attractive

Happy faces

Leverage happy faces to signal positive emotions

Attractive

Humanise

Break the distance between machine or systems and people by delivering authentic and humanised experience.

Attractive

Humor effect

Engage users through humor and lightheartedness by incorporating personification, exaggerated comparisons, or incongruent elements to elicit smiles and laughter in the user experience.

Attractive

Immediate benefits

Incorporate and highlight the immediate positive consequences (tangible and intangible benefits and rewards) of taking action.

Attractive

Labour Illusion (Kayak effect)

Leverage our tendency to assign more value to experiences or products that appear to involve significant effort or labor (e.g., show effort, delay value delivery) - also know as Kayak effect.

Attractive

Mere-Exposure Effect (Familiarity Principle)

Leverage our tendency to develop a preference for things we are familiar with.

Attractive

Persona-based onboarding

Tailor and personalise users’ first experience to specific user personas or user segments.

Attractive

Personalisation

Leverage user data to deliver individualised experiences (e.g., features, reminders, content, recommendations, or suggestions)

Attractive

Skeuomorphism

Incorporate design elements that mimic real-world objects or materials to create a sense of familiarity and enhance user understanding and engagement.

Attractive

Tailoring (relevancy)

Take into account specific user requirements, demographics, situational or cultural factors to provide a more tailored or optimized experience and meet users’ specific needs, goals, and preferences.

Attractive

Temptation Bundling

Prompt and encourage people to pair a pleasurable indulgence with a behavior that provides delayed rewards to combat present bias.

Attractive

Visual Appeal

Leverage our bias for beauty to capture attention, increase perception of ease and value, as well as evoke positive emotions.

Attractive

Welcome Message

Greet first-time users in a friendly manner to create a good first impression (and eventually include an opportunity for action—like a CTA to begin a brief product tour or walkthrough)

Tangible

Daily Bonus

Provide a recurring reward (fixed or progressive) for daily engagement to encourage consistent use (e.g., check in, log-in)

Tangible

Experiential Rewards

Offer non-material rewards that provide valuable and memorable experiences (e.g., a paid vacation)

Tangible

In-game Currency

Introduce a virtual currency system to facilitate micro-transactions (in-game purchases) or incentivising specific actions.

Tangible

Material rewards

Provide items or physical possessions as incentives or rewards to users in recognition of their achievements, engagement, or desired behaviors.

Tangible

Monetary Rewards

Provide tangible financial incentives to motivate and reinforce desired behaviors (eg., cash prize, bonus, discount).

Tangible

Negative Reinforcer

Present the removal or avoidance of negative consequences as a reward for desired behaviors.

Tangible

Real-world benefits

Offer tangible rewards or advantages that extend beyond the digital realm, providing users with valuable real-life benefits.

Tangible

Self-Rewards

Encourage self-reinforcement by prompting and allowing users to reward themselves upon achieving goals.

Tangible

Self-incentive

Encourage people to self-incentivise (i.e., to reward themselves in the future if they are successful)

Tangible

Streak Rewards

Offer tangible rewards for maintaining a consistent streak

Social

Accountability Partner

Create a partnership with someone to provide feedback on a regular basis (e.g., buddy programs)

Social

Appreciation

Cultivate a positive and supportive social environment by encouraging users to express appreciation and gratitude towards others’ contributions, efforts, or qualities.

Social

Authority Bias

Leverage our tendency to attribute greater accuracy to the opinion of an authority figure and be more influenced by that opinion.

Social

Brag Button

Enable people to share with others about their achievements and possessions.

Social

Celebrity Endorsement

Get the behaviour endorsed by a celebrity to validate it and reduce uncertainty

Social

Co-op Mechanic

Enable, create the conditions and incentivise for two or more people to complete a task and achieve an outcome together (e.g., dependency on resource sharing, easier win-state, complementary abilities)

Social

Community (water cooler)

Provide a friendly environment where people can connect, ask questions, and share tips and results.

Social

Competition

Leverage people’s need to win and advance their social standing by enabling a healthy competition.

Social

Give and Take Effect

Encourage reciprocal behaviours (e.g. exchange of favours, support, gifts ) to enhance the sense of belonging.

Social

Leaderboard

Display the relative ranking (comparative position) of players to create a sense of friendly competition, progress and social presence.

Social

Liking principle (interpersonal)

Leverage our tendency to say “yes” to individuals they know and like.

Social

Mentorship

Design a period of time during which a person receives guidance and direction from a mentor.

Social

Peer feedback and support

Encourage users to engage and interact with one another providing opportunities for peer feedback and support.

Social

Public Interactions

Make users’ interactions visible to others (e.g., community).

Social

Public commitment

Encourage people to commit to the desired behaviour change (with a witness or publicly)

Social

Recognition

Cultivate a positive and supportive social environment by encouraging users to recognise others’ individuals' skills, milestones or achievements.

Social

Shared Goal

Encourage people to jointly move towards a shared goal to foster a sense of belonging.

Social

Social Approval

Reinforce actions with positive appraisal and acceptance by an individual or social group (e.g., compliments, praise, and “likes”).

Social

Social Comparison

Directly or indirectly enable people to compare each others’ (e.g., goals, actions, performance).

Social

Social Modelling

Let witness other people successfully completing a task to increase self-efficacy

Social

Social Proof

Reveal what others think, do or say to influence behaviour, especially in situation of uncertainty.

Social

Social presence

Create an environment where people feel they’re interacting with a “real” person or performing an activity together.

Social

Tribe/Shared Identity

Highlight what people somehow related (e.g., proximity, origin, interests, beliefs, behaviours, friends, possessions etc.) to the target group do, think, or say.

Goal-oriented

Accomplishment recaps

Periodically summarise what users have accomplished so far. This helps internalise a sense of progress and achievement over time.

Goal-oriented

Achievement Symbol

Provide visual symbols that satisfy people's need of accomplishment and recognised and respected (e.g. trophies, badges)

Goal-oriented

Artificial Progress

Provide artificial advancement toward a goal to boost motivation to complete a task or achieve a goal.

Goal-oriented

Character Progression

Create a mechanism for the in-game avatar to progress (e.g., evolve, become stronger).

Goal-oriented

Checklist

Provide a list of tasks and check-off the completed ones to ensure consistency and completeness in carrying out a task.

Goal-oriented

Checkpoints

Create checkmarks or status indicators that indicate where users are in relation to a final goal.

Goal-oriented

Clear Goals

Set a specific, unambiguous and possibly time-bound goals to direct one's attention and effort.

Goal-oriented

Collection Set

Introduce rewards that can be completed only after having obtained all the elements of the collection.

Goal-oriented

Completion feedback

Provide users with feedback when the task has been successfully completed (e.g., yes/no, pass/fail evaluation / minimum XP) with .a focus on the output, without assessing the quality or efficiency of the process or outcome.

Goal-oriented

Constructive feedback

Provide information on areas for improvement at a specific point in time and gives specific recommendations for progress while acknowledging strengths.

Goal-oriented

Demonstration

Illustrate how to perform the behaviour and eventually include instructions.

Goal-oriented

Downshift expectations

For intimidatingly large goals, temporarily lower the initial performance criteria to build momentum and confidence. Once progress is made, raise expectations back up.

Goal-oriented

Goal Gradient effect (last mile)

Accelerate the behaviour to progress towards a goal or reward by emphasizing (and eventually create anticipation) once one is getting closer to achieving it.

Goal-oriented

Goal priming

Intermittently expose users to subtle reminders and activations of their goal through, relevant words, images, and quotes

Goal-oriented

Graded Task

Set easy-to-perform tasks, making them increasingly difficult, but achievable, until goal is achieved

Goal-oriented

Guided Task

Provide step by step guidance and support (visuals, text or audio) throughout the entire task.

Goal-oriented

Incremental Goals

Break down larger goals into smaller, achievable milestones that steadily build upon each other. This provides a sense of progress and forward momentum.

Goal-oriented

Level up system

Break down a long-term goal into levels/stages to give a sense of advancement throughout the journey and motivate by providing a sense of ascending hierarchy and prestige.

Goal-oriented

Milestones

Identify and celebrate the most important moments through the journey to goal achievement.

Goal-oriented

Performance feedback

Provide one’s performance to a certain degree to evaluate how well someone executed a task or achieved a goal - based on a standard, past performance, or other people (e.g., speed or timeliness, thoroughness, accuracy, effort and efficiency, overall quality)

Goal-oriented

Performance graph

Displaying individual performance over a fixed period, to highlight improvement over time.

Goal-oriented

Positive feedback

Focusing on what was done well and highlighting strengths and successes. Provides encouragement that reinforces desired behaviors.

Goal-oriented

Product tour

Provide an introductory demonstration of key features and workflows to establish orientation, reveal value and prompt initial usage. This familiarizes users with what the product can do to help them achieve their goals and reduces intimidation of complexity.

Goal-oriented

Progress bar

Show progress visually through a bar that fills up as steps are completed to give users a concrete sense of how much they have achieved so far.

Goal-oriented

Progress journey

Create a structured journey for users to follow in order to achieve a long-term goal.

Goal-oriented

Prompt Celebration

Encourage people to celebrate progress and goal achievement (e.g., victory pose)

Goal-oriented

Pseudo-set framing

Arbitrarily group items or tasks together as part of an apparent “set” to motivate people to reach perceived completion points.

Goal-oriented

Reflect on progress

Encourage users to actively consider their growth, development of skills, and lessons learned (active introspection and insight, critical self-examination, connects progress to deeper values and purposes to nurture intrinsic motivation)

Goal-oriented

Reframe setbacks

Frame failures, obstacles and plateaus not as failure, but as useful data about how to improve going forward. This supports a growth mindset.

Goal-oriented

Score

Provide summative feedback aimed at evaluating overall performance at as an endpoint evaluation. It focuses on judging the final outcome or result, rather than providing guidance for ongoing improvement (e.g., assign grades or scores, highlights what was done correctly, identify deficiencies)

Goal-oriented

Score

Provide score (e,g. experience points or stars) as a form of performance feedback for task completion or goal achievement.

Goal-oriented

Skill Tree

Break down skills hard to masters into connected sub-skills that are progressively unlocked.

Goal-oriented

Skill feedback

Provide formative feedback aimed at helping people grow and master skills rather than simply judging performance and evaluating where they currently stand (e.g., points to evidence of emerging abilities, recommendations to guide future actions, emphasise progress over time, identifies areas for development, encourage self-assessment and reflection)

Goal-oriented

Sound Feedback

Provide people sound feedback to highlight when an action has been performed correctly (positive sound) and incorrectly (negative sound)

Goal-oriented

Streak

Provide progress feedback when the same action has been performed consecutively for a defined period of time, or until the chain of action is broken.

Goal-oriented

Tutorial

Allow people to learn how the system works with a guided walkthrough or risk-free experience before entering the actual experience.

Goal-oriented

Unfinished Task

Remind and/or visualise uncompleted or interrupted tasks.

Goal-oriented

Validate and celebrate effort

In addition to or instead of solely evaluating the end outcome, provide recognition and positive emotional feedback for the actions and perseverance people demonstrated in the process of working towards the goal.

Goal-oriented

Validate and celebrate effort

In addition to or instead of solely evaluating the end outcome, provide recognition and positive emotional feedback for the actions and perseverance people demonstrated in the process of working towards the goal.

Goal-oriented

Validate and celebrate success

Provide recognition and/or provide emotional praise for completing tasks, hitting milestones or achieving goals (e.g., high five, balloons, confetti, congratulatory messages).

Goal-oriented

Visual hint

Provide clear and focused instructions and suggestions on what action to take next.

Goal-oriented

Words of Encouragement

Provide verbal feedback (text or audio) to encourage people to take action and persist.

Intriguing

Adjustive­- Reactive curiosity

Prompt individuals to react and seek understanding when confronted with unexpected or incongruent information.

Intriguing

Ambiguity

Embrace and strategically introduce uncertain and multi-interpretable elements to engage curiosity and foster exploration.

Intriguing

Conceptual exploration

Ignite and fuel individuals' desire to understand and make sense of why something works or behaves the way it does (e.g., conceal the details of game mechanics)

Intriguing

Curiosity-Driven feedback

Provide hints, prompts, or partial feedback to stimulatefurther exploration or understanding

Intriguing

Daily Catch

Offer daily content or rewards to maintain ongoing interest and engagement.

Intriguing

Easter eggs

Conceal hidden surprises within the experience to intrigue and delight users through exploration and discovery (e.g., hidden messages, interactive elements, or playful interactions)

Intriguing

Enigmatic progression

Present users with a progression system or journey that is mysterious and gradually unfolds, keeping them intrigued and motivated.

Intriguing

Epistemic discovery

Foster curiosity through opportunities for epistemic discovery, enabling individuals to unveil new knowledge, insights, or understanding through active exploration and investigation.

Intriguing

Guess Game

Engage users in a guessing activity, encouraging them to explore and discover answers.

Intriguing

Hidden/obscured information

Hide or obscure information to create an information gap which can be revealed by taking the desired action.

Intriguing

Manual exploration

Spark curiosity through the introduction of novel objects or elements that can be manually explored, inviting individuals to engage in hands-on exploration and discover their functionalities or properties.

Intriguing

Narrative anticipation

Create a sense of uncertainty about what happens next in a story

Intriguing

Novelty

Attract people's attention with information and experiences that are new or perceived to be different, unusual or unfamiliar.

Intriguing

Oracle effect

Provide a mechanism that enable people to try predict an outcome (e.g actions, events or competitions)

Intriguing

Progressive discovery

Invite and incentivise players to progressively uncover new content or places (e.g., Fog of War)

Intriguing

Random Rewards

Reward desired actions with unknown rewards and offerings in variable intervals to evoke a sense of anticipation (and eventually) surprise (e.g., fortune wheels, mystery boxes)

Intriguing

Rolling Rewards

Reward players with a game of chance after they take a specific action through a system that increase the changes of winning by staying in the game (e.g., lottery)

Intriguing

Secret content

Hide exclusive or hidden content that users can discover, enticing them to explore further.

Intriguing

Sneak Peek

Offer glimpses or teasers of upcoming content or features to generate anticipation and interest.

Intriguing

Social curiosity

Ignite curiosity by tapping into individuals' innate desire to know and understand what others are thinking, doing, or experiencing.

Intriguing

Solver’s uncertainty

Introduce the challenge of figuring out how to solve a highly constrained problem with a limited set of resources.

Intriguing

Uncertainty Generator

Introduce mechanisms (e.g., cards, dice, or a random number generator) to create outcomes difficult or impossible to predict.

Unexpected

Anticipate needs

Proactively identify and address user needs before they are explicitly expressed, creating a feeling of pleasant surprise and enhancing the user experience.

Unexpected

Bizarreness effect

Captivate attention by strategically incorporating strange elements

Unexpected

Delighter

Provide unexpected micro-moments of surprise (e.g. interaction or animation) to delight users with or without people’s inputs.

Unexpected

Lucky event

Create opportunities for users to encounter unexpected and favorable outcomes, allowing them to experience a sense of luck or serendipity.

Unexpected

Ripple effect

Implement a system where users' actions and behaviors have unexpected consequences or long-term impacts on their experience or outcomes.

Unexpected

Set and violate expectations

Purposefully establish expectations and then intentionally deliver information or outcomes that contradict or exceed those expectations (e.g under-promise and over-deliver to exceed expectations).

Unexpected

Storytelling twists

Introduce plot twists, unexpected character developments, or narrative surprises within storytelling experiences.

Unexpected

Sudden Rewards

Create moments of surprise and joy users by providing them with unexpected tangible or intangible rewards triggered by unknown factors, such as specific actions or events.

Unexpected

World-view disruptor

Challenge and disrupt people's existing understanding of the world by presenting information or outcomes that defy their expectations or preconceived notions

Scarce

Accuracy and precision challenge

Introduce a mechanism through which users are asked to test their precision in performing an action or achieving a goal.

Scarce

Adaptive challenge

Present users with dynamic or changing situations, tasks, or obstacles that require them to adjust their strategies, approaches

Scarce

Appointment dynamic

Restrict an activity or experience to specific times and, in some cases, locations (e.g., happy hour)

Scarce

Balance challenge

Introduce a mechanism through which users are asked to test their ability to achieve balance (of their body or elements controlled by them).

Scarce

Beating the clock challenge

Introduce a mechanism through which users are asked to test their ability to perform an action or achieve a goal before time is up.

Scarce

Combination moves challenge

Encourage users to perform complex or creative sequences of actions or inputs to overcome obstacles. (e.g., buttons in fighting games).

Scarce

Consistency challenge

Engage people in a time-bound activity that requires daily commitment to foster habit formation and sustain momentum (e.g., 30-day fitness challenge).

Scarce

Endurance challenge

Engage users in activities or tasks that require sustained effort and perseverance over an extended period (despite fatigue, stress, or other adverse conditions)

Scarce

Exclusive access

Offer exclusive benefits, privileges, or content to a select group of users, creating a sense of exclusivity and prestige (e.g., invite only program, first-come-first served).

Scarce

Fast thinking challenge

Stimulate quick thinking and decision-making skills by presenting users with rapid-fire questions or scenarios.

Scarce

Faster than opponent challenge

Compete against an opponent, either AI or real players, to achieve objectives quicker and outperform them.

Scarce

Forbidden fruit effect

Designate or label content or experiences as off-limits to generate curiosity, desire, and heightened engagement among users.

Scarce

Investment anchoring

Present two options side by side: one that involves a financial cost and another that requires significant effort and/or time (and benefits the system differently) to encourage users to take the desired action

Scarce

Limited quantity

Highlight limited availability of products, services, or features to increase their perceived value and desirability

Scarce

Magnetic cap

Create a limit on the number of times a desirable action can be performed, increasing its desirability, fostering a sense of scarcity, and enticing users to crave more, leading to repeated engagement and return visits.

Scarce

Memory challenge

Test and improve memory recall abilities by presenting information or sequences that users must remember accurately (behaviours of others, traps etc.).

Scarce

Pattern recognition challenge

Introduce a mechanism through which users are asked to test their ability to identify and remember patterns (e.g., numerical, visuals).

Scarce

Problem-Solving challenge

Present users with complex problems or puzzles that require analytical thinking and creative problem-solving skills.

Scarce

Rare find

Increase the perceived value of offerings, content, resources and rewards by emphasising their unique attributes, high-demand, or uniqueness (irreplicability)

Scarce

Reaction time challenge

Measure and enhance users' ability to react quickly by presenting stimuli that require swift responses (and avoid automatic responses).

Scarce

Resource management

Incorporate resource scarcity mechanics, such as limited lives, energy, or in-game currency, which require users to manage and prioritize their actions strategically.

Scarce

Restrict access

Restrict access (e.g., resources, features, benefits) until users meet specific criteria or complete certain tasks, motivating them to strive for progress and achievement.

Scarce

Speed challenge

Task users with completing activities or objectives as quickly as possible to emphasize speed and efficiency.

Scarce

Stretch Goals

Set ambitious and challenging goals beyond the initial target to inspire motivation, drive performance, and foster a sense of achievement and growth.

Scarce

Tiered rewards

Offer different tiers or levels of rewards based on user engagement, with higher levels offering more exclusive or valuable benefits

Scarce

Time-limited offers

Create a sense of urgency by limiting the time to perform an action (e.g deadline, count-down timer).

Scarce

Torture break

Introduce intentional interruptions or breaks in the experience for a specified duration to evoke a sense of impatience and anticipation, increasing the perceived value and desirability of the uninterrupted experience.

Scarce

Unlockable content

Restrict access to certain content or features and provide opportunities for users to unlock them through specific actions or achievements, enhancing their perceived value.

Empowering

Adaptive decision-making

Provide them with relevant information, feedback, and opportunities to adapt their strategy based on their individual preferences and circumstances.

Empowering

Alter path

Allow users to review and change their chosen path or direction to encourage flexibility.

Empowering

Alternative path

Offer alternative routes or approaches to achieve goals, providing users with flexibility and choice in their journey.

Empowering

Booster

Provide users with a mechanism that makes users feel more powerful (e.g., advantages, power-ups, enhancements) and enable users to progress and/or to accomplish goals or earning rewards faster.

Empowering

Chance booster

Provide users with a mechanism that increase the chances of a favourable outcome to occur.

Empowering

City-building mechanic

Enable players to construct and customize their own virtual cities, fostering a sense of ownership, autonomy, and creative control in the gaming experience.

Empowering

Game modes

Introduce different gameplay variations or modes that offer unique rules, objectives, or experiences, allowing users to tailor their engagement and explore diverse ways of interacting with the game.

Empowering

Goal adjustment

Allow users to modify their goals based on changing needs and preferences.

Empowering

Increase options

Increase the range of alternatives provided to cater to different needs and create a sense of choice and control (e.g., learning styles)

Empowering

Interactive Storytelling

Empower users through interactive narratives, allowing them to make choices that shape the story and influence its outcome.

Empowering

Interactivity

Promote active engagement and participation through interactive elements, fostering a sense of involvement and influence.

Empowering

Open-ended tasks

Design tasks and experiences without predetermined outcomes, allowing users freedom to explore, interact, and shape their own journey

Empowering

Placebo button

Introduce a push-button or other control that has only apparent functionality and aims at providing an illusion of control over a system, situation or environment.

Empowering

Player turns

Implement a system where players take turns to make decisions or perform actions (at their own pace or within a limited timeframe) fostering a sense of control, strategic thinking, and engagement in the experience.

Empowering

Power rewards

Provide rewards that enable people to influence and control others and/or the outcome of events and situations (eg., special rights).

Empowering

Safe space (freedom to fail)

Create a supportive and non-judgmental environment of trust, zero blame, and where risk-taking and failing is tolerated and rewarded.

Empowering

Self-expression

Provide opportunities for users to express their individuality and uniqueness, fostering a sense of empowerment and identity.

Empowering

Self-set goals

Enable people to define and set their own goals according to their abilities and preferences.

Empowering

Self-set trigger

Enable people to set and eventually customise triggers and reminders.

Empowering

Side quest

Offer optional additional tasks or challenges alongside the main objective, providing users with opportunities for exploration, rewards, and a more diverse and engaging experience.

Empowering

Strategic choices

Provide tools and shape environments to encourage strategic thinking.

Yours

Behavioural Contract

Encourage a personal agreement of performing the behaviour with a meaningful gesture (e.g., signing)

Yours

Bet

Create stakes or consequences to motivate desired behavior, often involving a wager or challenge.

Yours

Collectibles

Provide users with a system or mechanism for collecting or accumulating items, fostering attachment.

Yours

Commitment device

Enable people to limit the choices available in the future (e.g. by introducing obstacles or additional costs).

Yours

Customisation

Enable people to customise their experiences (e.g., themes, layouts, or settings) to create a sense of ownership.

Yours

Customizable Avatars

Offer robust avatar customization options, allowing users to personalize their in-game representation and express their individuality.

Yours

Foot-in-the-door

Start with a small request to increase likelihood of compliance with larger requests.

Yours

IKEA effect

Make people contribute (even partially) to the creation of products to increase the perception of value.

Yours

If-Then-Plans

Encourage people to make if-then-plans that capture pre-specified responses if a certain situation occurs.

Yours

Implementation intention

Formulate specific plans detailing when, where, and how a behavior will be performed.

Yours

Initial Endowment

Provide users with a valuable or desirable asset at the beginning to foster a sense of ownership and attachment to the experience or product.

Yours

Investment action

Encourage users to develop and engage in habitual actions that progressively enhance the value of the product or experience over time.

Yours

Naming

Enable and encourage users to name or label products, features, or goals to increase personal attachment and value.

Yours

Perceived ownership message

Encourage users to take action by giving a perception of already owning the offering .

Yours

Personalized Profiles

Allow users to create personalized profiles where they can input their preferences, interests, and customize their experience.

Yours

Pledge

Make a public commitment or declaration of intent to increase accountability and motivation.

Yours

Possession Defense

Create a mechanism through which players can safeguard and protect tangible or virtual objects, fostering a sense of ownership and responsibility towards them

Yours

Trigger-Response loop

Encourage users to engage in actions that directly lead to triggers for subsequent actions, creating a loop of behavior.

Yours

Virtual entities

Introduce companion characters or virtual entities that users can nurture, interact with, and develop a sense of attachment and companionship.

Yours

Virtual items

Offer virtual goods (e.g., cosmetics, property) to build a sense of ownership of the user experience.

Immersive

Augmented reality (AR)

Overlay digital content onto the real world, enhancing the user's perception and creating an immersive experience.

Immersive

Batman effect

Harness the power of the Batman effect by adopting the persona and mindset of a heroic or admired character to enhance motivation, focus, and performance in tasks or challenges.

Immersive

Beat boost

Utilize carefully selected and curated music to evoke emotions, enhance mood, and drive motivation, creating a more engaging and impactful user experience.

Immersive

Communicate playfulness

Adopt meta-communication cues and design elements that explicitly convey to users that the experience is intended for play and evoke a sense of lightheartedness and joy.

Immersive

Dynamic environment

Simulate and adapting the digital environment to reflect real-world weather or seasonal variations.

Immersive

Embodiment

Enable users to embody different roles, avatars, or personas that align with the desired behavior, allowing them to experience and practice the behavior in a virtual or augmented setting.

Immersive

Emotional engagement

Evoke deep emotional connections and engage users on an emotional level to foster a strong and meaningful bond with the experience or product.

Immersive

Environmental overlay

Immerse users into an alternate real environment with a visual overlay to create a feeling of “being there”.

Immersive

Fantasy world

Immerse users into a virtual fictional world that evoke a sense of wonder and imagination.

Immersive

First-person perspective

Provide players with a first-person viewpoint to immerse them in the game world and create a more personal and engaging experience.

Immersive

Future-self simulation

Prompt users to envision and experience themselves as their future self, fostering motivation and alignment with long-term goals and desired outcomes.

Immersive

Game boundaries

Create boundaries that demarcate the game world and its rules from the ordinary world (e.g., invisible walls).

Immersive

Game characters

Introduce interactive and engaging characters within the game world to enhance immersion and player engagement.

Immersive

Game norms

Establish and enforce specific behavioral norms and rules within the game world

Immersive

Game-like interface

Design the user interface to reflect the rules, aesthetics, and themes of the game world, enhancing immersion and creating a cohesive and engaging user experience.

Immersive

Live events

Provide real-time, interactive events or performances that allow users to participate and feel part of the experience.

Immersive

Multi-sensory stimulation

Engage multiple senses such as sight, sound, touch, and even smell to create a rich and immersive experience.

Immersive

Narrative overlay

Immerse your audience into a fictional narrative to contextualise (boring) activities and connect in an emotionally engaging way.

Immersive

Nostalgia effect

Provide prompts and experiences that trigger a sentimental recollection of the past to improve mood, helps us feel connected to others, and boosts our self-esteem (e.g., Familiar soundtracks, retro design, iconic references)

Immersive

Portal

Create gateways or portals within the experience that allow users to traverse between different virtual spaces or dimension

Immersive

Proteus effect

Enable people to create and customise a virtual identity as an imaginary self-representation (and eventually socialise through it), to influence their real-world behaviours.

Immersive

Role playing

Encourage users to assume a character or role (real or fantastic) within the experience, enhancing their immersion and sense of presence.

Immersive

Supernatural forces

Incorporate elements that defy the laws of reality and introduce extraordinary phenomena or abilities to enhance the immersive experience.

Immersive

Tactile and haptic feedback

Enhance immersion with physical sensations or haptic feedback that simulate interactions, adding a tangible layer to the digital experience (e.g., texture, vibrations).

Immersive

Theming

Use places, subjects, and scenarios to immerse players

Immersive

Time distortion

Remove or hide real-time information to create a sense of timelessness and focus on the immersive experience.

Immersive

Virtual environments

Create virtual worlds or simulated environments that users can explore and interact with to enhance their engagement and motivation towards desired behaviors.

Immersive

Virtual reality (VR)

Use virtual reality technology to provide users with a fully immersive and interactive environment.

Aversive

Avoidance goal

Frame the goal as avoiding negative outcomes or consequences to drive action.

Aversive

Emphasise future risks

Emphasise the risks and likelihood of negative outcomes associated with inaction: “do this, or this will likely happen”

Aversive

Escalating consequences

Increase the difficulty or severity of consequences when a desired behavior is not taken, motivating users to take action.

Aversive

Evanescent opportunity

Provide an opportunity that will vanish if an action is not taken immediately

Aversive

Fear appeals

Invoke fear or create a sense of urgency by presenting vivid scenarios or stories that illustrate the negative outcomes or risks associated with specific behaviors

Aversive

Fear of missing out (FOMO)

Create a sense of anxiety or fear of missing out to drive action.

Aversive

Loss avoidance feedback

Provide feedback that emphasizes the potential losses or negative outcomes that could occur if desired actions are not taken, reinforcing the importance of behavior change.

Aversive

Loss framing

xEmphasize the potential losses or missed opportunities that can result from not taking desired actions, highlighting the negative consequences of inaction.

Aversive

Near miss effect

Introduce near-miss scenarios where the desired outcome is narrowly missed to create tension and drive further attempts.

Aversive

Negative punishment

Remove a desirable stimulus to discourage the behavior.

Aversive

Negativity bias

Illustrate the value of your product by emphasizing the negative experience it resolves: “do this, to avoid that”.

Aversive

Positive punishment

Introduce an undesirable stimulus to discourage the behavior.

Aversive

Power loss

Indicate the loss of power, control, or influence to motivate action.

Aversive

Reminders of negative consequences

Continuously remind users of the potential negative outcomes or risks associated with certain behaviors to maintain awareness and encourage behavior change.

Aversive

Status/progress loss

Highlight potential loss of progress or regression to discourage inaction.

Aversive

Sunk cost fallacy

Emphasize the investment or resources (time, money, effort) already committed to motivate continued action.

Meaningful

Causal transparency

Explain the reason behind an action or outcome and/or make the consequence transparent.

Meaningful

Hero’s call

Evoke a sense of purpose and significance by presenting users with a mission or challenge that makes them feel chosen and responsible for a noble and epic cause, potentially involving personal risk or sacrifice.

Meaningful

Identifiable victim effect

Focus on one person (the victim) and her/his story, rather than vaguely defined groups to encourage empathy and increase support (e.g., donations)

Meaningful

Impact awareness

Inform and remind the positive impact of one's action on others, and the world.

Meaningful

Legacy building

Enable users to create a lasting impact or meaningful legacy within the experience, fostering a sense of significance and contribution.

Meaningful

Meaningful choices

Present users with meaningful decision points that result in meaningful consequences, allowing them to shape their experiences.

Meaningful

Meaningful relationships

Foster meaningful connections and relationships between players and in-game characters

Meaningful

Moral choices

Present users with moral dilemmas and decision points that challenge their values and beliefs, allowing them to explore the ethical dimensions of their choices and actions.

Meaningful

Noble cause

Implicitly or explicitly align desired behaviors, goals, or achievement with a noble cause or higher purpose, inspiring users to contribute to something greater than themselves.

Meaningful

Reflection and contemplation

Promote introspection and thoughtful contemplation to deepen understanding and meaning of the experience or desired outcome.

Meaningful

Ritual

Incorporate meaningful rituals or ceremonial practices to enhance the sense of significance and purpose in the experience or desired outcome.

Meaningful

Storytelling

Provide information and experiences in a structured format that connects events, actions, and outcomes to create meaningful context and enhance users' understanding and engagement.

Meaningful

Symbolic rewards

Provide rewards that hold symbolic value and meaning, representing the achievement, progress, or alignment with personal values and goals.

Meaningful

Values alignment

Align the desired behavior, goal, or experience with the personal values and beliefs of individuals to create a sense of purpose and intrinsic motivation.

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The Make it Toolkit by Make it Lab - Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial- NoDerivative (CC BY-NC-ND)  International License.
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