Artificial Advancement

Motivate users by giving them a head-start

The endowed progress effect is the idea that if you provide some type of artificial advancement toward a goal, a person will be more motivated to complete the goal.

To prove it, a group of researchers went to car wash that offered loyalty cards to its customers and set up an A/B test:

Half of the cards had spaces for eight stamps, with a free car wash offered for collecting all eight. Half had spaces for ten stamps, but, and here’s the difference, two of the spaces came pre-stamped.

Researchers found that the pre-stamped cards resulted in 178% more repeat business than the unstamped ones.

As well as the increase in sales, the time between visits was reduced by 2.9 days as well so the prestamped cards were filled up in less time overall.

This concept can by apply in many ways to digital products. motivating people, particularly in lengthy and boring processes. An illusion of progress is vital for motivating people, particularly in lengthy and boring processes, such as onboardings or checkout forms.