Why every startup founder and product owner has to know the Fogg Behavior Model?
Hey! My name's Andriy Kravets. I've been working in and with Product, Marketing and Sales global teams for a decade, wearing almost every hat you can possibly imagine.
Since last year I've spent countless hours studying and applying Behavioral Economics, Social Psychology and Behavioral Science in general. Some time ago I've started a dedicated Behavioral Science Channel. And today I'd like to introduce you to the Fogg Behavior Model. One of my favorites.
What's the Fogg Behavior Model?
One of the most used Behavior Change models in corporate environment, at least in my opinion, is the Fogg Behavior Model (FBM).
According to the model, behavior is a product of three factors: motivation, ability, and triggers (prompts). Therefore, FBM is represented by the following formula:
B = MAP,
where
- M is motivation
- A is ability
- P is prompt or trigger
It leads us to the conclusion that a given behavior will occur when motivation, ability, and a trigger are present at the same time and in sufficient degrees.
FBM Subcomponents
It's important to mention that Fogg defines subcomponents of motivation and ability, as well as types of triggers.
Motivation could be influenced by the following types of motivators:
- Seeking pleasure and avoiding pain
- Seeking hope and avoiding fear
- Seeking social acceptance and avoiding rejection.
Fogg describes six elements of simplicity, the factors that influence behavior's difficulty and hence our ability:
- Time
- Money
- Physical effort
- Brain cycles (thinking deeply or thinking in new ways can be difficult)
- Social deviance
- Non-routine
Finally, FBM includes 3 types of triggers:
- Spark (when a person lacks motivation to perform a target behavior)
- Facilitator (when a person have high motivation but lacks ability)
- Signal (works best when people have both the ability and the motivation to perform the target behavior)
Motivation vs Ability: What to Choose?
As you may see from the chart, we may cause target behavior either by increasing motivation or ability. So what to choose? I'll take the liberty and quote Nir Eyal:
"๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ข๐ค๐ต ๐ช๐ด, ๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ช๐ด ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ด๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ถ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ. ๐๐ฆ๐ฃ ๐ด๐ช๐ต๐ฆ ๐ท๐ช๐ด๐ช๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ๐ด ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ช๐จ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ถ๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ ๐ต๐ฆ๐น๐ต; ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ญ๐ต๐ช๐ต๐ข๐ด๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐ต๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ธ๐ฉ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ. ๐๐ฏ๐ง๐ญ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ช๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ค๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ง๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ช๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฎ ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ช๐ด ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ง๐ง๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆโ๐ด ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ด๐ช๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐ช๐ต. ๐๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ค๐ต ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ด๐ช๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ข๐ญ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐บ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ช๐ต, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถโ๐ท๐ฆ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ข ๐ธ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ณ."
So answering the question in the title, every startup founder and product owner has to know the Fogg Behavior Model because it's one of the top models used in startups and corporate environment and one of the proven to be successful. What other reasons one may need?
