The UX Psychology Behind Apps People Can’t Stop Using — Transcript

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1. 0:00Most apps fail not because they look
2. 0:01bad, but because they ignore how people
3. 0:04actually think. The best designers in
4. 0:06the world don't just push pixels. They
5. 0:08understand psychology. And today, I'm
6. 0:10going to show you six psychology
7. 0:12principles that will completely change
8. 0:14the way you design. Every single one
9. 0:16comes with a real before and after, so
10. 0:18you can see exactly what to do
11. 0:20differently. Let's go. Here's something
12. 0:22that sounds obvious, but almost nobody
13. 0:25does. Stop giving users blank forms.
14. 0:28Look at this booking screen. Five
15. 0:30completely empty fields. Every single
16. 0:32one is a decision the user has to make
17. 0:34before anything happens. Psychologists
18. 0:36call this decision fatigue. The more
19. 0:39choices you stack on someone at once,
20. 0:41the more likely they are to make no
21. 0:43choice at all and just leave. A study
22. 0:45from Columbia University found that when
23. 0:47a grocery store displayed 24 jam
24. 0:50flavors, only 3% of people bought one.
25. 0:53When they showed just six, the purchase
26. 0:55rate jumped to 30%. More choices doesn't
27. 0:58mean better. It means harder.
28. 1:00Now look at this version. Same screen,
29. 1:02[music]
30. 1:02same fields, but everything is
31. 1:04pre-filled with the most common choices.
32. 1:06And the button doesn't just say search.
33. 1:08It tells you there are already 12
34. 1:10results waiting. Here's why this works
35. 1:12so well. 70 to 90% of users in most
36. 1:15products never change the default
37. 1:16values. That's not laziness. It's trust.
38. 1:20When you provide a smart default, users
39. 1:22read it as a recommendation. You're
40. 1:24saying, "This is what most people pick."
41. 1:26And that's incredibly persuasive. The
42. 1:28user's job shifts from "Fill this out
43. 1:30from scratch." to "Scan and adjust what
44. 1:32doesn't fit." That's a fundamentally
45. 1:34easier task. So, the principle is called
46. 1:36smart defaults. And the rule is simple.
47. 1:39Pre-select the most common choice for
48. 1:41every field. Don't make users think when
49. 1:43you already know the answer.
50. 1:45This tip will change the way you think
51. 1:47about onboarding entirely. Researchers
52. 1:49at Columbia ran a study at a car wash.
53. 1:51One group of customers got a loyalty
54. 1:53card with eight empty stamps. Fill all
55. 1:56eight, get a free wash. The second group
56. 1:58got a card with 10 stamps, but two were
57. 2:00already filled in. Same eight washes
58. 2:02needed, but the group that started with
59. 2:04two stamps completed the card at nearly
60. 2:07double the rate. That's the goal
61. 2:09gradient effect. The closer people feel
62. 2:11to finishing something, the faster they
63. 2:13move toward it. And the critical insight
64. 2:15is this, you can choose where the
65. 2:17starting line is. Look at this
66. 2:19onboarding screen. 0% complete, five
67. 2:22empty stamps. It's telling the user you
68. 2:25haven't started and there's a lot ahead.
69. 2:27That's deflating, even if the actual
70. 2:29work is minimal. Now, this version. Same
71. 2:32form, same fields, but progress already
72. 2:34shows 20%. The first step is checked
73. 2:36off. The user can see exactly where they
74. 2:39are and how close the finish line is.
75. 2:41They didn't do any extra work. You just
76. 2:43reframed account creation as step one
77. 2:45instead of treating it as a separate
78. 2:47event. 0% feels like standing still. 20%
79. 2:51feels like momentum. And that feeling is
80. 2:53what separates the users who finish
81. 2:55onboarding from the ones who drop off at
82. 2:57the second screen. LinkedIn does this
83. 2:59brilliantly. They show you a profile
84. 3:01strength meter from the moment you sign
85. 3:02up, and it's never at zero. The rule,
86. 3:05[music] never start a user at zero. Find
87. 3:07something they've already done and count
88. 3:09it. That artificial head start creates
89. 3:11real motivation. If you want to get
90. 3:13better at designing onboarding that
91. 3:14actually works,
92. 3:15>> [music]
93. 3:15>> Mobbin is genuinely the best resource
94. 3:17for it. You can study how top teams
95. 3:19design onboarding, upgrades, checkouts,
96. 3:22and other key flows. So, instead of
97. 3:23guessing what good UX looks [music]
98. 3:25like, you can actually see it. In fact,
99. 3:27one of the first things we do before
100. 3:29designing any onboarding flow is go to
101. 3:31Mobbin and search for onboarding.
102. 3:33Instantly, you can see real examples
103. 3:34from top products, which makes it much
104. 3:36easier to find inspiration and see what
105. 3:38good patterns look like in practice.
106. 3:40It's a simple trick that helps you
107. 3:42design better and faster. And if you
108. 3:44want to try it, too, you can get 20% off
109. 3:46using the special link in the
110. 3:47description. So far, we've talked about
111. 3:49making things easier or making things
112. 3:51urgent. But if the user doesn't trust
113. 3:54you yet, none of it matters. Most apps
114. 3:56ask for something before they give
115. 3:57anything. Sign up to see your results.
116. 4:00Create an account to continue. Enter
117. 4:02your email to unlock. The user hasn't
118. 4:04received a single thing of value and
119. 4:06already the app wants something from
120. 4:07them. Look at the screen. The user
121. 4:09entered their URL, hit analyze, waited
122. 4:12for the scan, and now the results are
123. 4:14blurred out behind a lock. Create an
124. 4:16account to see your report. Think about
125. 4:19what that communicates. You're holding
126. 4:21the results hostage. It's like a
127. 4:23restaurant asking for your credit card
128. 4:25before they show you the menu. You'd
129. 4:27walk out, and that's exactly what users
130. 4:29do here. Now this approach. The user
131. 4:32hits analyze and actually gets a real
132. 4:34report. Not the full thing, but enough
133. 4:37to be genuinely useful. Their score,
134. 4:40their top issues, what passed. They can
135. 4:42already see what's wrong with their site
136. 4:44and start thinking about fixes. And then
137. 4:46at the bottom, a simple [music] prompt.
138. 4:48Want the complete breakdown with
139. 4:49step-by- step instructions? Save your
140. 4:51report. The difference in conversion is
141. 4:53massive because of a principle called
142. 4:55[music] reciprocity. When someone gives
143. 4:57you something first, you feel a pull to
144. 4:59return the favor. It's not rational.
145. 5:01It's one of the deepest human instincts
146. 5:03we have. Robert Cialdini spent his
147. 5:05career studying persuasion and ranked
148. 5:07this as the single most powerful driver
149. 5:09of human behavior. It's why free samples
150. 5:12at grocery stores increase purchases by
151. 5:14up to 2,000%.
152. 5:16>> [music]
153. 5:16>> The sample isn't that good, but
154. 5:18receiving it creates an unconscious
155. 5:20debt. Every smart company uses this.
156. 5:22Costco gives you free samples. Spotify
157. 5:25gives you 30 days of premium. Notion
158. 5:27lets you use the entire product before
159. 5:29you ever pay. They're not being
160. 5:30generous. They're being strategic. The
161. 5:32sign up never feels like a wall because
162. 5:34the user already got something worth
163. 5:36coming back for. Have you ever spent an
164. 5:38afternoon assembling IKEA furniture and
165. 5:40then thought, "Actually, this looks
166. 5:42pretty good." It objectively doesn't
167. 5:44look that different from what you'd buy
168. 5:46pre-assembled, But, it feels different
169. 5:48because you built it. You spent time on
170. 5:50it, and that labor changed how you value
171. 5:53it. Researchers actually studied this
172. 5:55and gave it a name, the IKEA effect.
173. 5:57When people build something themselves,
174. 5:59they value it significantly more than an
175. 6:01identical item someone else made.
176. 6:03There's an even simpler version of this
177. 6:05called the endowment effect. You don't
178. 6:07even have to build something. Just
179. 6:09feeling like you own it is enough. Now,
180. 6:11think about what most sign-up pages do.
181. 6:13Email, password, sign up. There's
182. 6:15nothing on this screen that belongs to
183. 6:17the user. They haven't created anything.
184. 6:19They haven't chosen anything. Closing
185. 6:20the tab is effortless because there's
186. 6:22nothing to lose. Now, look at this
187. 6:24approach. The user hasn't signed up yet,
188. 6:26but they're already building. They're
189. 6:27choosing their name, their title, their
190. 6:29color palette, their card style. Every
191. 6:31choice makes this feel more like theirs,
192. 6:34and the button at the bottom doesn't say
193. 6:35sign up, it says continue because by
194. 6:38now, leaving doesn't feel like skipping
195. 6:40a form. It feels like abandoning
196. 6:41something they made. Duolingo does this
197. 6:44brilliantly. Before you ever create an
198. 6:46account, you've already picked your
199. 6:47language, set your goal, and completed
200. 6:50your first lesson. By the time the
201. 6:51sign-up screen appears, you've invested
202. 6:5310 minutes. You're not going to throw
203. 6:55that away. That's not manipulation.
204. 6:57That's smart design. You're giving
205. 6:59people a reason to stay by letting them
206. 7:01build something worth staying for.
207. 7:03Most designers are still learning UX and
208. 7:05UI the old way. They watch another
209. 7:07tutorial on how to recreate a beautiful
210. 7:09app screen, add a smooth Figma
211. 7:11interaction, or create another glass
212. 7:13effect. And yes, those things can
213. 7:15[music] be useful, but they're not what
214. 7:17gets you hired at serious product
215. 7:18companies because interviewers are not
216. 7:20just looking for someone who can make a
217. 7:22screen look nice. They want to see how
218. 7:24you think. They want to see if you
219. 7:26understand user psychology, conversion,
220. 7:29retention, business impact, and why
221. 7:32certain design decisions actually work.
222. 7:34That's why we created UX Peak Plus. UX
223. 7:37Peak Plus teaches the advanced UX and UI
224. 7:40skills most designers are missing. We
225. 7:42break down how top companies design
226. 7:43product pages,
227. 7:45onboarding flows,
228. 7:47pricing pages,
229. 7:49mobile apps, SaaS products, and
230. 7:51high-converting experiences. So, you can
231. 7:53understand not just what looks good, but
232. 7:55what actually works. It's the kind of
233. 7:57knowledge you can use in your case
234. 7:58studies, portfolio, interviews, and real
235. 8:01product work. You can start for free at
236. 8:03uxpeak.com with the free course. And if
237. 8:06you decide to join UX Peak Plus, use
238. 8:08code UX [music] Peak 20 to get 20% off
239. 8:11with our launch offer. You also have a
240. 8:137-day money-back guarantee. So, there is
241. 8:15no risk. Now, let's get into the next
242. 8:18tip.
243. 8:19All right, that was about making users
244. 8:21feel invested. But, what about
245. 8:23motivation? What makes someone actually
246. 8:25act instead of tapping maybe later?
247. 8:27Daniel Kahneman won a Nobel Prize for
248. 8:29proving that the pain of losing
249. 8:31something is psychologically twice as
250. 8:34powerful as the pleasure of gaining the
251. 8:36same thing. Twice. Think about what that
252. 8:38means for product design. Every time you
253. 8:40frame a feature as something users could
254. 8:42gain, you're using the weaker motivator.
255. 8:44Look at the screen, a storage app
256. 8:46offering a premium upgrade. Nice icon,
257. 8:48nice feature list, nice button, upgrade
258. 8:51now. And below it, the world's easiest
259. 8:53escape hatch, maybe later. There's
260. 8:55nothing at stake, nothing changes if the
261. 8:57user ignores this. The screen has zero
262. 8:58psychological weight. Now, this version,
263. 9:01same product, same goal. But, instead of
264. 9:03selling what the user could have, it
265. 9:04shows what the user is about to lose,
266. 9:06their actual files, by name, with the
267. 9:09countdown. And the dismiss option
268. 9:11doesn't let you off easy, it says, "I'll
269. 9:13risk it." The first screen is a pitch,
270. 9:15the second screen is a threat, and
271. 9:17threat wins every time because of a
272. 9:19concept called the status quo bias.
273. 9:22[music] Humans are wired to protect what
274. 9:23they already have. You need to make them
275. 9:25feel the cost of inaction. So, here's
276. 9:27the takeaway, [music]
277. 9:28whenever you're designing a screen that
278. 9:29asks users to act, flip the framing.
279. 9:32Don't sell what they'll gain, show what
280. 9:33they'll lose if they don't.
281. 9:36Last one is a principle that why the
282. 9:38exact same price can feel expensive or
283. 9:41feel like nothing. Look at the screen. A
284. 9:43protection plan shown on its own page,
285. 9:45$50 a month. The user sees that number
286. 9:48in isolation and does a quick mental
287. 9:50calculation, $600
288. 9:52a year. That's a lot. They hit no thanks
289. 9:55and move on.
290. 9:56Now look at the same offer in a
291. 9:57different context. [music] The user just
292. 9:59added a $1900 laptop to their cart and
293. 10:03directly below the product, the
294. 10:05protection plan appears. Same $50, but
295. 10:08now there's a small label next to it,
296. 10:10just 2.6%. Nothing changed about the
297. 10:13offer. Everything changed about how it
298. 10:15feels. After seeing $1900, $50 barely
299. 10:18registers. Your brain isn't doing an
300. 10:20absolute evaluation anymore. It's doing
301. 10:23a relative one. And it's relative to the
302. 10:25price you just processed, this is a
303. 10:27rounding error. This is the contrast
304. 10:29effect. Your brain evaluates every piece
305. 10:32of information relative to the thing it
306. 10:34saw immediately before. Restaurants use
307. 10:36this constantly. They put a $90 Wagyu
308. 10:38steak on the menu not because many
309. 10:40people order it, but because it makes
310. 10:42the $40 salmon look like a reasonable
311. 10:44choice. Real estate agents show you a
312. 10:46slightly overpriced house first so the
313. 10:48one they actually want to sell feels
314. 10:50like a deal.
315. 10:51>> [music]
316. 10:51>> For designers, the rule is don't show a
317. 10:53cost in isolation. Always control what
318. 10:56the user sees first because that first
319. 10:58number becomes the ruler they measure
320. 11:00everything else against.
321. 11:02So those are the six UX psychology
322. 11:04principles. And if you zoom out, they
323. 11:06all share the same insight. Your users
324. 11:09aren't making logical decisions.
325. 11:10Defaults feel like recommendations. The
326. 11:13first number sets the anchor. A gift
327. 11:15creates a debt. Building something makes
328. 11:17it yours. And progress, even a fake one,
329. 11:20creates real momentum. The designers who
330. 11:23get this build products people can't
331. 11:25stop using. The ones who don't build
332. 11:27products people forget exist. Thanks for
333. 11:30watching. We'll see you in the next one.