Design desired behaviour
Design the environment for desired behaviour| Reading time 5 minutes | Team development | Intervention | Behaviour
Effective behavioural design turns intentions into actual behaviour. Organisatiechirurg uses small changes to create a big impact!
This delivers effective results in marketing, digitalization and customer experience
What is behavioural design in organizations?
Many SMEs invest heavily in marketing, digitalization and customer experience. Yet the desired behaviour, from customers or employees, often fails to materialize. Why are people not clicking? Where are the leads? And what prevents innovation from getting off the ground?
Behavioural design in organizations combines insights from psychology, design and marketing. Rather than relying on what people say, it examines the interaction between culture and behaviour. It then addresses the question: how can you design an environment that encourages desired behaviour?
This environment could be an app, website, employee portal, shop, showroom or office. A frequently cited study demonstrates how behavioural design processes can drive organizational change, encourage desired workplace behaviour and positively influence customer behaviour.
This delivers effective results in marketing, digitalization and customer experience
What is behavioural design in organizations?
Many SMEs invest heavily in marketing, digitalization and customer experience. Yet the desired behaviour, from customers or employees, often fails to materialize. Why are people not clicking? Where are the leads? And what prevents innovation from getting off the ground?
Behavioural design in organizations combines insights from psychology, design and marketing. Rather than relying on what people say, it examines the interaction between culture and behaviour. It then addresses the question: how can you design an environment that encourages desired behaviour?
This environment could be an app, website, employee portal, shop, showroom or office. A frequently cited study demonstrates how behavioural design processes can drive organizational change, encourage desired workplace behaviour and positively influence customer behaviour.
Our approach
During the diagnosis, we uncover beliefs, biases and barriers through interviews and observations. These insights inform the design of small behavioural interventions, or nudges, which we then test in practice. We retain what works and refine what does not yet fully meet the intended objectives.
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Diagnosis
Look beyond the symptoms to uncover the root of the problem. Which beliefs, practical barriers or ingrained patterns stand in the way of change?
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Intervention
Design a process change that removes barriers for users, customers and/or employees
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Experiment
Test the change in practice with users. Then use the results to refine it and further improve its impact
Achieving a major impact through behavioural design
We apply different techniques at each stage to achieve the greatest possible impact. The article “Method Use in Behavioural Design” provides a valuable framework for this approach and offers strong scientific evidence of its effectiveness.
This provides a solid foundation for accelerating change through tailored training in behavioural design for managers or a desired-behaviour design workshop. These can take the form of a game, a one-day or multi-day hackathon, or a fully customized programme. During these sessions, we also launch the first interventions and experiments.
Take action and request your behavioural design consultancy scan and desired-behaviour environment assessment here.
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Activate feedback power
Example of desired customer behaviour: customers rarely provided feedback. We added a short micro-prompt, “Share your opinion in 30 seconds”, immediately after use. The response rate increased by approximately 55%
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Stimulate ideas in teams
Example of desired behaviour within teams: during an internal programme, we gave employees prompts such as “improve the customer journey” instead of asking them to start from a blank page. This reduced cognitive load and generated up to three times as many ideas
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Improve conversion in digital flows
Example of desired behaviour on websites: users were abandoning processes halfway through. By adding a progress bar and a “remind me later” option, we removed unnecessary friction. Conversion rates increased by approximately 15%
Proven behavioural intervention strategies
These examples reflect practical evidence that nudges can work in organizations, provided they are designed with the specific context in mind. By combining them with data-driven digital marketing, results and growth become immediately visible.
McKinsey reports that hundreds of behavioural insights teams have now been established to apply nudges across the public and private sectors. Ethics and moral leadership are also crucial: influencing people is acceptable, but manipulating them is not. Transparency, freedom of choice and human dignity must remain the guiding principles.
This creates a targeted, effective and incremental approach to improving behaviour within management teams. Get started with our behavioural design consultancy and behavioural design game.
Frequently asked questions about behavioural design and their answers
What is behavioural design in organizations?
Answer:
Behavioural design in organizations is the deliberate design of working environments, processes and decision points so that desired behaviour occurs naturally.
Rather than trying to persuade employees or customers through policies, communications or training, behavioural design focuses on how people actually behave in practice.
Behaviour is primarily shaped by:
- The context in which someone acts
- What feels easy, logical and appealing at that moment
- The barriers or incentives that are present
For organizations, this means no longer managing based on intentions—“surely they know what they are supposed to do”—but focusing on specific behavioural mechanisms. Examples include decision-making, system usage, collaboration and customer behaviour.
Behavioural design combines insights from:
- Behavioural science
- Psychology
- Design thinking
- Business strategy
The result is more predictable behaviour, better performance and measurable impact, without the need for extensive change programmes.
How do you encourage desired behaviour in an organization?
Answer:
You do not encourage desired behaviour by communicating more forcefully, but by designing the environment so that the desired behaviour becomes the easiest choice.
Effective behavioural change within organizations involves three steps:
- Observe what is really happening
Focus not on what people say, but on what they do. Where do they disengage? Where does friction occur? - Adapt the context
Small changes to sequencing, timing, feedback or default choices can have a significant impact. Examples include:- Clear defaults
- Visual cues
- Reduced choice overload
- Immediate behavioural feedback
- Test and measure the impact
Experiments—using prototypes or simulations, for example—quickly reveal which design works.
Within organizations, this results in:
- Greater adoption of processes and tools
- Improved customer behaviour
- Less resistance to change
Behavioural design makes behaviour designable and predictable.
Why does behavioural design work better than traditional change programmes?
Answer:
Traditional change programmes are based on a flawed assumption:
if people understand something, they will change their behaviour.
In practice, this rarely happens.
Behavioural design is more effective because it:
- Accounts for human behaviour as it is, rather than as we would like it to be
- Focuses on small, practical interventions with an immediate impact
- Delivers results faster than multi-year programmes
- Makes it possible to measure what works and what does not
While traditional programmes often involve:
- Lengthy plans
- Extensive consultation
- Abstract KPIs
Behavioural design focuses on:
- One clear behavioural objective
- One specific KPI
- Testing in practice
For executives and management teams, this means faster decision-making, lower risk and higher returns.
What is a behavioural diagnosis, and why is it important?
Answer:
A behavioural diagnosis is a rapid, systematic analysis of why the desired behaviour is not occurring. It is based on observation and behavioural insights rather than assumptions.
The diagnosis addresses questions such as:
- What behaviour do we want to see?
- What is actually happening now?
- Which barriers, incentives or sources of confusion exist within the environment?
Without a behavioural diagnosis, organizations often solve the wrong problem:
- More communication when the process itself is flawed
- Training when the system works against users
- Incentives introduced at the wrong time
A sound behavioural diagnosis leads to:
- Better-informed choices
- Less wasted time and money
- A greater likelihood of successful change
It is the first and most crucial step in effective behavioural design.
Which organizations is behavioural design suitable for?
Answer:
Behavioural design is particularly suitable for organizations that:
- Have more than 50 employees
- Want to grow without adding complexity
- Struggle with adoption, change or customer behaviour
- Operate in a dynamic or competitive market
It is especially effective for:
- SMEs with multiple teams or departments
- Service organizations
- Organizations with digital products, platforms or customer journeys
- Companies with a sound strategy but weak execution
Behavioural design is not merely a theory, but a practical tool for organizations that want to:
- Make decisions faster
- Achieve better results
- Make change work in practice
Why this is especially valuable for SME service providers
- Your campaigns and investments deliver better returns
- Employees work more effectively and with greater focus
- Customers recognize your value sooner and remain loyal for longer
Small behavioural changes can lead to measurably higher conversion rates, greater customer loyalty and more effective service delivery.
Ready for your behavioural diagnosis?
We begin with a one-day behavioural diagnosis scan to identify where behaviour is creating friction and where opportunities lie. Together, we discover the smart behavioural levers that can move your organization forward.
Through gamification, your team learns how to design effective behaviour together. Curious to learn more? Read the article ‘Behavioural Design in Organizations’.
Would you like to request our behavioural diagnosis and intervention scan? Get in touch and begin a tailored programme focused on desired behaviour and expert behavioural change consultancy.
About the author:
Nick Nijhuis is a member of the Organisatiechirurg team, an organizational consultancy serving medium-sized service organizations in the private, public and non-profit sectors in the Netherlands. He is also a lecturer at a university of applied sciences, a NIMA examiner, a business innovator and a digital marketing project leader specializing in moral leadership.