Chapter 16

The behaviour chain

The success of many online services today depends on the company’s ability to persuade users to take specific actions.

B. J. FOGG AND D. ECKLES, SOCIAL SCIENTISTS1

Developed by psychologists to understand how persuasion is structured over time, the behaviour chain is a three-phase strategy that can be used to achieve particular goals or target behaviours.2 Its purpose is to guide customers through a sequence of steps towards a final outcome, which, once achieved, completes the behaviour chain.

Most commonly, this pattern will involve: 1) attracting a new visitor to your website, 2) having them sign up to a free trial, and 3) converting them into a paying customer. For a behaviour chain to be successful, it must ...

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