Behavioral Innovation

Invent high‑compliance customer behaviors that unlock adoption and growth. Behavioral Innovation is the conditional Step 5 in the Behavioral Strategy process. Use it when your best existing options from Behavior Matching are still weak, then create a new customer behavior that your product or service can enable easily and enjoyably. The objective is Behavior Market Fit, which precedes and drives Product Market Fit.

When to use Behavioral Innovation

After you have framed the goal and user, completed Behavioral Research, and run Behavior Matching, you may find that even your top‑ranked behaviors are not compelling enough for the target group. In that case, invent a new behavior tailored to their situation, repertoire, worldview, and problems, rather than forcing a poor fit. This is the purpose of Step 5.

What “good” looks like

A newly invented behavior must clear the same adoption bar used to rank existing behaviors. Use the nine criteria below, scored on 1 to 5, to set the quality bar for Behavioral Innovation. Optionally give extra weight to “rewarding,” “compelling,” “useful,” and “impactful.”

  • Compelling: exciting to the target user.
  • Reasonable: feels normal rather than strange for this group.
  • Socially acceptable: fits their peer norms.
  • Physically simple: easy to do in their context.
  • Cognitively simple: easy to understand and remember.
  • Affordable: not perceived as too expensive. Reverse scored.
  • Rewarding: pleasurable or satisfying to do.
  • Useful: solves a real problem they face.
  • Impactful: moves the project goal in a meaningful way.

See also Behavior Ranking at /patterns/behavior-ranking/.

Adoption scoring rubric (YAML) 

adoption_bar:
  weights:
    compelling: 2
    useful: 2
    impactful: 2
    rewarding: 2
    reasonable: 1
    socially_acceptable: 1
    physically_simple: 1
    cognitively_simple: 1
    affordable: 1   # reverse-scored
  scoring_scale: 1-5
  pass_guideline: ">= 4 average on weighted criteria; no fails on compelling, useful, or impactful"

How we innovate a behavior

We do not start from blue‑sky ideation. We start from users’ lived reality that you already mapped in prior steps.

  1. Ground in behavioral truth
    Use Behavioral Research to respect constraints of place, time, and resources. Use the Behavioral Audit and weekly Behavior Calendar to anchor ideas in what people already do. Use the Worldview Analysis to screen for what will feel normal and compelling. Use the Problem Examination checklist so the new behavior removes a real pain.
    References: /methodology/behavioral-research/, /patterns/behavior-calendar/, /patterns/worldview-analysis/, /patterns/problem-examination/

  2. Create candidate behaviors
    Invent one or more behaviors that your product or service could enable, each described precisely so it can be scored. If the best options from Behavior Matching are weak, design something new that fits the grain of the user’s life rather than fighting it.
    Reference: Step 5 in /methodology/behavioral-strategy-process/

  3. Score against the adoption bar
    Apply the nine criteria above with the recommended weights. Eliminate ideas that fail on compelling, usefulness, or impact. Prioritize behaviors that are cognitively and physically simple in the user’s context.
    Reference: /patterns/behavior-ranking/

  4. Define the enabling experience
    A behavior becomes real only when a product or service makes it easy and delightful to do. Hand the selected behavior into Step 6 for Product or Service Development to design the simplest path for users to perform it.
    Reference: /methodology/designing-products/

Decision template (copy/paste) 

decision:
  goal: "<project goal>"
  user: "<defined target user/segment>"
  context_summary: "<constraints: place, time, resources, worldview>"
  candidates:
    - behavior: "<candidate A>"
      scores: { compelling: 4, useful: 5, impactful: 4, rewarding: 4, reasonable: 4, socially_acceptable: 4, physically_simple: 3, cognitively_simple: 4, affordable: 4 }
    - behavior: "<candidate B>"
      scores: { compelling: 5, useful: 4, impactful: 5, rewarding: 4, reasonable: 4, socially_acceptable: 4, physically_simple: 4, cognitively_simple: 4, affordable: 3 }
  selection: "<chosen behavior>"
  rationale: "<why it clears the adoption bar; ties to research findings>"
  handoff: "Step 6: design enabling experience"

Illustrative examples

  • Flossing: before floss, people used toothpicks, cloths, or frayed sticks. Flossing was a novel behavior invented to solve gum and tooth health more effectively. It is a canonical case of Behavioral Innovation: a new action designed to fit human needs and constraints.
  • Health care form factor and label: if a standard form factor triggers avoidance, change the form and the name. For example, analyzing psychology first can lead teams to explore less aversive forms such as nasal sprays or patches and adopt naming that avoids baggage, which can raise compliance. See /applications/healthcare/.

Outcomes you should expect

  • A clearly specified new behavior that meets the adoption bar for your defined user group and goal.
  • A scored rationale that traces directly to the user’s situation, repertoire, worldview, and problems.
  • A handoff to design and development to build the enabling experience in Step 6.
    When Behavior Market Fit is found, Product Market Fit tends to follow.

What Behavioral Innovation is not

  • Not post hoc nudging. In many domains, especially health care, behavior change is treated as an afterthought. Behavioral Innovation starts before solution development so form factor and experience match human psychology from day one. See /evidence/why-nudges-fail/.
  • Not generic growth hacks. It is grounded in real constraints and routines identified in the Behavioral Research phase, not in wishful thinking. See /methodology/behavioral-research/.

Where it applies

Any industry with a human end user, as well as internal change and organizational initiatives. This includes technology, healthcare, financial services, and education. See /applications/.

Engagement flow

  1. Frame the goal and user.
  2. Complete Behavioral Research.
  3. Run Behavior Matching.
  4. If needed, perform Behavioral Innovation to invent a high‑compliance behavior.
  5. Develop the product or service around that behavior.

Call to action
If you are not seeing any behavior that your users are excited by, able to do, and find rewarding, it is time to innovate the behavior itself. Schedule a Behavioral Strategy session to evaluate whether Behavioral Innovation is the right move for your initiative. See /contact/.