Four Laws of Behavioral Change
At its core, Activity Loops is a feature that helps your patients reinforce and build healthy habits. But changing habits is a complex and challenging process! To ensure that your patients feel empowered and motivated to make changes and hit their goals, we used the power of behavioral science to build this feature. Below we share some of the key pieces of research that informed the creation of Activity Loops.
The Four Laws of Behavioral Change
Accordingly to James Clear, author of Atomic Habits, “The Four Laws of Behavior Change are a simple set of rules we can use to build better habits. They are (1) make it obvious, (2) make it attractive, (3) make it easy, and (4) make it satisfying.” This is we implemented the four laws into Activity Loops:
1. Make it obvious
Activity Loops is a feature on the Patient Rewards Hub app, which should already be installed on your patients’ phones. Both the app and your team are able to send nudges in the form of push notifications that remind and encourage your patients to check-in and work on closing their loops. On average, Americans check their phones 144 times a day, making it a perfect vessel for reminding patients to stay on track.
2. Make it attractive
When creating a new Activity Loop (and thus, setting a new goal), patients are encouraged to think ahead – what does success look like after completing this loop? Setting an intention is a key aspect of hitting a goal. Plus hitting milestones is fun and celebrated through words of encouragement and streaks.
3. Make it easy
Ease of use makes all the difference. Once the user clicks on their reminder notification, the app opens up and they tap check-in. 10 seconds is all it takes.
4. Make it satisfying
Intrinsic motivation is the most powerful tool there is, so the act of completing a goal is satisfying in itself for your patients. But the app is full of moments that surprise and delight! Streaks are celebrated with special pop-ups and confetti, positive words of encouragement flood the screen, and initial set-up adds 10 points to their Hub (the only moment of monetary value in the feature).
