Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 May 2025
An essential aspect of designing digital behaviors involves identifying, selecting, and properly designing the reinforcers within a digital space. These reinforcers function to increase the usage of digital services, aiming to achieve corporate objectives through habit formation. Reinforcers can be administered after the user performs the desired behavior; they can be delivered immediately, delayed by seconds or days, and may be administered directly by the technological device or indirectly by the natural environment. Identifying all possible reinforcers before the development of the digital service (reinforcer matrix) can impact the design or development of the service itself. The implementation of reinforcers should be prioritized, finding those that provide the most value in satisfying user needs. This is why identifying, selecting, and designing reinforcers is essential as a preliminary step to the service’s design and development. Once the various reinforcers are detected, it must be considered under what reinforcement schedule they will be administered in the different user interactions with the digital service. Most will be through a continuous reinforcement program, but many others may function better under an intermittent reinforcement program. In conclusion, once the appropriate reinforcers are found, the effects they might have in the environment and long term must be studied to minimize potential adverse effects that could arise in users and the business itself. Only when they are properly identified and selected, does the design of the signals that will indicate to the user the possibility of obtaining them begin. These signals are conceptualized as discriminative stimuli or deltas, and they form the bridge between the design of digital behavior and the design of the user experience.
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