Removing Obstructions is Better Than Encouraging Change

There’s plenty of modern experimental evidence to show the importance of removing obstructing forces.

For example, a 2017 study by Peter Bergman and Todd Rogers monitored the impact of friction on sign-up rates for a new educational service offering parents advice on children’s revision. The psychologists randomly assigned parents to one of three sign-up routes:

• Standard: Parents received a text message saying they could enrol by visiting a website and filling in a short form.
• Simplified: Parents received a text message and could sign up by replying ‘Start’.
• Automatically enrolled: Parents were told by text message that they were enrolled, but that they could opt out of the service by replying ‘Stop’.