Hey, I'm Nick Hobson and welcome to this mini-case study!

I'm the founder and Chief Behavioral Scientist at The Behaviorist. I have a PhD in behavioral neuroscience from the University of Toronto and I've specialized in understanding the science of ritual.

You might be wondering, “What the heck does ritual have to do with brands and customer experience?”

I say, It has everything to do with it.

Rituals are in nearly every consumer or user experience. Or at least the ones that matter. And given enough time, a person will spontaneously create a ritual around a favorite product or service.

However, this unfolding of the ritual creation process can be cumbersome and tricky to pin down. A bit of a mystery.

As business owners and brand directors, that doesn't mean you sit back and wait for rituals to naturally emerge...

The customer - a human being no doubt - has an evolved readiness to do ritual. They're wired for it.

The Ritual SciDesign framework takes the usual process of organic ritual creation, and it accelerates the growth through a series of interacting behavior change techniques.

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Ritual SciDesign

It's science. It's design. It's psychology. It's behavior change. It's branding... it's anything but mystery.

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Ritual SciDesign

What comes to mind when you think of ritual? Some of these behaviors and experiences, I’m sure. The big rituals of religion and culture.

And according to Google, most people’s ritual search queries all revolve around some satanic devil worshipping stuff.

But ritual is much more than that. These are two things I want us to walk away with today.

1. rituals are all around us, you simply have to look for them

2. you can intentionally design ritual experiences in any (consumer/user) context

Key Takeaways

Leveraging the work from my PhD research, the assumption for Ritual SciDesign is this...

For all rituals, big and small, it’s the same operating psychology and neurobiology. With that starting point, we scientists and designers can be intentional about the experiences we curate for customers.

So … what the heck is this thing we call ritual anyway?

Hobson, Schroeder, Risen, Xyglatas, & Inzlicht, 2017.

Here’s the operating definition based on our model. Take note of the the three distinct criteria listed here.

rit·u·al
riCH(əw)əl/

noun

(a) predefined behaviors characterized by rigidity, formality, and repetition that are (b) embedded in a system of symbolism and meaning, which (c) partially lack direct instrumental purpose.

Hobson, Schroeder, Risen, Xyglatas, & Inzlicht, 2017.

How about an example to make things clearer?

rit·u·al
riCH(əw)əl/

noun

(a) predefined behaviors characterized by rigidity, formality, and repetition that are (b) embedded in a system of symbolism and meaning, which (c) partially lack direct instrumental purpose.

rit·u·al

riCH(əw)əl/

noun

Hobson, Schroeder, Risen, Xyglatas, & Inzlicht, 2017.

The 21-gun salute is a ritual whose steps and sequences are scrupulously adhered to with no room for even the slightest change (A - CHECK); it’s deeply meaningful and carries symbolic weight of honoring a fallen soldier (B - CHECK); and it’s totally and utterly arbitrary with respect to the way it’s done (C - CHECK).

(a) predefined behaviors characterized by rigidity, formality, and repetition that are (b) embedded in a system of symbolism and meaning, which (c) partially lack direct instrumental purpose.

rit·u·al’s adaptive rationality

• Magical thinking (symbolic beliefs that connect inner world to outside world)
• Existence bias (‘older’ things are perceived as having greater value)
• Honest signaling (paradoxical behaviours that build strong groups)
• Placebo effect (belief and subjectivity driving real outcomes)
• Acquiescence heuristic (superstitious beliefs based in System 1 thinking)
• Causal opacity (disconnect between cause and effect elicits stronger responses)
• Dissonance bias (changing beliefs to align with the behaviour)

Hobson, Schroeder, Risen, Xyglatas, & Inzlicht, 2017.

The puzzling thing about rituals - and what makes them so perfect for behavioral design work - is that they are the paragon of irrational behaviors. They are an economic and evolutionary waste. 

Cognitive biases/heuristics

Hobson, Schroeder, Risen, Xyglatas, & Inzlicht, 2017.

They fly in the face of the rational actor model. On the surface, it makes no sense that we do them. And yet, we do do them. Over and over, often for a lifetime.

rit·u·al’s adaptive rationality

• Magical thinking (symbolic beliefs that connect inner world to outside world)
• Existence bias (‘older’ things are perceived as having greater value)
• Honest signaling (paradoxical behaviours that build strong groups)
• Placebo effect (belief and subjectivity driving real outcomes)
• Acquiescence heuristic (superstitious beliefs based in System 1 thinking)
• Causal opacity (disconnect between cause and effect elicits stronger responses)
• Dissonance bias (changing beliefs to align with the behaviour)

Cognitive biases/heuristics

Putting
rituals to work

Ritualize the human experience to make it ....

meaningful, strong, unified, cohesive, significant, engaging, delightful, sticky, memorable, transcendent, emotional, knowable, predictable, fluent, loved, & lovable.

So despite their surface level irrationality, rituals are fundamental and pervade customer experiences and brand engagement.

[a return on ritual]

Rituals are the stickiest of patterned actions, more than any habit or routine. They are repeated, emotional, and meaningful.

Putting
rituals to work

Ritualize the human experience to make it ....

meaningful, strong, unified, cohesive, significant, engaging, delightful, sticky, memorable, transcendent, emotional, knowable, predictable, fluent, loved, & lovable.

[a return on ritual]

From this comes a basic fact: Ritualize the user experience and you have a customer for life. Yet, so few companies are thinking about their products and services in this way.

Putting
rituals to work

Ritualize the human experience to make it ....

meaningful, strong, unified, cohesive, significant, engaging, delightful, sticky, memorable, transcendent, emotional, knowable, predictable, fluent, loved, & lovable.

[a return on ritual]

That said, there are some companies realizing there’s something there, but not quite sure how to put their finger on it. Let’s walk through some examples, shall we?

Ritualizing services

Predictable, repeat behaviours

Remember the first set of criteria for of our ritual definition? The ‘predefined behaviors that are repetitive’?

IKEA does an incredible job of designing in the in-store retail experiences to have them be the same for every customer, every time … no matter the store, no matter the location across the globe.

Ritualizing services

Predictable, repeat behaviours

Ritualizing services

Predictable, repeat behaviours

With the famous IKEA floor map, you don’t decide where to go and what to peruse. It’s done for you. And it’s predictable. And it’s delightful for fans of IKEA.

Not to mention the ritualistic dining experience! Those meatballs are divine.

Ritualizing services

Predictable, repeat behaviours

And with IKEA, the ritual experience doesn’t stop at the store.

Norton, Mochon, & Ariely, 2012

The

effect

Norton, Mochon, & Ariely, 2012

The “IKEA effect” , as dubbed by my collaborators Mike Norton and Dan Ariely, means customers end up loving products more when there’s a degree of personal effort involved in getting those products built.

The

effect

The

effect

The IKEA bookshelf building ritual is an experience many customers look forward to. It signals something of value to the customer’s sense of self.

Norton, Mochon, & Ariely, 2012

Rituals are effortful. And we know from research that the more effortful they are, the more meaningful they become.

The ironic lesson in this for us behavioral scientists and designers is that effort and friction can be good things. It’s not always about removing friction at all costs.

Health and beauty rituals can be easily found out there.

Ritualizing products

Memorable, meaningful

Ritualizing products

Memorable, meaningful

In many cultures, skincare rituals (especially in women, but now more men as well) starts in childhood, a tradition taught and passed down from parents and trusted brands that have been around for decades and even centuries.

L’Oreal is catching on as a trusted and iconic brand in this space.

Ritualizing products

Ritual  cultural Geocosmetics

“L’Oréal observes and analyzes the rituals on every continent in order to create the innovative products of the future.”

Memorable, meaningful

They have a designated group whose job is to observe and analyze rituals in different geographies and markets in order to come up with new products.

Ritualizing products

Ritual  cultural Geocosmetics

“L’Oréal observes and analyzes the rituals on every continent in order to create the innovative products of the future.”

Memorable, meaningful

As a recent owner of Apple IPods, I was struck by just how silly and over-the-top the unpackaging experience was...

Ritualizing products

Superfluous, special

“The contents within the packaging are presented in a particular fashion: you have to unpackage everything in a sequence that builds anticipation as you go.”

And I loved every second of it.

Ritualizing products

Superfluous, special

“The contents within the packaging are presented in a particular fashion: you have to unpackage everything in a sequence that builds anticipation as you go.”

Ritual experiences don’t “make sense” on the surface. The silliness of it all is what makes it so special and why Apple fans keep coming back for more.

Ritualizing products

Superfluous, special

“The contents within the packaging are presented in a particular fashion: you have to unpackage everything in a sequence that builds anticipation as you go.”

These are just a few of these examples that show the way in which rituals improve the customer experience in odd and unexpected ways.

Remember, ritualize the experience and you have a customer for life.

We know from research that rituals will spontaneously arise. But sometimes it takes a little too long, or there are barriers, or it’s unclear why they arise the way they do.

Ritual SciDesign demystifies the process by being intentional and applying principles of behavioral science and psychology.

Ritual SciDesign

By doing this we accelerate and accentuate the (already natural) ritual experience.

Ritual SciDesign

The Ritual SciDesign process is rooted in the principles of behavioral change and applied social psychology.

Ritual SciDesign

1. Behavioral Diagnostics

2. Wild World EthnoWork

3. Quantitative Research

4. Behavioral Labs Testing

5. Ritual Implementation

A truly interdisciplinary approach, it captures various sources of quantitative and qualitative data and combines data-rich insights with field testing, behavioral labs and hypothesis testing derived from ritual theory.

1. Behavioral Diagnostics

2. Wild World EthnoWork

3. Quantitative Research

4. Behavioral Labs Testing

5. Ritual Implementation

Uncover existing patterns of user/customer behavior to assess current state. Identify barriers and opportunities through focus group work.

Take insights from diagnostics and observe real world behaviors "in the wild" and glean hidden insights that come from actual behavior through "ritual spotting"

Data collection using Ritual SciDesign proprietary survey tools that reveal the hidden drivers of cusomter/user loyalty achieved through ritual

A comprehensive review of ritual science literature to help devise a set of hypotheses that get run through pilot testing. Outcomes are applied to market context.

Marketing and comms roll-out; tracking KPIs of consumer engagement to optimize scaled implementation and change.

Once brands and businesses see the value of reinventing with ritual, the next important step is to execute on the ritual design and the associated scientific testing.

1. Behavioral Diagnostics

2. Wild World EthnoWork

3. Quantitative Research

4. Behavioral Labs Testing

5. Ritual Implementation

Uncover existing patterns of user/customer behavior to assess current state. Identify barriers and opportunities through focus group work.

Take insights from diagnostics and observe real world behaviors "in the wild" and glean hidden insights that come from actual behavior through "ritual spotting"

Data collection using Ritual SciDesign proprietary survey tools that reveal the hidden drivers of cusomter/user loyalty achieved through ritual

A comprehensive review of ritual science literature to help devise a set of hypotheses that get run through pilot testing. Outcomes are applied to market context.

Marketing and comms roll-out; tracking KPIs of consumer engagement to optimize scaled implementation and change.

The process is a balance between seeing the ideal behaviors (called “ritual spotting”) and supporting them to ensure the optimal behaviors that get changed are aligned to the brand image.

1. Behavioral Diagnostics

2. Wild World EthnoWork

3. Quantitative Research

4. Behavioral Labs Testing

5. Ritual Implementation

Uncover existing patterns of user/customer behavior to assess current state. Identify barriers and opportunities through focus group work.

Take insights from diagnostics and observe real world behaviors "in the wild" and glean hidden insights that come from actual behavior through "ritual spotting"

Data collection using Ritual SciDesign proprietary survey tools that reveal the hidden drivers of cusomter/user loyalty achieved through ritual

A comprehensive review of ritual science literature to help devise a set of hypotheses that get run through pilot testing. Outcomes are applied to market context.

Marketing and comms roll-out; tracking KPIs of consumer engagement to optimize scaled implementation and change.

In moments of change like what we’re experiencing currently, there is the opportunity for brands to reinvent themselves through ritual - to help build meaning through human-centric product and service design.

Because remember: Ritualize the experience and you have a customer for life.

Rituals may appear on the surface to be silly superstitions. But don’t be fooled. True fans are cultivated through the magic of ritual.

Thanks for exploring this mini-case study! 🙌

Feel free to download this short report exploring the framework. 

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