Apply Fogg Behavior Model on your website

Business Benefits

Impact website visitors’ behavior to boost conversions.


Choose the website behavior or action you would like to change, such as the number of annual subscriptions you’d like to produce or the frequency of user checkout.

Collect data on how customers are currently engaging with your website by interviewing sales and customer support teams.

Ask about:

  • Customer questions.
  • Customer complaints.
  • User stories tied to motivating or demotivating factors.

Beyond collecting qualitative data, collect quantitative data on website engagement. Utilize tools like Crazy Egg or Hotjar to monitor website engagement and identify common customer behaviors.

List metrics or considerations related to user motivation in using your website.

These metrics or considerations should represent both positive and negative impacts. Ask yourself things like:

  • Does your website serve a critical purpose?
  • How does the experience compare to other websites?
  • Is there a cost of entry or what information needs to be provided to get started?

Your list might also include the perception the user has of your effectiveness based on reviews, customer support tickets or survey verbatim.

Identify user actions or considerations that positively and negatively impact a website action, like how difficult the action is to complete.

For example, how often does a user need to fill out a form to request information or complete an activity, and what prerequisites are there when performing a task? Make sure you have an understanding of:

  • Number of clicks.
  • Required steps.
  • Time spent on page.
  • Abandon rate.

Compare your website’s metrics like signups, onboardings, or checkouts to industry benchmarks.

Refer to industry reports from trade groups and similar regulatory or advocacy groups, as well as analytics reports from third parties like HubSpot or Mailchimp.

For each action you have compared, quantify the effects your experiences have on user ability or motivation.

This task often involves creating a point value system. Consider the following questions to help with incrementing and decrementing ability and motivation points:

  • Are the number of steps greater than or less than those in the industry?
  • How often are the steps completed?
  • How does your completion rate compare to the industry?
  • How long did it take for the user to complete the steps?

Create a Fogg Behavioral Map, placing ability on the X-axis and motivation on the Y-axis.

After mapping ability and motivation, write Hard to Do at the X vertex, and Easy to Do at the end of the X-axis. Write Low Motivation at the Y vertex, and High Motivation at the end of the Y-axis.

Starting at the X Y vertex, list your metrics, actions, or considerations for hardest to do and lowest motivation to the outside of the X Y-axis.

List metrics, actions, or considerations associated with ability along the X-axis. List those associated with motivation along the Y-axis.

Draw an action line from the end of the X-axis to the end of the Y-axis.

Divide motivators from demotivators, separating steps that are easy to perform from those that are hard to perform. This line also separates tasks that are easy to do from those that are hard to do.

Plot out where each of these users falls within ability and motivation on your Fogg Behavioral Map.

Use this map to identify potential optimizations to your website. After implementing these optimizations, perform a follow-up analysis to see how user behavior has adapted.

Last edited by @hesh_fekry 2023-11-14T11:10:43Z

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For example at Adidas the goal was to Increase newsletter opt-in.

We analysed the current performance of forms based on analytics. We could analyse the CTR and CVR of the form. Additionally we could analyse how visitors engage with the form.

Additionally, we want to know what kind of information is necessary to ask. We don’t want to ask too much information as this increases the chance visitors won’t submit.

Adidas doesn’t serve a critical purpose therefor we should focus on social inclusion, thus convey the popularity of the products and the brand to increase the motivation of new visitors.

Where can we show the newsletter subscription component? We can show it in a pop-up, the visibility is very high but you need to show it at the right time otherwise it wouldn’t work.
The impact would be low if we show the form too soon, as visitors motivation to subscribe might be too low.
Showing the form to frequent might frustrate visitors which might lead to a negative brand perception

We can show it in the header, footer and menu, which might have lower visibility but is less intrusive and therefor less frustrating.

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