2025, by Sarah Thompson, Director of Behavioral Design at Live Neuron Labs
[Almost] every problem is a behavioral problem
Every time someone taps a button, skips onboarding, or abandons a cart—it’s not just a UX problem, it’s a human behavior problem.
You can have all the right features. A seamless UI. And solid research.
But if you’re not designing for the real forces behind decisions— like emotion, effort, habit, and perception—you’re leaving both impact (and revenue) on the table.
Behavioral insights boost performance
Since most product problems are actually behavioral problems, it makes sense that companies who design with behavior in mind outperform the rest.
📈 85% more sales growth
💰 25% higher gross margin
This is what happens when you stop guessing, and start truly understanding how people make decisions.
The best part? YOU can benefit from using behavioral insights too (no PhD required). All you have to do is start asking the right questions.
The 3 questions to start asking
1. What am I really asking the user to do?
A simple CTA like “Return a package” or “Update your profile” is actually made up of dozens of tiny, invisible behaviors.
If you don’t pinpoint the exact one where people get stuck, you could be solving the wrong problem.
2. Why would they NOT want to do this?
Most teams ask: “Why would someone want to do this?” They focus on motivation—value props, benefits, and outcomes.
But behavioral science asks a better question: “Why wouldn’t someone want to do this?”
Behavior is shaped by friction, emotion, habit, and competing priorities—especially in a world where people are distracted and mentally overwhelmed.
If you’re not actively looking for these kinds of barriers, you won’t see them.
3. What emotions and associations are users bringing with them?
People bring past experiences, assumptions, and gut feelings into every interaction.
A budgeting app might feel like shame.
A health tool might feel like judgment.
A signup flow might feel like a test.
Once you identify your users’ key emotions and associations, your job is to amplify the good and defuse the bad.
Positive emotions don’t just feel nice—they drive behavior and reinforce habits. They're essential to creating happy, long-term users.
Don’t wait
In a world where everyone’s building with the same AI tools and design systems...
Understanding behavior is your differentiator.
Behavioral science gives you:
- A clearer view of what’s really driving (or blocking) decisions
- Tools to fix problems before they show up in the metrics
- A way to build for real humans, not just personas
It’s a not-so-secret weapon behind companies like Google, Spotify, and Uber—and it’s just as powerful for smaller teams.
Want to go deeper?
I’ll be diving into all of this in my talk, X-Ray Vision: Reveal the Hidden Forces Driving User Behavior at Future Product Days.
You’ll get real-world examples, practical tools, and a new lens for seeing what’s really shaping user behavior.
About Sarah
Sarah Thompson is the Director of Behavioral Design at Live Neuron Labs, where she helps teams design smarter products, communications, and services that actually work with human behavior—not against it. With a background in Psychology and a Master’s in Cognitive Semiotics, she brings behavioral science to life in areas like healthcare, sustainability, financial wellbeing, education, and tech.
Sarah regularly consults with organizations, trains teams in behavioral science, and speaks on designing for real-world humans.
