The Six Contexts of Customer Engagement (Behavioral Science)

As marketers and experience designers, there are six key contexts to utilize when thinking about the most effective ways in which to engage with customers:

  • Grab Their Attention: Break through the noise to make customers aware of your solution.

  • Activate the Goal: Show how your solution aligns with their needs, giving them a reason to explore.

  • Build Their Interest: Keep them engaged by educating, adding value, and answering early questions.

  • Create the Desire: Persuade them your solution uniquely meets their needs, building trust and emotional connection.

  • Frame the Choice: Clearly present benefits, handle objections, and guide them toward a confident decision.

  • Deliver an Impactful Experience: Exceed expectations to drive satisfaction, loyalty, and advocacy.


Grab Their Attention

This initial objective is crucial for breaking through the noise and making customers aware of a potential solution to their need or problem. Without capturing attention, customers may not enter the journey at all.

Besci tactics to consider at this stage:

  • Storytelling – is a powerful method of communication that involves the sharing of stories or narratives to convey messages, teach lessons, or entertain. People tend to better understand and remember information when it’s delivered in a story. It taps into the human tendency to find meaning and patterns in experiences.

    For example:

    • Disney (emotional, multigenerational stories that transcend age)

    • Nike (“You can’t stop us” campaign — emotional athlete stories across ability, gender, and race)

  • Curiosity Gap Theory - developed by George Loewenstein in the 1990s, posits that curiosity arises when there is a gap between what we know and what we want to know. This gap creates a feeling of deprivation, prompting us to seek out information to fill this void and resolve the feeling of uncertainty.

    For example:

    • Modesens (teasing exclusive designer drops and price comparisons)

    • BuzzFeed (teasers like “You won’t believe what happened next!” drive clicks)

  • Fresh Start Effect - people are more likely to take action towards a goal after temporal landmarks (e.g., starting a new job, being fired from job, new year, new child, parent’s passing, etc.) that represent new beginnings and/or moments of transition.

    For example:

    • Peloton (January campaigns like “New Year, New You” tap into fresh starts)

    • lululemon (January wellness campaigns + new gear for new goals)

Activate the Goal

This stage involves clarifying the relevance and benefit of the solution, aligning it with the customer's goals. Activating the goal helps customers recognize the alignment between the product or service and their needs, creating a reason to continue exploring.

Besci tactics to consider at this stage:

  • Status Quo Bias - is a cognitive bias that leads individuals to prefer things to remain the same or to choose options that maintain the current state of affairs. This bias can influence decision-making processes in various contexts, from personal choices to professional and financial decisions.

    For example:

    • Canada Goose (challenges basic winter gear by positioning as extreme-weather essential)

    • Allbirds (challenges “regular shoes” with sustainability, nudging consumers to switch)

  • Present Bias - is the cognitive tendency to prioritize immediate rewards and outcomes over future ones, even when the latter may be more beneficial. This bias affects decision-making, leading individuals to choose options that offer instant gratification rather than considering the long-term consequences.

    For example:

    • Klarna (“Buy now, pay later” eliminates upfront cost pain)

    • Citibank (instant card approvals + immediate rewards when signing up)

  • The Ostrich Effect - refers to the tendency of individuals to ignore negative information or situations by metaphorically burying their heads in the sand, similar to the myth about ostriches. This behavior is motivated by a desire to avoid unpleasant news or outcomes, even when it might be beneficial to face them.

    For example:

    • ecobee (app dashboard reveals energy savings customers would otherwise ignore)

    • Mint (visual dashboards gently confront people with overlooked spending habits)

build their interest

Building interest keeps customers engaged in the process. It involves educating them, highlighting value, and addressing early questions. This phase is essential for turning curiosity into sustained exploration.

Besci tactics to consider at this stage:

  • The Authority Principle - is a concept in social psychology that suggests people are more likely to follow advice, directions, or suggestions from someone perceived as an authority figure. This principle is based on the idea that authority figures possess greater knowledge, wisdom, or power, making their opinions or orders more credible and worthy of compliance.

    For example:

    • Colgate (dentist endorsements on packaging and ads)

    • American Honda (leveraging reputation for reliability in ads and JD Power awards)

  • The Halo Effect - a cognitive bias where the perception of one positive characteristic (such as attractiveness) extends to other aspects of that person or object, leading to overly favorable overall impressions.

  • For example:

    • lululemon (extends premium quality reputation from leggings to shoes and men’s wear)

    • Apple (product design halo extends from iPhone to Mac, Watch, AirPods)

  • Labeling Effect - refers to the impact that attaching a label to an individual, group, product, or behavior can have on perceptions and actions. It's a phenomenon deeply rooted in behavioral science, influencing decisions and behaviors through cognitive and social mechanisms.

    For example:

    • Starbucks (personalized name on cups increases connection and repeat visits)

    • Porch.com (labels homeowners as “smart” when they hire vetted professionals)


Create the Desire

Creating desire involves persuading customers that your solution is uniquely suited to meet their needs or solve their problem. This is the stage where emotional connections and trust are built, which can lead to a preference for your brand over competitors.

Besci tactics to consider at this stage:

  • Social Proof - is a psychological and social phenomenon where individuals look to the actions and behaviors of others to determine their own. It's based on the principle that people feel more comfortable following the choices or actions of a group, especially in situations of uncertainty or ambiguity.

    For example:

    • G Adventures (features thousands of traveler reviews and community stories)

    • Tripadvisor (“over 1 million travelers recommend this hotel”)

  • The Reciprocity Principle - is a fundamental concept in social psychology that suggests when someone does something for us, we feel compelled to return the favor. This principle is powerful in influencing human behavior and is widely applied in various fields, including marketing, user experience design, and behavioral economics.

    For example:

    • Sephora (free samples create obligation to purchase)

    • Humana (offering free health screenings or wellness guides for members)

  • The Endowment Effect - is a cognitive bias that causes people to assign more value to things simply because they own them. This effect influences behavior and decision-making in various contexts, from personal possessions to financial assets.

    For example:

    • Canada Goose (in-store try-ons + personalized fittings create attachment before purchase)

    • Warby Parker (free home try-on creates feeling of ownership before buying)


Frame the choice

Framing the choice involves clearly presenting the benefits, addressing objections, and guiding customers toward a decision. Proper framing can simplify decision-making, reduce hesitation, and increase the likelihood of conversion.

Besci tactics to consider at this stage:

  • The Scarcity Principle – is a psychological and economic concept representing the principle that people value products and opportunities more highly when they are perceived as rare or in short supply. This principle is often exploited in marketing to create a sense of urgency.

    For example:

    • Booking.com (“Only 2 rooms left!” + “Free cancellation”)

    • Modesens (limited-time luxury sales and low-stock alerts)

  • Choice Overload - is a cognitive process that occurs when an individual is faced with too many options, making it difficult to make a decision. This phenomenon can lead to decision fatigue, a tendency to stick with the default option, or even avoiding making a decision altogether.

    For example:

    • Porch.com (pre-curated local contractor recommendations simplify decision-making)

    • Spotify (personalized playlists reduce overwhelm vs. millions of songs)

  • Loss Aversion - is a key concept in behavioral economics and psychology, reflecting the idea that the pain of losing is psychologically more significant than the pleasure of gaining something of equivalent value. This principle suggests that people are more motivated to avoid losses than to achieve equivalent gains.

    For example:

    • Peloton → Sends emails like “Your streak is at risk!” or “Don’t lose your progress,” pushing users to avoid the loss of momentum or achievement.

    • Citibank (alerts like “don’t miss out on bonus points” for cardholders)


deliver an impactful experience

An impactful experience, during both initial use and ongoing engagement, reinforces the customer's choice, meets or exceeds expectations, and builds loyalty. This objective is key for driving satisfaction, repeat purchases, and advocacy.

Besci tactics to consider at this stage:

  • The Zeigarnut Effect - refers to a psychological phenomenon where people tend to remember uncompleted or interrupted tasks better than completed tasks. This effect is thought to enhance the psychological need to complete what’s started.

    For example:

    • Royal Ambulance (employees track professional growth goals and incomplete certifications)

    • Duolingo (shows streaks, unfinished lessons to keep users engaged)

  • The IKEA Effect - is a cognitive bias that causes people to place a disproportionately high value on objects they partially created or assembled themselves, regardless of the quality of the end result. This effect suggests that the effort invested in creating or completing a product makes it more valuable to its creator.

    For example:

    • LEGO (users build and value their own creations)

    • ecobee (DIY installation of smart thermostats makes customers value the system more)

  • Prompting and Nudging – prompting involves providing cues or reminders to encourage specific behaviors. Nudging is a concept in behavioral science that refers to subtly guiding behavior through design and choice architecture without restricting freedom of choice. It's about making a certain choice easier, more attractive, or more obvious, thereby encouraging people to make that choice, ideally in a way that benefits them.

    For example:

    • Humana (reminders for wellness visits, prescription refills, or healthy habits nudges)

    • LinkedIn (profile strength meter and prompts to complete profile)

I leverage the Make It Toolkit for behavioral design to inform customer engagement strategies across the six contexts. Become a Behavioral Design in 30 days, 10 minutes a day.

To learn more, book a time to chat here: https://ChataboutCX.as.me/TalkCX. I am always open to sharing more about CX Strategy, Behavioral Design, and Customer Engagement.

John Gusiff