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Sweating the small stuff in direct mail marketing

Building the innovation pipeline for a global snacks brand

Unlocking growth for an iconic drinks brand

Encouraging people to both give and take The Big Issue

Using behavioural economics to nudge paid app subscriptions

Improving public safety with e-bikes

Leveraging latent love for a global spirits brand

Optimising current account on-boarding communications

Network Outage Experience Design

Re-shaping the digital self-service ecosystem for a telco company

Repositioning and restaging a healthier snacking brand

Unboxing and set-up experience of a Wi-fi Booster

Unlocking new ways to tackle apathy in oral care

Starting a global revolution in oral healthcare

Getting more people swimming

Decoding Decisions: Understanding the 'messy middle'

Switching from single use coffee cups with reusable ones

Increasing the number of driver sign-ups by optimising the earner funnel

Greening our Cities

Decoding decision drivers for healthier snacking brands

Optimising the path to purchase for buying vinyl and merchandise

Encouraging adoption of AI within healthcare diagnostics

Defining jobs to be done for a broadband proposition

Exceeding US launch targets in Atopic Dermatitis

Unlocking UK Adoption of a Type 2 Diabetes Therapy

Driving Patient & Pharmacist Behaviour Change in Pain Management

Overcoming Prescribing Inertia to Outperform Competitors

Reframing a symbol of comfort as harmful pollution

Unlocking mid-week meals: The biggest barrier to innovation can simply be existing habits

Building BeSci capability for a leading grocery retailer

Building BeSci capability for a leading retail UK financial services brand

Building behavioural science capability for a major insurer

Optimising regulatory communications using AI tools

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The growing importance of Sludge Auditing
/Our Articles

The growing importance of Sludge Auditing

Our latest article in Impact magazine ‘Auditing Sludge', explores how to think about constructing what’s known as a ‘Sludge audit’, from what to measure to what the implications are.

Sludge is when consumers face high levels of friction that obstructs their efforts to achieve something that is in their best interest or are deliberately misled to take action that is not in their best interest. While a sludge audit is where behavioural science practitioners and user experience designers analyse the consumer journey to detect and remove sludge and improve consumer outcomes.

We discuss the rise in companies conducting their own sludge audits to check for unnecessary friction that causes either suboptimal decision making or feelings of frustration. And how this puts companies in a better position to take action to ensure their product or service are consumer-friendly.

Finally, we explore how companies can implement a sludge audit. For example, Dilip Soman at the University of Toronto has drafted a simple framework based on three components:

  1. process
  2. communication
  3. inclusivity

There is currently a huge opportunity to invest in sludge audits to help both you and your consumers save time, energy and money.

To learn more, read our article here.

The Behavioural Architects' articles are always stimulating, entertaining and informative and make BE principles both engaging as well as usable for all our readers

Editor,
Impact Magazine
and Research-live.com

Our digital clubhouse which is designed to inspire, share best practice and delight would be very different without The Behavioural Architects

Gemma Greaves,
Global Managing Director,
The Marketing Society

Its client testimonials show it has made behavioural economics accessible and actionable.

MRS judges ‘best new agency’ award

TBA have brought behavioural science thinking to some of our challenges in a way that is accessible for colleagues from across the business and has created actionable outputs.

Martin Bryant,
Senior Consumer Insights Manager,
KFC UK and Ireland

The Behavioural Architects are experts in the field of consumer understanding, delivering insight and impact. I would highly recommend them to anyone seeking to understand consumer behaviour and work with a team who deliver with passion and joy.

Director of Consumer Insight,
Salomon

The Behavioural Architects' articles are always stimulating, entertaining and informative and make BE principles both engaging as well as usable for all our readers

Jane Bainbridge, Editor,
Impact Magazine & Research-live.com

Our clients include leading global brands, governments and NGOs.