More on Burying the Sign Up Button

...when they took away the “sign up” button and instead put a “learn more” button at the bottom of the page they got a 350% increase in sign ups...

Choice architecture is a fascination of mine. I find the user-directive portion of user experience design to be one of the more interesting and underutilized aspects of UX/UI work. Too often the concentration is on what looks good or what color feels right. Not enough time is spent on what you want the user to actually do.

When I was DC recently, I took a picture of trash cans. A few people noticed and asked my about that pic in my vacation gallery. The answer is easy. Choice Architecture. They did a great job of it. Here's the picture I took:

Do you see the choice architecture at work?  The goal of the museum was to get people to recycle intelligently.  They could have just labeled the cans "Food", "Recycle", and "Trash".  They would have gotten a few people doing it right and most people dumping everything into "Trash".  Why? Because in Choice Architecture saliency is a key ingredient. If we know that oil is limited and funds terrorism, why don't we all conserve more? Because the ramifications of these facts are not salient at the gas pump or the car dealership. Likewise, we know landfills are bad for the environent, so why don't we recycle more? That fact isn't salient when we are throwing things away.  This signage makes the ramifiations of your choice salient to you.  That salience drives your choices subtly, but powerfully.

• Nudge by Thaler and Sunstein