Variable Rewards

How can you motivate action and build a habit?

Hey there, it’s Jacob at Retention.Blog 👋

I got tired of reading high-level strategy articles, so I started writing actionable advice I would want to read.

Every week I share practical learnings you can apply to your business.

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I recently saw something from Calm that reminded me about a psychology concept.

Why are gambling and the lottery so addictive?

They use something called a variable-ratio reinforcement schedule.

A reinforcement schedule is essentially a reward schedule. Or some type of positive motivation.

There are 4 different types of reinforcement schedules:

• Fixed-Ratio:

  Reinforcement occurs after a fixed number of responses.

  • Example: Getting paid for every 10 items sold.

• Variable-Ratio:

  Reinforcement occurs after a variable number of responses, with the average number of responses required for reinforcement being consistent.

  • Example: Playing a slot machine, where the reward comes after an unpredictable number of pulls.

• Fixed-Interval:

  Reinforcement occurs after a fixed amount of time, regardless of the number of responses.

  • Example: Getting paid every two weeks, regardless of how much work is done.

• Variable-Interval:

  Reinforcement occurs after a variable amount of time, with the average time interval being consistent.

  • Example: Checking your email at random intervals to see if there are any new messages.

The variable-ratio schedule of reinforcement is one of most motivating and addicting.

Generally, any type of variable reward is more motivating.

Let’s think about it in terms of dog training.

A variable reinforcement schedule is if you give your dog a treat on average every 5 times they give you their paw, but sometimes your give a treat the first time and sometimes it’s the 3rd time, and sometimes it’s the 5th time.

If you give a dog a treat every time they do something, they eventually only do it because of the external motivation.

But if you stop giving them a treat, they’ll forget the behavior much faster compared to if the reward is on a variable schedule.

This is like a job.

Often in the beginning of our careers we enjoy the work more than the money, but over time we don’t want to work anymore without being paid.

If you give a dog a treat sometimes and sometimes you don’t, there is more excitement about the potential of the reward because of the unpredictability.

This causes the behavior to be much more resistant to extinction.

Extinction is a psychology term that means the behavior stops.

Read more about Reinforcement Schedules here.

How can you use this in your app marketing?

Let’s look at how Calm uses a variable reward to try to motivate your behavior.

This is a new tactic I recently saw in their app.

Calm started with a push notification

This triggered a little interaction to unlock my “special gift”

Calm “rotated” through a few different potential gifts

The first time I got one free piece of Calm premium content

To be honest, it didn’t feel super exciting to get one random piece of premium content I can try. Like who cares?

They continued to try sending me different gifts.

This is more compelling!

I’m curious if Calm is testing the effectiveness of these different offers and will eventually consolidate to one or fewer.

Or are they trying to have incrementally increasing rewards?

Or is the idea that you offer a bunch of different rewards and some will work for some people?

“Winning” the reward may make you more inclined to try the offer and convince you to try Calm Premium.

I tried the reward one more time and I got another free piece of content.

What would I do differently if I was Calm?

It’s hard to figure out the exact piece of meditation content that is going to convince someone to convert.

And is someone likely to get convinced after one day of premium to convert?

Probably more likely than after a single piece of content, but apps offer a multiple day trial for reason.

It takes a few days for someone to get used to a behavior and form an early habit.

I would have thought about offering a reverse trial and letting someone use everything in Calm for a longer period of time.

I’m not an active user of Calm at all, so I’m curious to know what type of promotions they offer to active free users.

I like the idea of rewarding activity.

For example, if a free user meditates 5 days in a row, can you give them access to premium content? Or a discount?

Something earned is usually much more enticing.

Another app that uses variable rewards is Finch

If you haven’t seen Finch, it’s a “self-care pet” where you send your finch out on adventures and earn points by completing your To do list or other positive behaviors (like breathing exercises).

Sometimes after an adventure, my Finch learns something.

Other times he discovers a caterpillar or other little pets that join in on the journeys!

Finch also has a store where the items refresh on a set interval.

This would be classified as a fixed interval reinforcement schedule.

^ I think that’s right, but if you’re a psychologist feel free to correct me.

Do you have any type of rewards for your users?

If not, think about how you can add additional fun motivation to make your app more engaging.

And if you already do have some form of reward, think about if you can make them more impactful by changing the reward or changing the interval or ratio that users receive the reward.

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