Sometimes, we’re unaware of the risks of sticking with our past decisions. Highlighting the decision to change as an opportunity to avoid potential losses instead of focusing only on benefits can motivate us to consider newer, better options.

For instance, a bank may want to highlight that you’re no longer on their best savings account, and are likely to lose out on potential interest on your money. You could go further and highlight exactly how much they may be losing from not taking action.

Consider designing systems that present new, better options as the default choice to encourage exploration and better decision-making. If we can provide well-designed alternative defaults, we can help people overcome their inertia and tendency to stick with the status quo.

For instance, when booking a taxi, Uber may default me to a new car type (E.g. Uber Green: only electric cars), based on my past ratings for car rides, framing it as a suggestion: “we think you might like Uber Green...”

We know that defaults act as a powerful tool to suggest the ‘right’ choice from a given set of options. As well as being attractive, we must also be careful that any new defaults set don’t sit far outside of peoples’ own preferences. After all, their status quo is based on their past choices. Done poorly, you’ll trigger reactance and the preference for the status quo will be even stronger.

Provide regular reminders or prompts to reevaluate existing decisions or habits. These reminders can prompt individuals to reconsider their choices and break out of the inertia associated with the status quo.

For example, reminding people on a weekly coffee delivery subscription that since they signed up last year, you now offer a new range of exciting regions that they might want to try.

This can be done across multiple points of the user journey: on the website, in the ‘upcoming order’ email or in the material sent to them with their delivery.

Highlighting the value of new options in a way that feels like an exciting evolution of their past good choices can provide a gentle way to encourage further exploration.

Break down larger requests into smaller, manageable steps to reduce the perceived difficulty or discomfort of making a change. Make the first step very small and of low risk. Thereafter, there will be a greater willingness to adopt the new option. By making this transition to a new option less daunting and more familiar, individuals are more likely to overcome status quo bias and take action.

We can do this in a number of ways, but ultimately a Foot-In-The-Door involves turning any larger request into a very small one to begin with, such as a introductory offer, free sample, money-back guarantee or trial period.

For example, if the regular customer at my cookie stand only ever bought the regular chocolate chip cookie, I could provide him a Foot-In-The-Door with a free taster of my new quadruple-choc cookie alongside his existing usual order.

The next time, I could ask him if he liked it, and if so, whether he wanted to put one or two of those in his box of 8 cookies.

This mix and match approach overcomes his new status quo ‘regular order’ in a subtle way that he can control. He’ll also now be more willing to accept newer offerings down the line as I create them, such is his increased tolerance for change.

Share stories or testimonials from others who have successfully overcome their own status quo bias and made positive changes through their updated choices. Social proof can inspire individuals to follow suit and break out of their comfort zones.

This can be a useful tool to help people upgrade to a newer version of your software, to get a more advanced product you offer, or to merely switch from a competitor product to your own.

For example, a razor blade company might want to mention testimonials from customers who compare and contrast their inferior competitor status quo shaving experience with this new one. This may be done from a cost perspective: “It was so expensive to keep buying those blades each month” or from an experiential perspective “I never felt like my old razor was doing its job well”.

The testimonial should then also highlight how the new option contrasts positively with this. Cost: “It’s so much cheaper now. I should’ve switched years ago!!”. Experience: “My skin just feels so much smoother now. Would never go back.”

Clearly, if the status quo is your own product, consider focusing more the benefits of upgrading, rather than the costs or shortcomings of the status quo.

Encourage individuals to visualize their future selves and consider how maintaining the status quo may impact their long-term goals and aspirations. Visualizing the potential outcomes of change can motivate individuals to take action and overcome status quo bias.

We can see how Goal Priming here is connected to Loss Aversion, in the sense that sticking with the status quo might mean we don’t ever reach our dreams.

Making salient some aspect of our future today is a powerful way to reconsider our choices and adjust accordingly.

For instance, an ad campaign might contrast two photos of sun damage on the skin of a 70-year-old. One might represent the industry status quo of just using low to no Sun Protection Factor (SPF) in the skin cream. The other might show the effects of a 50 SPF, and how much less their skin aged.

If the goal was to still have healthy skin in older age, priming people as to the effects of a different, better product  today may well help people overcome their status quo.

Visually distinguish the status quo option from newer, better alternatives to increase the attractiveness of switching.

When everything looks the same, we tend to assume their qualities are also the same. However, that may not be true. Unfortunately, as cognitive misers, we believe that “if it looks similar, it *is* similar.”

And when things are similar, there’s no incentive to switch. This is a common problem in the toothpaste industry, where every product looks similar and comes in a standardised tube shape with similar claims as to the benefits for your teeth. As a result, products are often bought on promotion, and consumers are very price-sensitive.

Compare that to the cosmetics industry, where a lot of time and money is spent on distinguishing one’s product line from the rest, using unique materials, shapes, colours and properties. Suddenly, trying a competitor product feels exciting and new, full of potential.

As another example, see Angostura aromatic bitters with its distinctive oversized label, originally a mistake but then kept to create memorable contrast from other products.

Provide a small, curated set of options for people to compare their status quo choice with, in order to increase the chance they’ll switch.

Often, even if there are better options out there, we tend to stick to what we already have.

This is because we’re unwilling to spend the extra cognitive effort sifting through all the many options, trying to make sense of them and work out if they’re better.

Quickly, we get overwhelmed, and end up just sticking with our safe status quo.

Simply, the more choices we face, the more overwhelm we’ll feel and the stronger our status quo will be.

However, if we curated the options we present to people in a way that’s manageable, easy to choose from, that honours our past preferences, we’re far more likely to try something new.

For instance, if I’d kept going to the same property on Airbnb for years, out of routine rather than anything more, Airbnb could present to me 1-3 new options in the area. They could inform me that these properties have superior features, have higher ratings and aren’t available normally, heightening the special nature of the option.

With curated alternatives presented thoughtfully, I may well try something new, as long as my needs for by my status quo choice are more than covered, and there’s enough appeal to take a small risk on something new.