The Behavioural Architects has recently been shortlisted as a double finalist for the AQR Prosper Riley-Smith Qualitative Excellence Award 2018. The award is recognised as the UK’s most prestigious award for qualitative research, recognising qualitative research that shows thinking that is highly creative and original, as well as strategic and with true business application. Needless to say we are extremely proud to be selected as finalists!
- Discouraging Fare Evasion in NSW
The first of our two entries describes our Sydney office’s work in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. Fare evasion on public transport in NSW is a major source of revenue loss for the government. However, little was currently known about why people evade paying their fare. Our qualitative research set out to uncover the true drivers of fare evasion, with the goal to identify opportunities to significantly influence the behaviours of non-compliant passengers.
The major challenge to obtaining these insights was that fare evasion is inherently a socially undesirable act and therefore unlikely to be honestly discussed; simply asking people directly was unlikely to reveal accurate insights. Rather, we needed to develop a creative qualitative research approach, one inspired by behavioural science, to explore and understand behaviour more accurately.
Indeed, our methodology revealed unique behavioural insights regarding fare evasion and enabled the development of multiple interventions across various channels. By addressing the true triggers of fare evasion, our interventions were highly effective in encouraging fare compliance, resulting in a saving of over $5m in revenue loss as compared to the previous year.
2. Empowering The Big Issue Vendors
Our second entry under consideration is our London office’s work for The Big Issue (TBI). This social enterprise was created to help people to earn an income from selling the magazine; to give them structure and purpose in their lives. The aim was for Big Issue sellers to have the identity of magazine vendors and not as beggars. However, increasingly people simply donate money to the vendor, without taking the magazine.
Whilst these people view their donations as altruistic and rational, it defeats TBI’s mission to promote ‘a hand up, not a hand out’. Furthermore, due to present bias, the vendor has all the incentives to accept the money despite not selling a magazine as they focus on the short-term monetary gain.
In-context qualitative research was imperative to uncover the underlying motivations of two parties who were happy with their current behaviour, and use this to develop a strategy to increase the number of people taking a magazine. Our insights led to the development of powerful but practical behavioural nudges, which both challenged and changed this current ‘give but no take’ behaviour. With these nudges our client is now confident that it can re-connect people with the TBI mission of GIVE and TAKE.
We are so proud of all the work our teams have done on these case studies and excited by the insights and results produced. So, now we wait… Wish us luck!