28. People Are More Motivated as They Get Closer to a Goal
You are given a frequent buyer card for your local coffee shop. Each time you buy a cup of coffee, you get a stamp on your card. When the card is filled, you get a free cup of coffee. Here are two scenarios:
• Card A. The card has 10 boxes for the stamps, and all the boxes are blank when you get the card.
• Card B. The card has 12 boxes for the stamps, and the first two boxes are already stamped when you get the card.
Question: How long will it take you to get the card filled up? Will it take longer with Card A or with Card B? After all, you have to buy 10 cups of coffee in both scenarios in order to get the free coffee. So does it make a difference which card you use?
The Goal-Gradient Effect
The answer apparently is yes, it does make a difference which card you use. You’ll fill up the card faster with Card B than with Card A. And the reason is the goal-gradient effect.
The goal-gradient effect was first studied in 1934 by Clark Hull. He found that rats that were running a maze to get food at the end would run faster as they got closer to the end of the maze.
The goal-gradient effect says that you will accelerate your behavior as you progress closer to your goal. The coffee reward-card scenarios I described were part of a research study by Ran Kivetz (2006) to see if people would act like the rats did in the original 1934 study. And the answer is, yes, they did.
People enjoyed being part of a reward program. When compared to customers who were not part of the program, Kivetz found that the customers with reward cards smiled more, chatted longer with cafß employees, said “thank you” more often, and left a tip more often.
People focus on what’s left more than on what’s completed
Minjung Koo (2010) conducted research to see which would motivate people more to reach a goal: a) focusing on what they’d already completed or b) focusing on what remained to accomplish. The answer was b—people were more motivated to continue when they focused on what was left to do.
The Importance of “You Are Here”
If people are more motivated as they get closer to the goal, then that means you need to show them progress through your presentation. If it’s a long presentation, such as a full-day or multi-day class, provide a list of all the sections or modules at the beginning, and then return to the list as you finish a section. If it’s a short presentation, consider structuring it so that progress is built in. For example, some of the most effective presentations I give are structured around a number; for example: “The Top 10...” or “7 Critical Principles....” As I go through the 7 or 10 items, it’s obvious that we are making progress toward the goal. I like to start at the higher number (#10) and work my way down. It really does seem that interest and excitement builds as we have a “countdown” to #1.