Nextdoor behavioral diagnosis
My assignment was to complete a behavioral diagnosis of Nextdoor, a private social network for neighbors to connect locally. Popular use cases include sharing news in one’s community, giving or asking for support, and soliciting recommendations for local services. A behavioral diagnosis is a structured process that uses behavioral science to understand why individuals do (or don’t do) a specific action, then design interventions to drive the desired outcome.
Note, this project was a hypothetical case; I was not engaged by Nextdoor for this work.
My Role:
As a behavioral scientist / designer, my role was to review the Nextdoor user experience and provide 3 recommendations with solution mocks.
Approach Summary:
Identified a target user behavior and, intentionally, made it wildly-specific: new users create a post within 5 minutes of onboarding.
Documented assumptions and constraints for the project (e.g., in light of actual Nextdoor funnel conversion data, I assumed which parts of the journey have high user drop-off).
Conducted a behavioral diagnosis.
Outlined every step user must take to complete the target behavior.
Summarized logistical barriers, psychological biases, and benefits at each step.
Conducted a literature review to understand existing research and how it might apply to this context (e.g., what motivates individuals to participate in online communities).
Prioritized potential interventions for experimentation.
Developed design mockups for the top 3 experiments (see Design Solution Overview below).
Behavioral diagnosis snapshot (FigJam).
What I’m Proud of:
Applied learnings from Irrational Labs’ Behavioral Economics Bootcamp, among other self-directed training and experience.
Demonstrated proficiency in behavioral science such that I received a consulting job offer.
Leveraged AI (Figma Make) to accelerate the production of design mocks.
Design Solution Overview
Below are the top 3 prioritized experiments to drive the target behavior (create a post within 5 minutes of onboarding), ordered from lowest to highest complexity of implementation.
Experiment 1:
Email marketing enhancements
Hypothesis: If we implement light copy and design enhancements to the initial Nextdoor invite, then more prospective users will be inclined to create an account because Nextdoor appears as a vibrant and trustworthy online community to which they can contribute.
Design Highlights:
Includes key message upfront (subject line), uses active voice
Uses visual design principles, such as hierarchy, color, icons
Explains what to expect for prospective users, reducing uncertainty
Amplifies social proof through reviews (in keeping with the prosocial theme of the email)
Experiment 2:
Lower-stakes first post
Hypothesis: If we encourage users to respond to outstanding Q&A as their first engagement on Nextdoor (instead of creating a post from scratch), then they will be more likely to take action because this decreases the barriers to posting and promotes reciprocity.
Design Highlights:
Provides a concrete way to get started, avoiding blank page aversion. Models community norms via existing posts
Mitigates potential choice overload by recommending 3 posts to start
Enables users to move forward even if none of the 3 suggested posts resonate
Fosters trust by making it clear that responses are public
Experiment 3:
First post incentive
Hypothesis: If we offer rewards for creating or responding to Nextdoor posts, then users will be more likely to contribute content, and they’ll internalize that motivation over time.
Design Highlights:
Badges / rewards may motivate users to post
Certain rewards may help incentivize positive behaviors (e.g., “most helpful” badge promotes post quality)
In addition to being a tangible benefit for users, rewards can support Nextdoor’s business model (they monetize via local advertisers)