THE SMARTER SCREEN

In THE SMARTER SCREEN, acclaimed behavioral economist Shlomo Benartzi offers a toolkit of interventions for the digital age. Using provocative case-studies and engaging reader exercises, he shows how businesses can update their nudges to help consumers make better decisions on screens.

Typical office workers now spend the majority of their waking hours staring at a screen. In the 21st Century, every business is a digital business, which is why it’s so critical to understand how we think and behave online.

Consider these solutions:
· The tournament model used for Wimbledon and March Madness may help consumers identify what they want more easily. While most websites attempt to display as many options as possible, if people can select options from manageable rounds, they tend to make better choices.
· People are more willing to tell a gadget the truth about their risky health behaviors than an actual doctor. When dealing with sensitive subjects, the absence of human feedback—an absence made easy in an age of screens and machines—can be a great advantage.
· The precise location of an option on a screen can have a massive impact on consumer choice. The same logic also applies to information, as certain layouts can dramatically influence our levels of attention.
· Although most websites are designed to make the act of reading as easy as possible, Benartzi explains why this can be a big mistake. Sometimes, the careful use of ugly fonts and other forms of “visual disfluency” are an important way to boost reading comprehension and retention.

THE SMARTER SCREEN will help readers transform the challenges of the digital world into powerful new opportunities that will drive success in an age of screens.

Shlomo Benartzi is a professor and co-chair of the Behavioral Decision-Making Group at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management. He is the author of the personal finance books Save More Tomorrow and Thinking Smarter. He has extensive experience applying behavioral economic insights in the real world, having increased the saving rates of millions of Americans through his work with Richard Thaler on the Save More Tomorrow campaign, and he has advised many government agencies and businesses.

Jonah Lehrer is a science writer living in Los Angeles.