What we do

We combine behavioural science, design and data science to test and develop ideas that work.

How we do it

We combine insights and methodologies from the three interrelated disciplines of behavioural science, design and data science. We do this by drawing on the latest evidence from across these fields, and then focus on their practical application to develop and test new ideas that work in practice.

All our work is done collaboratively, in partnership with the organisations we work with. This is why we call our clients our ‘partners’. Our partners are large corporations, scaling technology firms, charities and government departments. We work with them across four areas:

Understanding your audience

Great experiences for people start with a deep understanding of who they are.

We use a blend of research methods to understand what influences users, customers or employees, determine what they value most, and identify when and where to interact with them.

How we do it

Running diagnostic surveys
Conducting interviews
Developing personas
Mapping user journeys
Analysing existing data

Getting Citizens More Involved in Policy Making

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How we do it

Running diagnostic surveys
Conducting interviews
Developing personas
Mapping user journeys
Analysing existing data

Getting Citizens More Involved in Policy Making

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) wanted to find new and better ways of understanding the viewpoints of large numbers of people. UNDP was especially interested in gauging the views of younger people in Pakistan, Bhutan and Timor Leste on critical policy questions, such as what they thought their governments should be doing to tackle climate change. So they asked CogCo to help them develop a new and more engaging way of getting people involved in these policy discussions.

Applying insights

Only by applying what we know about behaviour can we create intuitive ideas that meet people’s needs.

We combine our knowledge of behavioural science, design and data science with our partners’ expertise to develop next-level products, services and programmes.

How we do it

Visualising ideas and concepts
Wireframing user experiences
Designing prototypes
Running choice experiments
Creating predictive models

Helping More People to Save for a Rainy Day

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How we do it

Visualising ideas and concepts
Wireframing user experiences
Designing prototypes
Running choice experiments
Creating predictive models

Helping More People to Save for a Rainy Day

Around a third of all people in the UK have less than £100 in savings. This means that tens of millions of people across the country have next to no financial buffer, should they encounter any form of financial challenge. A broken fridge, or an unexpected parking fine, for example, can lead to someone needing to borrow money that they subsequently find it difficult to repay. The team at Wagestream, a financial wellbeing app whose goal is to make money management easier and more accessible for people, recognised the severity of this problem amongst the 500,000+ users of their platform. They asked CogCo to work with them in helping them to build a new product that could help their users build up their financial resilience.

Showing what works

Testing how people behave is the best way to challenge assumptions and improve what works.

We analyse the success of interventions with real users, customers or employees to build confidence and provide reliable evidence on how people behave now or in the future.

How we do it

Conducting usability tests
Testing proof of concept
Running simulated experiments
Running field experiments
Analysing user data

Developing an index for belonging

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How we do it

Conducting usability tests
Testing proof of concept
Running simulated experiments
Running field experiments
Analysing user data

Developing an index for belonging

Connectr is an online mentoring platform that helps companies to recruit and retain diverse talent through mentoring, training and employee engagement. A core aim of Connectr is to increase the sense of belonging employees feel towards their organisation. We partnered with them to help them develop a rigorous methodology for measuring ‘belonging’. The aim was to turn this into a ‘Belonging Index’, that could be used to track and compare rates of belonging over time and across companies.

Building capability

Successful teams need the capability to develop and apply new perspectives on behaviour.

We embed behavioural science, data science and design to develop skills and empower teams in the long term by creating tailored support with evidence based methods.

How we do it

Coaching and training teams
Developing learning modules
Supporting thought leadership
Giving masterclasses and conference talks
Using our Behaviour Change Playbook

Understanding how Citizens Respond to Risk

Read case study

How we do it

Coaching and training teams
Developing learning modules
Supporting thought leadership
Giving masterclasses and conference talks
Using our Behaviour Change Playbook

Understanding how Citizens Respond to Risk

All of us are confronted by risks every day. We could be hit by a car when crossing a road. We might take a pill which has potential side-effects. Or we could be weighing up a business decision that looks sensible but might turn sour at some distant point. Decades of behavioural science research have taught us that there are many factors that influence our risk-based judgements. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, these became all the more important. So in partnership with FGS Global, the global strategic communications firm, we set out to create an evidence-based framework that could be used by individuals communicating risk to consumers or citizens.

Understanding which elements of a phone package customers value most

Mobile phone operators have a wide variety of services and products that they can offer to their customers. They can provide more data; better coverage; shorter contract terms; and even free gifts, like a 6 month subscription to Netflix. But each of these elements comes at a cost, so it is useful to know exactly what value customers place on the different component parts of a contract. This might not be a problem, if customers were able to articulate clearly their preferences. But it turns out that we find it very difficult to do so accurately: it is challenging, for example, for any of us to come up with a figure when asked how much you might be willing to pay for a shorter contract.

Understand behaviours

Researching people's experience of harmful video content

In recent years, concerns have grown about people - especially young people - encountering harmful content while using online video sharing platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, Instagram and Twitch. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport wanted to get a better understanding of the potential harms encountered by young people through the development of more rigorous methods for understanding their experiences. We took on this challenge as part of a wider programme of work with Oliver Wyman, the global management consulting firm.

Understand behaviours

How digital design changes customer decisions

Online shopping offers customers a smooth, simple way of making a purchase. But Citizens Advice, the charity that offers confidential financial advice to millions of people every year, is concerned that some firms are designing online platforms in ways that act against the interests of customers. Citizens Advice therefore commissioned CogCo, working with Paul Adams, to devise an experiment that tested what the effect of different aspects of digital design had upon the choices and comprehension of customers. They were especially interested in the effect of different digital designs upon consumers’ decisions to choose to pay using ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ products. These products enable customers to delay payments into the future and now account for 6% of all online purchases in the UK.