Skip to content
InsideUX Design

UX glossary · engl. Nudging

Nudging

Nudging means gently steering people in one direction by how a choice is designed, without forbidding options or noticeably changing their incentives.

Imagine you’re setting up a new notes app. On the last screen, “Automatic cloud backup” is already switched on. You could turn it off with one tap, but you just leave it. Nobody forced you. Still, the design shaped your decision.

That’s a nudge: a small push in a particular direction.

Explained simply

The term comes from the 2008 book “Nudge” by economist Richard Thaler and legal scholar Cass Sunstein. In essence, a nudge is any aspect of how a choice is designed that predictably changes behavior without forbidding options or significantly changing financial incentives.

Thaler and Sunstein call the way options are arranged and presented choice architecture. Think of a cafeteria where fruit sits at eye level right by the checkout and the pudding is further back. Nothing is banned, yet more people reach for the apple. The authors describe this stance as “libertarian paternalism”: freedom of choice stays intact, and the design offers a direction.

Common nudges in interfaces

Digital products are full of nudges. The most important forms:

  • Defaults: Whatever is preselected tends to stick. In 2003, Eric Johnson and Daniel Goldstein showed with organ donation that consent was much higher in countries with an opt-out system than in countries where people have to opt in.
  • Order and emphasis: The first or visually highlighted option gets chosen more often.
  • Reminders and feedback: A well-timed hint or a progress bar helps people finish what they started.
  • Social cues: A line like “Most teams turn this on” offers orientation, as long as it’s true.

You’ll find more examples in Nudging in UX Design: How to Guide User Behavior.

Nudge or dark pattern?

Technically, nudges and dark patterns use the same tools. The difference is the direction. A nudge should help people make choices they would judge as good themselves. When the same mechanism works against their interests, Thaler calls it sludge: friction that makes the right thing harder. His example is a subscription you can start with one click but can only cancel by letter or phone call. Why such tricks become expensive, legally and for your brand, is covered in Spotting and Avoiding Dark Patterns: Why Interface Tricks Cost You.

An example

Here’s an example: a banking app offers a “round up and save” feature. Right now it’s buried deep in the settings and hardly anyone uses it.

After the redesign, it shows up as its own step during setup: briefly explained, with a realistic estimate of how much adds up per month, and a clearly visible “Decide later.” A single toggle turns it off at any time. That’s a nudge. If turning it off required calling the hotline, it would be sludge.

In practice

  • Check the direction. Ask whether people would be happy with the decision in hindsight. If not, don’t do it.
  • Make leaving as easy as joining. Every default should be visible, understandable and changeable in one click. Clear microcopy explains what happens.
  • Use a few targeted nudges. Too many prompts at once increase cognitive load and quickly feel like pressure.

Related terms

Dark Patterns, Priming Effect, Cognitive Load, Microcopy

Sources

More terms

Full glossary