Educate and Encourage
Kosh's goal screen suggests building an emergency fund of three months' expenses. Many users stare at the number — ₹90,000 — and close the app. Some do not know what an emergency fund is for. Others know perfectly well and simply do not believe they can get there. Those are two different problems, and they need two different fixes.
The rule
Teach only what this action needs, then show them they can do it.
Some behaviors cannot be automated or turned into habits: the user has to understand and decide. When they stall, two gaps are common.
The knowledge gap: they don't know how or why. The fix is to educate — but narrowly. Teach exactly what this action needs, at the moment it is needed, in plain words. Two sentences beside the goal field beat a ten-page guide in a Learn tab nobody opens.
The belief gap: they don't think they can. Psychologists call this belief self-efficacy: confidence in your own ability to carry out a particular action. People with low self-efficacy do not try, or give up at the first setback. The fix is to encourage, and research on self-efficacy points to where confidence comes from:
- Doing it yourself. Small early successes are the strongest source of all.
- Seeing similar people succeed. "People like me managed it."
- Encouragement from others. Useful, but weaker on its own.
- How it feels. An anxious, overwhelming screen drains confidence; a calm one helps.
The shortcut
Ask two questions: Do they know how? Do they believe they can? A "no" to the first calls for a short, just-in-time explanation. A "no" to the second calls for a quick win and proof from people like them.
Ask: do they know how?
Interviews: most users can explain what an emergency fund is for. Knowledge is mostly fine.
The trap is answering a belief gap with information. Explaining compound interest to someone who doesn't think they can save ₹1,000 only makes the mountain look taller.
Drills
Answer fast — trust the rule.
Which source of confidence is usually the strongest?
A user says, "I know I should save; I just don't think I'd stick with it." Which gap is this?
What is the best way to educate at the moment of action?
Why does Kosh set the first milestone at ₹1,000 instead of the full ₹90,000?
Remember
- Teach only what this action needs, then show them they can do it.
- Shortcut: do they know how? Do they believe they can? Fix the gap that is actually there.
- Trap: answering a belief gap with more information.