By Yael Mark
Dashboards have become a standard feature in software platforms over the past few years. Whether it’s a fitness app, a project management tool, or an online learning platform, dashboards are used across many industries to present data and track progress. However, the most effective dashboards don’t just display information—they motivate users to consistently engage with the product. This kind of engagement requires more than just good design. To build a dashboard that truly works, you need to understand your users’ psychology.
In this article, I have compiled key principles from behavioral science and psychology to design dashboards that increase user engagement.
Leverage Extrinsic and Intrinsic Motivation
Before diving into design, you must first identify your users’ goals. This understanding is crucial because, ultimately, no one is using your product for the sake of it—they are using it to achieve a specific goal or solve a problem. Your product is simply a tool to help them do that. So, the first questions to consider are: What do users want to achieve with your product? Why do they seek this type of product? For example, are they using your product to eat healthier, stay organized, or become more mindful? Once you’ve identified your users’ objectives, you can design features that help them get there.
Motivation is a key factor in achieving long-term goals, and it typically falls into two categories: extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. Extrinsic motivation is driven by external reward or pressure, such as earning badges or avoiding negative consequences. Intrinsic motivation, on the other hand, comes from within—users engage in activities because they find them interesting, enjoyable, or personally rewarding.
Let’s use a student as an example. If they work hard to earn good grades or avoid punishment, that’s extrinsic motivation. If they study because they are genuinely interested in the subject matter, that’s intrinsic motivation. Both can be powerful, and the best dashboards tap into both types of motivation to keep users engaged.
A great real-world example is the app Too Good to Go, which helps users buy surplus food from local restaurants to reduce food waste. Their dashboard highlights two key metrics: 1) The total amount of money saved – appealing to users’ extrinsic motivation, and 2) The total CO2 emissions saved – appealing to users’ intrinsic desire to reduce their environmental impact. By combining both forms of motivation, Too Good to Go encourages continued use and fosters a sense of accomplishment.
Frame It Wisely
The Framing Effect—a well-known principle in behavioral science—tells us that the way information is presented can have a significant influence on how people perceive and respond to it. In many cases, the way a message is delivered is more important than the message itself.
One excellent example of framing in action is the Calm app, a popular mindfulness tool. Instead of simply showing a “Time Spent on App” widget, Calm labels it “Mindful Hours”. This small but impactful tweak aligns the dashboard with users’ main objective—becoming more mindful, not just spending time on the app. By aligning the way they frame data with user goals, Calm motivates users to keep coming back.
Another great example comes from Grammarly, the popular writing assistant. Correcting someone’s writing can be a delicate matter. Nobody likes to be told they’ve made mistakes. However, Grammarly overcomes this hurdle by incorporating concepts from behavioral science. Instead of simply giving users a raw score of their writing performance, Grammarly uses Social Comparison Theory, first proposed by Leon Festinger in 1954. This theory suggests that people urge for positive self-evaluation, often achieved by comparing themselves to others.
Grammarly’s dashboard shows users their writing percentile compared to other users, tapping into their desire for social comparison. Even if the user’s percentile is lower, the framing focuses on how they perform relative to others, providing motivation to improve.
Consider Your Newbies
It’s a common mistake to design dashboards with only advanced or long-term users in mind. This often results in dashboards that overwhelm new users with empty states or zero values. A dashboard full of zeros can create a demotivating experience and may cause them to lose interest.
So, how can you avoid this? One solution is to provide users with a quick win during their first interaction with the platform. Even something as simple as a badge for completing the onboarding process can give users a sense of achievement and motivation.
Another strategy is to integrate key tasks into the onboarding process. For example, Duolingo, the language-learning platform, requires users to complete a lesson during onboarding. By the time they enter the dashboard, they’ve already started a learning streak, providing an immediate sense of progress. This helps new users feel more engaged from the start.
Substack, the newsletter platform, takes a different approach to helping new users feel motivated. When creators first set up their newsletters, Substack automatically subscribes them to their own publications. While this may seem like a small gesture, it prevents new users from being discouraged by seeing zero subscribers on their dashboard. With even one subscriber (albeit a biased one), they may feel more motivated to continue creating content.
Closing Thoughts
Ultimately, the goal is to design dashboards that help users grasp easily how your product helps them reach their goals. This should be reflected in every aspect of the dashboard—from the choice of widgets to the filters and even the microcopy. By ensuring that your dashboard aligns with users’ intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, that it frames information effectively, and provides a seamless experience for both new and long-term users, you’ll create a product that not only informs but inspires action.
This article was edited by Carina Müller
