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You have been nudged

Source: Penguin Random House

Oftentimes concrete real-world examples or stories help in summarizing a difficult concept.  I came across one such story while I was reading the book Nudge. Nudge was written by Richard Thaler, Nobel Prize Winner for his work in the field of behavioural economics. And the book is about his award-winning behavioural concept. The story that follows will help you understand what it is. Read on! 


Mr.Thaler had prepared a draft introduction about his book. He had intended to explain what his book is about to a friend. He sent an email but forgot to attach the draft. His friend was with Google at that time and wrote back asking the author to send the missing attachment. He added that Google is experimenting with a new feature for Gmail that solves this problem. When a user mentions the word “attachment” but doesn’t include any file, an alert “It seems like you forgot to attach a file” will be shown.



Gmail Nudge
Source: Gmail


I don’t know about you, but this feature has saved me from embarrassment on many occasions. Nudge is exactly that. An alert, reminder or a gentle push, helping people to make the right decision or choices saving them from embarrassment or something they would regret later. 

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