User adoption is a critical factor in the success of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems. However, research has shown that CRM implementations have consistently high failure rates, ranging from 30% to 70%. This can be a cause of concern for potential adopters, especially considering the cost of CRM systems.
Microsoft Dynamics 365/PowerApps are great, but do they have the functionality to help users form habits and increase adoption? In this blog, we’ll explore how habits are formed and the functionality that could help in their formation.
We’ll cover the following topics:
- What is a habit?
- How do we form habits?
- Does Dynamics 365 have functionality that enables users to form a CRM habit?
By understanding these concepts, we can deliver D365/PowerApp solutions that are adopted by users and provide a return on investment.
What is a habit?
According to R. Andrews, a habit is “a more or less fixed way of thinking, willing, or feeling acquired through previous repetition of a mental experience” Many studies have been conducted on habit formation, and Seger and Spiering (2011) concluded that it is characterised by five key features: inflexibility, slow learning, unconsciousness, automaticity, and context-dependence.
How do we form habits?
Many studies have been completed about how we form habits. The Seger, C.A. and Spiering, B.J. (2011) article reviewed existing research on habit-formation, and concluded that it is encompassed by five characteristics:
- Inflexible: habit-learning has been described as relatively inflexible, in comparison to both goal-oriented behaviours which may be more pragmatic, and context-dependent learning.
- Slow: However, the author challenged this generalisation, suggesting that the speed of habit-formation is affected by a range of individual factors
- Unconscious: They suggest habit-learning is a form of non-declarative memory.
- Automatic
- Reinforcer Revaluation Insensitivity: once the habit is formed, it is difficult to alter.
Another study completed by Lally, P., Wardle, J. and Gardner, B. (2011) ‘Experiences of habit formation: a qualitative study’ analysed habit formation in a real-life context; in this case, participants were enrolled on a habit-based weight-loss programme.
It confirmed that ‘with repetition, the behaviours became more automatic and less effortful’. In real-world habit-formation, structuring behaviour around cues at the workplace is an effective strategy. It showed that removal from a specific schedule, for example at weekends, does have an impact on habit performance, but the habits returned when people went back to the workplace. It also showed that, in the habit loop, ‘cues’ can involve events, people, locations, activities and times.
But how long does it take to form new habits? A study completed by Kaushal, N. and Rhodes, R.E. (2015) ‘Exercise habit formation in new gym members: a longitudinal study’. looked to increase understanding relating to: (1) exercise behaviour, (2) habit formation and (3) habit predictors, in relation to gym-going. They found that exercising at least four times per week for approximately 6 weeks was required to establish an exercise habit. ‘Affect’ and consistency were most significant in this context in forming an exercise habit; either seeing positive effects of the exercise or exercising consistently enough to make the decision to exercise more of a sub-conscious one.
For the purpose of this paper we will use Charles Duhigg’s book ‘The Power of Habit’ to identify the key aspects of habit formation. He has used many of the previous studies mentioned and views habits as a process adopted by the brain to ‘power-save’. Research shows that brain activity changes when habits are formed; reduced activity due to a lack of conscious thought. (Duhigg, C. 2013)
Duhigg suggests that habits are formed through the ‘habit loop’ process
1) Cue – First, there is a cue, a trigger that tells your brain to go into automatic mode and which habit to use.
2) Routine – Then there is the routine, a set of actions which can be physical or mental or emotional.
3) Reward – Finally, there is a reward, which helps your brain figure out if this particular loop is worth remembering for the future.
All aspects of the loop must occur for a habit to form. (Duhigg, C. 2013)
Duhigg also suggests other elements that help us form a new habit and uses several examples from advertising and experiments to develop an argument that the habit loop above in itself is not enough for new habits to form. Cue, routine and reward are the components that need to be present. However, a new habit is only formed if there is fuel to power it; craving.
Changing someone’s habit still seems a huge task even if there’s a craving. Keystone habits suggest that success doesn’t depend on getting everything right, but instead relies on picking one or two priorities, delivering them and using them as powerful levers, or “small wins” that set the scene for other small wins to happen. Keystone habits are foundational behaviours that you can build on to create a cluster of good habits.
A cluster of habits could be described as a routine. Good or bad routines are difficult to shift and are often completed subconsciously. At this point a habit is just something you do and can be difficult to describe when somebody asks. Changing a whole routine is difficult, Duhigg suggests book ending new with old habits. Embedding new habits into old ones helps make the new one just part of the routine. Especially if they create a fresh sense of identity and a feeling of ownership.
This fresh sense of identity can be even more powerful if the habit was formed as part of a society. Movements don’t happen because everyone suddenly aligns. They begin through friendship, they grow through communities and they are sustained by new habits that change participants’ sense of self.
Bringing it together – The six ways to help form a habit
We understand that a habit is essentially made up of three key elements (Cue, Routine, Reward). Its difficult to change a habit but the use of cravings, identifying keystone habits, book ending new habits with old and making it social all help us to form new ones.
How could we form a D365/PowerApp habit?
- Work out the key parts of the habit loop you want to modify – What’s the cue, routine, reward and craving. Routines are usually easy to identify as they’re observable behaviours, by and large. For example, if you’re looking at your sales process the
- Cue would be picking up the phone to close a deal
- Routine would be the sales process you follow during the deal
- Reward would be the commission you get at the end of the process
All this could be built on a craving to earn more money or beat fellow team members. The loop you want to modify should relate to a key strategy, policy or procedure to ensure its driven forward.
2. Work closely with users during the project – You should understand the habits they have when working with systems in their organisation. Could D365/PowerApps sit in between two existing habits (used as book ends), making it feel a natural process. For example: you identify that users always log in to Outlook before opening another core system to complete the rest of the process. You have two habits in place:
- Open Outlook to start process eg: create an email and send it to the customer
- Open Core system to complete the order
In this example could the D365 app for outlook be used in the middle of this process to make life easier for the user:
- Open Outlook – Create an email
- Open the app within outlook
- Identify if there are any other opportunities for that customer
- Track the email against a contact/create a new contact
- Send email with a mention to the open opportunity
- Complete the process in the core system
Although adding additional steps you are helping to trigger the craving mentioned in point 1. As the project progresses you may want to take the rest of the process from the core system into Dynamics/PowerApp.
- Find the Key(Stone) – Changing habits is tough. Is there one habit that could spark “chain reactions” that help other good habits take hold. For example, could CRM load as soon as people log on in the morning. Seeing it as soon as someone logs on could encourage them to start using the system as soon as they start the day. This in turn could lead to them making some great suggestions on system improvements.
- Make the experience rewarding – Does the new system save me time or help me identify leads quicker (thus making more money). This is a key part of the habit and ensures people use it as part of their routine.
- Avoid the big bang – The process starts before people use the system. Many people plan for a big CRM bang when they deliver the system. However, the evidence in this blog suggests that delivering small items will help people form the habit. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t think big but it does mean that you should go live with manageable chunks that quickly deliver what you promised. In this case we may want to improve the sales process for all products but would focus on 1 or 2 key ones to start with.
- Plan for a long go live – Manage expectation and add as much time as possible to go live. This is a tricky one, but it does mean there’s more chance of a new D365 system/PowerApp embedding itself. However, this doesn’t mean you sit their doing nothing. Get in and support users doing their day job, learn from them so the next portion of the go live is a success and use feedback to make changes to show them you’re listening.
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Great resources used to put this blog together
Andrews, B. R. (1903) ‘Habit’. The American Journal of Psychology, 14(2), pp 121–49.
Duhigg, C. (2013) ‘The Power of Habit: Why we do what we do and how to change’. New York: Random House.
Gardner, B. (2015). A review and analysis of the use of ‘habit’ in understanding, predicting and influencing health-related behaviour. Health Psychology Review. 9(3), pp 277-295.
Seger, C.A. and Spiering, B.J. (2011) ‘A critical review of habit learning and the basal ganglia. Frontiers in systems neuroscience’, 5, p 66.
Yerkes, R.M. and Dodson, J.D. (1908) ‘The relation of strength of stimulus to rapidity of habit‐formation’. Journal of Comparative Neurology and Psychology, 18(5), pp 459-482.
Lally, P., Van Jaarsveld, C.H., Potts, H.W. and Wardle, J. (2010) ‘How are habits formed: Modelling habit formation in the real world’. European Journal of Social Psychology, 40(6), pp 998-1009.
Lally, P., Wardle, J. and Gardner, B. (2011) ‘Experiences of habit formation: a qualitative study’. Psychology, health & medicine, 16(4), pp 484-489.
Judah, G., Gardner, B. and Aunger, R. (2013) ‘Forming a flossing habit: an exploratory study of the psychological determinants of habit formation’. British journal of health psychology, 18(2), pp 338-353.
Gardner, B. and Lally, P. (2013) ‘Does intrinsic motivation strengthen physical activity habit? Modelling relationships between self-determination, past behaviour, and habit strength’. Journal of Behavioural Medicine, 36(5), pp 488-497.
Kaushal, N. and Rhodes, R.E. (2015) ‘Exercise habit formation in new gym members: a longitudinal study’. Journal of Behavioural Medicine, 38(4), pp 652-663.
Dreisbach, G. and Bäuml, K.H.T. (2014) ‘Don’t do it again! Directed forgetting of habits.’ Psychological Science, 25(6), pp 1242-1248.
Websites
How to break your worst work habits, Emily Triplett Lentz (2016). Accessed 23/9/18 https://www.lifehacker.com.au/2016/08/how-to-break-your-worst-work-habits
Who’s responsible for our tech habits? Its complicated. Accessed 2/10/18
https://www.wired.com/story/whos-responsible-for-your-bad-tech-habits-its-complicated
Quanta, CRM is Not a Magic Wand. Accessed 9/10/18
https://www.quantacrm.com/2018/01/31/why-crm-implementations-fail
Keystone Habits: 7 Small Changes That Create Big Results. Accessed 12/11/18
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