Education Archives - Gamified UK - #Gamification Expert

The Hook – Frame – Action Framework: High Impact Language for Marketers

January 6, 2025 by Andrzej Marczewski

Hfa header The Hook 8211 Frame 8211 Action Framework High Impact Language for Marketers

I am a big believer in the power of words. We often forget just how powerful they can be, whether it is talking to our friends, loved ones or – in this instance – potential customers.

In marketing, or CRO or any type of sales-like activity, just like with gamification, we are trying to encourage our users / customers to behave in a certain way. You need to capture their attention, keep them interested and then guide them towards an outcome of some sort – and this is really hard.

I built the the Hook – Frame – Action framework to see if I could create a clear and structured approach to achieving these goals, to create messaging that is both compelling and effective. I went back to the books (so to speak) and looked at cognitive biases again, a perennial favourite in gamification to see how those could be added to simple language to create higher impact.

Below is the fruits of me efforts. I look at the overall concept of Hook – Frame – Action, then some biases to use and finally some retail inspired examples.

I hope you find them handy and that they inspire you to consider your language more carefully.

Understanding the Hook – Frame – Action Framework

At its core, the Hook – Frame – Action framework simplifies persuasive communication into three essential steps:

Hook: Captures attention and sparks curiosity.
Frame: Shapes the audience’s perceptions and motivates engagement using emotional or psychological responses, often employing cognitive biases.
Action: Guides the audience with a clear and compelling call-to-action.

Step 1: Hook – Capturing Attention

The Hook is the starting point of any effective message. In a world filled with information, noise and distractions, the hook is your opportunity to stand out. It should grab attention, spark curiosity, and prepare the audience for what’s next. In arcade games, this was the attention screen, used to draw people into the game.

Crafting Effective Hooks

Use the Curiosity Gap: Hint at a solution without revealing it straight away.
- Example: “What if you could double your productivity in just one week?”
Create a Sense of Urgency or Exclusivity.
- Example: “Limited-time offer: Don’t miss out!”
Tap into Novelty or Surprise.
- Example: “This one change could save you thousands.”

Step 2: Frame – Shaping Perceptions

The Frame stage is where you shape how the audience perceives your message. It’s not enough to grab attention; you need to guide their thinking and motivate them. This is where the cognitive biases I mentioned come into play.

The Ten Key Cognitive Biases

Bias	Definition	Marketing Example
Loss Aversion	People fear losing more than they desire to gain.	Hook: “Don’t let this deal slip away!” Frame: “Save £50 if you order before midnight.” Action: “Order now and secure your discount.”
Social Proof	People are influenced by others’ actions.	Hook: “Join thousands who’ve discovered this secret!” Frame: “Over 10,000 happy customers can’t be wrong.” Action: “Sign up today and become part of the community.”
Scarcity Effect	Limited availability increases perceived value.	Hook: “Hurry—time is running out!” Frame: “Only 3 left in stock—don’t miss your chance.” Action: “Act now to claim yours before it’s gone.”
Anchoring Bias	People rely heavily on the first piece of info.	Hook: “Was £1,000, now just £600!” Frame: “Save £400 instantly with this exclusive offer.” Action: “Claim your discount today—limited time only.”
Endowment Effect	People value things more when they feel ownership.	Hook: “Imagine this smartwatch enhancing your daily routine.” Frame: “Try it free for 30 days and see how it changes your life.” Action: “Sign up now and start your free trial today.”
Decoy Effect	A third option makes one choice more appealing.	Hook: “Looking for the perfect streaming plan?” Frame: “Choose Basic (£9), Standard (£15), or Premium (£16).” Action: “Upgrade to Premium today for the best value!”
Bandwagon Effect	People do something because others are doing it.	Hook: “Everyone’s talking about this trend!” Frame: “Join over 1 million users smashing their fitness goals.” Action: “Download the app now and see the results for yourself.”
Zeigarnik Effect	People remember incomplete tasks better.	Hook: “You’re almost there!” Frame: “Complete your profile to unlock exclusive rewards.” Action: “Finish now and claim your prize.”
Reciprocity	People feel obligated to return a favor or gift.	Hook: “We’ve got something special for you!” Frame: “Enjoy a free eBook just for visiting our site.” Action: “Download your free copy now—no strings attached.”
Framing Effect	Info presentation influences decision-making.	Hook: “Save 30% on your energy bill—just by switching!” Frame: “Switch now and keep more money in your pocket.” Action: “Sign up today and start saving instantly.”

Step 3: Action – Closing the Loop

The final step, Action, translates interest into behaviour. A strong call-to-action should be concise and clear:

Direct: Use action verbs like “Sign up,” “Order now.”
Benefit-Oriented: Highlight what the audience will gain.
- Example: “Save £100 today!”
Immediate: Reduce hesitation by emphasizing urgency.
- Example: “Offer ends at midnight—don’t wait!”

In the world of online retail, this might look more like a CTA button than a sentence. You have set the audience up, no you need to give them a simple call to action that reinforces the key message:

CTA Button Text: “Shop the Sale”
CTA Button Text: “Sign Up Now”
CTA Button Text: “Get Started Today”

Retail Examples

Clothing Retailer (Scarcity Effect)
- Hook: “Your perfect winter coat is waiting!”
- Frame: “Only 5 left in your size—don’t let it slip away.” (Scarcity Effect)
- Action: “Shop now and get free next-day delivery!”
- CTA Button Text: “Shop the Sale”
Electronics Store (Anchoring Bias)
- Hook: “Unbeatable savings on the latest tech!”
- Frame: “Was £999, now just £699—save £300 today.” (Anchoring Bias)
- Action: “Order now and upgrade your gadgets!”
- CTA Button Text: “Order Now”
Beauty Products (Social Proof)
- Hook: “Find out why everyone’s talking about this skincare set.”
- Frame: “Trusted by 10,000+ happy customers for glowing skin.” (Social Proof)
- Action: “Get yours today and receive a free gift!”
- CTA Button Text: “Shop Now”
Furniture Store (Endowment Effect)
- Hook: “Imagine your home transformed with this sofa.”
- Frame: “Try it in your home for 30 days—risk-free!” (Endowment Effect)
- Action: “Order today and enjoy free returns!”
- CTA Button Text: “Buy Now”
Grocery Delivery (Zeigarnik Effect)
- Hook: “Your basket is waiting!”
- Frame: “Complete your order now and get free delivery on your first shop.” (Zeigarnik Effect)
- Action: “Finish checking out today to claim your offer!”
- CTA Button Text: “Complete Order”

Template

Use this template to design your campaign:

Product/Service: [Enter here]

Hook: [Write your attention-grabbing statement here.]
Frame: [Incorporate a cognitive bias to shape perception.]
Action: [A clear and compelling call-to-action.]
CTA: [A clear, very short version of your action]

Conclusion

With luck, this was interesting. I want the Hook – Frame – Action framework to be a practical and informed approach to creating messages that engage and convert – let me know in the comments if you think I managed it!

And before I forget – I trained a simple GPT to help https://chatgpt.com/g/g-6766e88c5280819185fc18528e492cbd-the-hook-frame-action-framework

Reading List

Loewenstein, G. (1994). The psychology of curiosity: A review and reinterpretation. Psychological Bulletin, 116(1), 75–98.
Nettle, D. (2006). The evolution of personality variation in humans and other animals. American Psychologist, 61(6), 622–631.
Tversky, A., & Kahneman, D. (1991). Loss aversion in riskless choice: A reference-dependent model. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 106(4), 1039–1061.
Cialdini, R. B. (2001). Influence: Science and Practice. Allyn & Bacon.
Worchel, S., Lee, J., & Adewole, A. (1975). Effects of supply and demand on ratings of object value. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 32(5), 906–914.
Kahneman, D., & Tversky, A. (1984). Choices, values, and frames. American Psychologist, 39(4), 341–350.
Fogg, B. J. (2009). A behavior model for persuasive design. Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Persuasive Technology, 40.
Kahneman, D. (2011). Thinking, Fast and Slow. Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Ariely, D. (2008). Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions. HarperCollins.
Thaler, R. H., & Sunstein, C. R. (2008). Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness. Yale University Press.
Heath, C., & Heath, D. (2007). Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die. Random House.

Why Gorillas (and Games) are such good Teachers

November 12, 2024 by Andrzej Marczewski

Games have always been excellent tools for teaching and learning. There are plenty of reasons why this may be, but for me, it comes down to one simple thing – they give context to the materials.

Let us for a moment take a simple example—projectile paths.

We could look at the equation

Image Why Gorillas and Games are such good Teachers

Or, we could add context to the idea and play Gorillas instead, where we get to alter the velocity and angle of a player throwing a projectile at another player.

https://github.com/HunorMarton/gorillas

Obviously, the game is more fun. We are learning about how velocity, launch angles and gravity all work to create parabolic projectile paths in a fun way. Do you learn everything? No, but it gives context to the formula and brings it to life.

You can start understanding how to apply the formula by getting this context. To improve the learning aspect of a game like this, you could add a real-time version of the formula to the game that updates as you change variables, so you can see how it all fits together, but you get the idea.

Another example of this would be learning Civil War history by playing games that recreate those battles. You could learn geography and geopolitical theory from Civilization, city planning from Sim City etc.

The opportunities are endless!

So when you look at games and gamification, consider how you add context to the facts, information or whatever else you are trying to get people to engage with, to make them more interesting and cement the knowledge.

The Ludic Spirit Player Type Quiz

February 23, 2024 by Andrzej Marczewski

So here I am again. Another player type categorisation another quiz 🙂

The Ludic Player Type Quiz

It’s a simple 10-question quiz and at the end of it you will be given one or more player types and a nice little image like this

My ludic player type 7 500x500 The Ludic Spirit Player Type Quiz — my ludic player type

Just as a reminder, the player types are

Adventurer: These individuals embody curiosity and a thirst for discovery. They find excitement in pushing boundaries and uncovering what lies beyond. Their fearless exploration enriches their lives with new experiences and perspectives.
Creator: Creators thrive on imagination and the act of making. Whether it’s building worlds, crafting stories, or expressing themselves through art, they find fulfillment in bringing new creations to life. Their creativity fuels the imaginations of others and inspires awe and wonder.
Actor: Actors breathe life into the creations of others, infusing them with personality and depth. Through role-play and imaginative storytelling, they immerse themselves in new worlds and experiences, enriching the play for themselves and those around them.
Learner: Learners approach play as a means of growth and self-improvement. They eagerly seek out new challenges and opportunities to expand their skills and knowledge. Every game or activity becomes a chance to learn and develop, making them constantly evolve and adapt.
Anarchist: Anarchists disrupt the status quo and challenge conventional norms. While their chaotic tendencies may seem unpredictable, they bring a sense of spontaneity and unpredictability to the play. Though they may sometimes upset the balance, they also inject a sense of excitement and novelty into the experience.

Lsp 20cards The Ludic Spirit Player Type Quiz

Enjoy!!

The 4 Pillars of Change in Gamification, Optimisation and Behaviour Change

February 6, 2024 by Andrzej Marczewski

In my new world, I focus on optimisation a lot in the realms of e-commerce performance. Testing, personalisation etc. It has taken a very long time for me to realise that my new world is almost identical to my old world of gamification. At their most basic, they both rely on 4 key pillars to succeed as they are both focused on behavioural change.

I wanted to just explore those briefly here with you, as much as a way of consolidating the thought process as much as anything else!!

The four pillars are.

What do you want to change?
Why do you want to change it?
How are you going to change it?
How are you going to measure the success of the change?

What do you want to change?

In gamification as in optimisation, this is always the starting point. What are you going to change? When considering using gamification, the answer might be “I want to get fit”. In optimisation, it may be “I want to make it easier to add products to cart”.

Whatever the change is, you need to be able to define it as simply as possible and as concisely.

Why do you want to change it?

This is more important than anything else. If you don’t understand why you want to change something, you can never hope to actually change it. Usually, you would want some sort of data to support the What.

In the case of fitness, it could be “I am overweight for my age and height and feel unhealthy.” In optimisation, it might be “UX research has shown that people get frustrated needing to go to the product detail page to add common products to their cart.”

How are you going to change it?

This is where you get to look at the problem from as close as possible. Just saying “I want to get fit” is a pretty big challenge. You want to set some manageable goals and have multiple how steps in reality. In this instance, it might be

Week 1: Reduce sugar intake and do 10 press-ups and 10 sit-ups a day
Week 2: Reduce fat intake, do 10 press-ups, 10 sit-ups and walk for half an hour a day
Week 3: Reduce alcohol intake, do 20 press-ups, 20 sit-ups and walk for an hour a day

And so on. You would then include some kind of gamification to make some of this more enjoyable and manageable such as Zombies, Run!

With our e-commerce challenge, we may look at it and say “Adding an add-to-cart button on each product on a product listing page will reduce the need to go to the product details page thus reducing customer frustration”.

In both instances, you are choosing a change or changes that are easy to achieve and help chip away at the initial challenge you have discovered in the Why part of this process.

How are you going to measure the success of the change?

None of this is of any benefit if you are unable to define and measure the success of the change you are making, as well as consider what other effects this change might have.

With the fitness challenge, you could look to measure your weight at the end of each week or month. If your weight is decreasing, then your changes might be working. However, you may also want to check “guard rail” metrics. Check your blood sugar for instance. If your weight is dropping, but your blood sugar is dangerously low – then you need to rethink the changes you are making.

In the e-commerce space, you could measure the number of items being added to the bag, to prove that making it easier to add content to the bag increases something. However, if not letting people get to the product details pages means they are buying lower-value items or even returning more items because they don’t see important info – then the change is actually doing more harm than good.

A great example a friend of mine uses is “I can make your customers buy tonnes more products by dropping the price of everything to £1, but will that change really be of benefit to you and how would you know if you measure nothing other than the purchase rates?”

So always ensure you can define and measure success with as many metrics as you need to mitigate unintended consequences wherever possible!!

Putting it together

In our gamification example, we would have a hypothesis that looks a bit like this.

I want to get fit because I am overweight.
I am going to do this by changing a number of existing dietary habits and introducing more exercise with the aid of Zombies, Run! I will know I have succeeded by checking my weight and also ensuring that my general health is maintained or improved.

In the optimisation version, we would say.

I want to make it easier to add products to basket because customers get frustrated having to go to the product details page every time.
I will try doing this by putting an add-to-basket button on each product on the product listing page. I will know this is working because average items in the basket will increase, frustration metrics will decrease and there will be no adverse effects on average order value or overall revenue.

Before you go!!

It is really, really, really important to not view this as linear! You will need to iterate on the hypothesis if it starts to show signs of failure! If it is succeeding, you may also want to iterate – add new ideas and get even bolder with the “What you want to change” part of the hypothesis as more data becomes available.

4 pillars 500x333 The 4 Pillars of Change in Gamification Optimisation and Behaviour Change — 4 pillars of change

Also, never underestimate the knowledge you have – it took me far too long to tie the Gamification to the Optimisation side of my mind!

Never settle, never stay still!

The TRAC to Teamwork

January 12, 2024 by Andrzej Marczewski

A long time ago, I created a little framework for improving teamwork in organisations. I had forgotten about it until a recent conversation! So here it is, the TRAC to Teamwork

Trust: Develop a culture of transparency and honest communication.
Role Clarity: Ensure all team members understand their roles clearly and where the boundaries are between their roles and the roles of others.
Autonomy: Empower everyone to work independently within their roles and ensure they feel confident enough in their team to collaborate where needed.
Competence: Ensure all team members have the correct skills to achieve their goals and perform their roles successfully. Offer additional development where needed.

Each of these pillars is essential for teams to work well together, with each being as important as the last. Without Trust, no one will share information and there can be no autonomy.
Without Role Clarity, people either step on each other’s toes or they begin to create silos based on what they think they should be doing – then refuse to do anything beyond that!
Without Autonomy, people feel they are being micromanaged and undervalued / untrusted.
Without Competence, people are unable to be autonomous as others will not trust them to work effectively without extra support.

Essentially, everyone needs to know what their job is, know how to do it, be free to work in the best way for them and the teams they work with and be trusted and trusting within their team!

Let me know your thoughts on this!