Targeting biases to increase organ donations

Researchers in the United Kingdom designed 8 separate messages on the GOV.UK website asking for users to become organ donors. These messages were designed based on principles of behavioral science. The messages included appeals to social norms, visual cues, description of losses if they didn’t donate, description of gains if they did, and calls to action. Nearly all the messages used increased registration as compared to a basic request for participation. The most effective method invoked the idea of reciprocity, asking the user to consider the scenario in which he needed an organ transplant. This intervention is expected to result in an additional 96,000 registrations per year.