Episodes
Trying something new is hard at the macro level. Yelp reviews reduce that uncertainty that comes with new things. But how do they help businesses achieve organic and meaningful reviews? In this episode, host Kristen Berman is joined by Akhil Kuduvalli Ramesh, VP of Consumer Product at Yelp. He explains why Yelp prefers quality over quantity when it comes to reviews and how your Yelp review creates community and helps new businesses. They also talk about high-frequency low-risk experience...
Published 05/31/22
Published 05/31/22
You’ve probably heard of Asana or maybe you already use it in your workplace. In this episode, Paige Costello, Core Product Leader at Asana, joins the show to explain the features that help codify and amplify some of the key components that make work to actually work. We talk about interesting concepts such as deadline visibility, social loafing, long-term planning and authentic acts of recognition. Let's take a look at what work actually is and which are the most important (and sometimes...
Published 05/17/22
In the last few years, buy now pay later has become the hottest development in the digital payment space. The flexibility of this type of models can bring many benefits for companies that know how to implement them, but the irrational decisions that can arise should also be part of a company's responsibility. In this episode, our host Kristen Berman talks with Nupur Kantamneni, responsible for Consumer Product, one of three product pillars at Affirm. We delve into the behavioral strategies...
Published 04/19/22
What are the most common mistakes people make looking for love online - and how do apps try to solve them? In this episode, host Kristen Berman talks with Jin Chua and Matt Gray, a pair of product leaders working at Match, one of the largest dating platforms in the US. They both share fundamental product design decisions to increase engagement between users, as well as the company’s philosophy on attraction and the hard work from their team of dating experts giving super useful insight....
Published 04/05/22
Let’s take a ride into some of the behavioral principles that made Lyft a trustworthy transportation solution for millions. In this episode, host Kristen Berman is joined by the almighty Kira Wampler. Kira has had a wildly incredible career launching and growing dozens of products. We talk about her time at Lyft: diving into the brand’s core philosophy of “treating better” and how rating systems and incentives took Lyft into a more human approach. We also discuss her current efforts at...
Published 03/22/22
Bert Lui is Co-founder and CPO at SetSail, an AI-powered sales tracking, motivation, and empowerment solution. Not only have they changed the classic incentive system within sales organizations, they figured out how to drive the right behaviors within that incentive system in sales. We deep dive on the trade-offs between extrinsic and intrinsic motivations, how being charismatic affects your sales, the thin line between compliments and gratitude and the pros and cons of quotas. So let's get...
Published 03/08/22
Letting a person into your home involves a careful evaluation process, but with the right behavioral principles, it can become a task that you can easily perform from your smartphone. In this episode, the talented Product Leader Jiaona Zhang shares the most significant lessons learned while being part of the Product Development team in Airbnb, such as the importance of progress trackers, real time feedback and host measurement beyond the guest reviews. Listen and learn how to build...
Published 03/01/22
It’s well known that Netflix has made history by revolutionizing the way we consume and interact with TV series and movies. This process has required considerable experimentation and result testing, leading to the invention of a past time we now know and love: binge-watching. In this episode, Gibson Biddle, one of the leaders who established the fundamentals for Netflix success joins the show to have an insightful conversation from what predicts our movie preferences to conversion rates of...
Published 02/22/22
Next week, behavioral scientist and co-founder of Irrational Labs Kristen Berman returns. This time, she’s sitting down with even more product pioneers and thought leaders from your favorite apps. You’ll hear conversations with guests like former Netflix product head Gibson Biddle as Kristen gets to the bottom of binge-watching. Listen to marketing powerhouse Kira Wampler breaking down how Lyft got us to ride in cars with strangers. VP of Webflow and former product leader at Airbnb explains...
Published 02/15/22
The Science of Change host and behavior scientist Kristen Berman is back again to save you from another classic holiday blunder: not keeping your New Year's Resolution. In this mini-isode, Kristen breaks down three behavior science principles that will help make sure your resolution sticks in 2022. Hint: one might involve getting a furry friend. But the best resolution of all? Make sure you follow and like The Science of Change for all-new episodes starting this January. Episode...
Published 12/28/21
The holidays are here and that means it’s the season for gift giving! But how can you make sure you’re giving the right gift this year? In this mini-sode, our host Kristen Berman uses behavior science to unwrap three common mistakes we make in exchanging gifts, as well as some tips on how to avoid them. Remember not all gifts are bought, sometimes we can put our creativity to work and think of something to give that will contribute to someone else's life in an unexpected way. Let's jump...
Published 12/15/21
Who said numbers ain’t fun? When it comes to football and sports in general, many fans try to develop a new way to connect with the game through analytics and predictions based on stats. Data research has become so important that it now determines how teams make decisions and how they operate as a whole, defining what their strategy is and even becoming the key to winning a championship. In this episode, host Kristen Berman talks with Eric Eager, VP of Research and Development at Pro Football...
Published 11/16/21
What is the perfect job for you? In a world with thousands of companies and millions of job seekers, what’s the most efficient way of finding your dream job? In this episode of Science of Change, Kristen talks to Ada Yu, Director of Product Management at LinkedIn, to understand how this platform helps people and companies find the perfect match while mitigating bias, helping seekers apply for the right openings, and making the hiring processes much easier for everyone. Job sites are...
Published 11/09/21
Americans have a complicated relationship with diets, and obesity is a global epidemic rapidly becoming the single most preventable cause of costly chronic diseases. To talk about the difficulties of weight loss and how to overcome them, our host Kristen Berman talks to Julie O’Brien, behavioral scientist and former head of Applied Behavioral Science at WW. There are a ton of diets and weight loss programs out there, so does Weight Watchers actually work? What strategies have they developed...
Published 11/02/21
Behavior Change is hard, but if there is an area even harder to master it’s personal finances. Things like saving and building a credit score are far from our favorite activities. In this episode of The Science of Change, Kristen talks to Product Manager and the Growth Lead for Credit Karma Money, Kyle Thibaut. Kyle and Kristen talk about getting people to save and spend, habit formation, removing friction, and overall changing people’s relationship with money; all leading to Credit Karma’s...
Published 10/26/21
In this episode of Science of Change, our host Kristen Berman talks to one of the sharpest applied behavioral scientists out there and the Chief Product Officer at Big Health, Kelvin Kwong. The popular sleep app Sleepio and the anxiety therapeutic app Daylight are some of Big Health’s products in the rising market of health apps. How have they managed to join behavioral science and clinical psychology methods into an online service? Kelvin and Kristen go deep on the science, the methods, and...
Published 10/19/21
In this second episode of The Science of Change, our host Kristen Berman dives into one of the most successful apps for language learning: Duolingo. Kristen sits with Duolingo’s Head of Product Management Cem Kansu to talk about the ways this amazing app keeps people engaged and learning. From their daily streaks and batches, all the way to the length and difficulty of each exercise, Kristen and Cem unpack the behavioral science behind Duolingo App. Listen now and learn from the challenges,...
Published 10/12/21
Welcome to https://www.setsail.co/podcasts/ (The Science of Change podcast)! In this first episode, our host Kristen Berman kicks it off with a case study on an enormously successful company: Peloton. Kristen sits with David Packles, Senior Director of Product Management at Peloton Interactive, to unpack the behavioral tactics used by this game-changing home fitness enterprise. From the way they’ve crafted workouts to their engagement strategies such as leaderboards and streaks, Peloton’s...
Published 10/05/21
Join host Kristen Berman, behavior scientist and co-founder of Irrational Labs, as she chats with visionary product and organizational leaders to uncover their insights about user behavior — and how they’ve managed to change it. She'll mash this up with some of the latest research in the field to get to the bottom of our core psychologies. So let's dive in and unlock the secrets behind The Science of Change.
Published 09/24/21