Know Endowed Progress Effect
You’re at your local café, and they hand you a loyalty card. “Buy ten coffees, and the eleventh is free,” the barista says. But there’s a twist—the first two spaces on the card are already stamped. Suddenly, your goal doesn’t seem so distant. Instead of seeing the full ten-coffee journey ahead of you, you’re already 20% of the way there.
What happened in that moment? You went from feeling like you hadn’t started to seeing yourself as part of the way to a reward. You’re not just buying coffee anymore; you’re completing a journey. This is the Endowed Progress Effect in action, a subtle but powerful psychological nudge that makes people more likely to stay engaged and complete a task because they feel like they’ve already started.
What is the spark?
The Endowed Progress Effect is all about one simple truth: people are more likely to pursue a goal when they feel like they’ve already made progress. It doesn’t matter whether that progress is real or artificially created—what matters is the perception of having started.
It’s rooted in the idea that we’re hardwired to seek completion and avoid feeling like we’ve made no progress. Imagine two loyalty cards—one has 10 spaces with two already stamped, and the other has 8 empty spaces. Both require the same effort to complete, but research shows that people with the pre-stamped card are significantly more likely to finish. Why? Because they feel like they’re already on their way.
This phenomenon was first studied by Nunes and Drèze in 2006, who found that when customers at a car wash were given a loyalty card with pre-filled spaces, they were twice as likely to complete the card compared to those with an empty one. The key insight? It wasn’t about the reward itself. It was about the perception of progress.
Why it works
When used well, the Endowed Progress Effect makes people more likely to take action, complete tasks, and engage with your product. Here’s why:
- Commitment and Consistency: Once we start, we want to finish. People like to stay consistent with their past actions. Once we start something, we feel committed to finishing it. That’s why a loyalty card with two stamps feels different from a blank one—it tells your brain, "You’ve already started, so finish what you began."
- Optimism Bias: Humans are naturally optimistic about progress. When we see even small progress, we believe we can achieve the goal. This pushes us to keep going. A pre-stamped card, for example, gives us confidence: "I’m already part of the way there."
- The Endowment Effect: People value things more when they feel like they own them. When you give someone a small head start, like two stamps on a loyalty card, they feel like they "own" that progress. They don’t want to lose what’s already theirs, so they’re more likely to complete the task.
Types of endowment
There are two main ways to apply the Endowed Progress Effect: initial endowment and incremental progress.
- Initial Endowment: This is when users are given a head start right from the beginning, like pre-filled stamps on a loyalty card or bonus points in a system. It works because it gives an instant sense of ownership and progress.
- Incremental Progress: This approach is about giving users small wins along the way. Each step feels like a mini-accomplishment, building motivation over time. Think of it like a progress bar that fills up each time a small task is completed or a loyalty program that offers rewards at different milestones.
Both approaches are useful, but they serve different purposes:
- Initial Endowment gets users hooked right away by giving them a reason to continue.
- Incremental Progress keeps users engaged over the long term, building momentum as they go.
The best designs often combine both: start with a small endowment and then keep users feeling like they’re steadily making progress.
But what are the common design patterns using endowed progress?
- Point Systems: Point systems are a popular way to create a sense of progress. Whether it’s a loyalty program or a gamified app, starting users off with a few points gives them an immediate sense of achievement. Think of it as a digital version of the pre-stamped card.
For example:
- Starting with 100 points toward a 1,000-point reward feels better than starting from zero.
- It provides a psychological head start, motivating users to keep going.
- Pre-Filled Punch Cards: This is the most straightforward use of endowed progress. Like the car wash example in Nunes and Drèze’s study, giving customers a punch card with a few pre-filled spots reduces the effort it seems to take to reach the goal.
- Common in coffee shops, gyms, and subscription services.
- The closer customers feel to the reward, the more motivated they are to finish.
- Digital Progress Bars: In digital products, progress bars are everywhere—and for good reason. Whether it’s an app onboarding process or a multi-step purchase, showing progress visually makes tasks feel manageable.
- But here’s the trick: if the progress bar starts at 20% instead of zero, users feel like they’re already on their way.
- This small shift is often enough to push them to complete the task.
Things to watch for
While the Endowed Progress Effect is a powerful tool, it’s not without its challenges. So let's unpick them.
- Individual Differences: People aren’t all the same. Not everyone responds to progress in the same way. For some, seeing a partially completed goal is motivating. Others might feel indifferent or even sceptical. The effect can vary based on personality traits, past experiences, or even cultural backgrounds. Some people are naturally more driven by goals and rewards, while others may care more about the journey itself.
- Context Matters: The effectiveness of the Endowed Progress Effect heavily depends on the context in which it’s used. In a low-stakes situation, like collecting loyalty points for a coffee shop, the effect works well. But in high-stakes situations, such as making a large financial purchase, the same approach may not have the same impact. The size of the goal, the type of reward, and how often the user interacts with the system all influence how progress is perceived.
- Artificial Progress vs. Real Progress: One risk of using the Endowed Progress Effect is over-engineering artificial progress. If users sense that the progress doesn’t feel genuine, it can backfire. People don’t like feeling tricked, and if they realise that the "head start" was just a manipulative tactic, they might lose trust in your brand.
Ethical Practice
- Transparency and Authenticity: Fake progress kills trust. If you’re giving users a head start, it better be real. Showing a progress bar that’s further along than it should be, or offering points for actions they didn’t take, will backfire. People aren’t stupid—they’ll figure it out, and when they do, they’ll stop trusting your brand. Honesty isn’t just a nice-to-have—it’s essential.
- Avoiding Coercion: Motivating sits close to pressuring if you do it wrong. Yes, people are more likely to finish something they’ve started, but that doesn’t mean you should push them into doing something they don’t want to do. The goal is to empower users to complete tasks because they want to, not because they feel trapped.
- Understand the Psychological Weight: If users feel like they’re always being nudged to complete something or finish tasks, it can become exhausting. You don’t want them to feel burned out.
- Think Long-Term, Not Just Short-Term Wins: If you’re only thinking about immediate engagement—like getting users to complete one more purchase or one more task—you risk missing the bigger picture. In areas like fitness or financial health, users might be chasing small wins but losing sight of their larger goals.
Examples
- Retail, Starbucks’ Loyalty Program: When you sign up for Starbucks’ loyalty program, you don’t start from zero. They give you a few stars right away—before you’ve even made a purchase. This makes the goal of earning free drinks feel within reach. You already have a head start, which makes it easier to keep going.
- Online Platforms, LinkedIn’s Profile Completion Bar: LinkedIn uses a progress bar to encourage users to complete their profiles. But here’s the trick—they don’t start the bar at zero, even if your profile is almost empty. This small boost motivates users to keep going. Each new section filled moves the bar closer to "All-Star" status.
- Health & Wellness, Fitness Apps like Fitbit: When you first set up your Fitbit account, the app gives you simple, achievable goals. It might even count a few steps you took during setup, so you feel like you’re already working toward your daily target. From there, Fitbit tracks milestones and rewards you with badges.
