There’s only so much a nudge can do

You put the healthy snack at eye level. You make the button green. You tell people what others are doing. And for a while… it works. Conversions go up. Opt-ins increase. More people say yes to the better choice.

And you feel smart. Behavioral science smart. But then it flatlines. The healthy snack ends up in the bin. The click-through rate settles. The magic wears off.

That’s the thing about nudging. It’s not that it doesn’t work — it absolutely does. Just not forever. Nudges trigger action, but rarely commitment. They get you through the door, but they don’t make you stay.

That’s because behavior isn’t just a response to cues. It’s a relationship with meaning. With motivation. With context.

In a recent study at Cornell, people bought more healthy snacks when they were more visible — a textbook nudge. But the actual consumption didn’t rise. The snacks just… stayed there. A purchased intention with no follow-through.

That’s the paradox of behavioral design: the easier we make the choice, the less it may matter to the person making it.

So what does that mean for marketers? It means the real work starts after the nudge.

You want lasting change? Create commitment. Build feedback loops. Add friction, even. Yes, friction. Not the annoying kind, but the kind that asks for effort, for engagement, for meaning.

A nudge is a spark. But you still need kindling. And someone to tend the fire.