😮💨 Ego Depletion:
Our self-control weakens after making tough choices, making it harder to resist temptations later.
If you have to force yourself to do something, you are less willing or less able to exert self-control when the next challenge presents itself.
i.e., unless you're given a strong incentive to do so, people will often feel demotivated to continue with tasks, even if it's towards a goal that they want to achieve.
This is one reason why you're far more likely to snack on ice cream in the evenings, after a long day, than in the morning. Your ability to make a healthy decision (self-control) has been impeded.
Physical depletion
A discovery made by Baumeister, shows that ego depletion is not just a metaphor, but a measurable biological process.
The nervous system consumes more glucose as the brain completes effortful tasks (such as decision-making, self-control or moderate cognitive exercise).
Having low glucose increases the likelihood that you'll give in to an easier route, or give up entirely. It becomes harder to do hard things.
✅Conversion rates
Users may come to your service, already depleted, and not convert.
To offset ego depletion, incentives are crucial to engage and motivate people.
✅Input quality
Bored or tired users input worse data.
✅Effort & motivation
Long sign-up processes, or those with a high cognitive load, may be exhausting users.
Be concise and try to reduce cognitive load.
Offer strong and clear incentives.
Give the user natural chances to pause, and reset (i.e., they don't need to learn every feature right away).