Persuasion vs Manipulation: Designing for Behavior Change in Healthcare

First, a thank you to our panelists Andrew Warner (VP of Product, Genome Medical), Joshua Fedder (Group Lead Product Manager, AKASA), Chris Boggs (Senior UX/UI Designer, Priority Designs), and our own Leah McDougald (Managing Director, ZoCo Design).

Now, let’s dive in.

Five key factors

The panel unpacked five key factors that help determine whether a design choice persuades or manipulates, noting certain factors may have more weight than others depending on the context.

1. Context & Impact: What  short or long term ripple effects might this decision have, especially for vulnerable users?
2. Clarity: Is the information presented in a way users can clearly understand?
3. Consent: Are users making informed decisions based on clear information or being nudged without having the full context?
4. Reversibility: Can users easily change their mind or undo an action?
5. User Benefit: Does the design serve both user and organizational needs, or only the business?

Together, these factors form a spectrum. The more they lean toward clarity, consent, and benefit, the more likely the design is persuasive—not manipulative.

Why this matters in healthcare

In healthcare, these design principles map directly to safety, compliance, and trust. And when done well, persuasive design can have a positive impact:

• Encouraging compliance with treatment plans
• Prompting healthcare providers to review critical safety alerts
• Supporting users to build healthy habits

At its core, the difference comes down to intention and transparency, which is why designers and UXers must pause to ask the hard questions.

What ZoCo is watching for

As we partner with healthcare organizations of all sizes, we bring these questions into every conversation and design decision:

• Would a user feel misled if we explained this design choice openly?
• Are we balancing business outcomes with genuine patient benefit?
• When does tailoring an experience based on someone's past behavior start to feel like pushing versus nudging?
• How do you think about the right amount of friction within your experience?
• Where can we align incentives to create win-wins for the business and users?

These checkpoints don’t guarantee perfect answers. But they help teams slow down and surface the gray areas so we are moving fast, but thoughtfully.

The path forward

Persuasive design has a place in healthcare. It can boost engagement, increase adoption, and even guide patients toward healthier choices. And UX teams should understand how to wield that influence responsibly. The best designers don’t just push pixels. They ask the hard questions without being the roadblock. They make trade-offs clear, keep long-term impacts in sight, and help business teams hit their goals through knowing the user.

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