The Future-Self Concept: Unlocking Product Growth Potential

New to Fuel and Friction? Every week, I explore a core behavioral science idea, demonstrating its application in product and GTM strategies to drive growth, minimize churn, and enhance LTV.

👴 The Concept: Future Self

📖 What it is

The "future-self" concept delves into the psychological and cognitive relationship people have with their anticipated future states. This relationship is pivotal in understanding a range of behaviors and decisions, particularly those with long-term consequences.

👂️ Why it matters

When we think of ourselves today, we think of ourselves in first-person but when we imagine our future selves we think of ourselves in third-person.

We say we care about our future-self, research says otherwise. We view our future-self as a stranger, no different than someone we’ve never met passing on the street. I say I care about 65 year old Nate having enough for retirement… but I don’t in practice.

The way one perceives their future-self affects various life choices. Seeing one's future-self as a distant, unrelated entity might lead to procrastination, insufficient retirement savings, or neglecting health recommendations. Conversely, a closer connection to the future-self can inspire proactive actions beneficial in the long run.

🧠 The science of why it happens

Temporal Discounting

At the heart of the future-self concept is the principle of temporal discounting, we devalue rewards or consequences that are set in the future in favor of those that can be obtained immediately. When the future-self is perceived as a different or distant entity, this discounting can be more pronounced.

Self-Continuity

A key factor determining how decisions are made for the future is the degree of self-continuity a person feels — that is, how connected one's present self is to the future self. A stronger sense of self-continuity can result in more future-oriented decisions, as individuals may feel a greater responsibility toward their future well-being.

⚒️ Putting theory into practice

💡 How to leverage this concept

Enhance the future-self connection

Behavioral interventions, like visualizing the aged self using virtual reality or writing letters to one's future self, have been explored to strengthen the bond between the present and future selves. Such interventions aim to make future consequences more salient, thereby encouraging better decision-making in the present.

Build empathy towards the future-self

For savings apps or financial platforms, a design that fosters a closer connection between the user and their future-self can motivate more prudent financial behavior. Visual tools, for example, might show the projected growth of savings over time or simulate future financial scenarios to make the benefits of saving more tangible.

Bridge the gap with short-term rewards

While the concept of the future-self emphasizes the importance of long-term goals and outcomes, our innate human tendencies often lean towards the immediate. Bridging this disconnect requires innovative strategies, and one effective approach is to intersperse short-term rewards within the journey towards long-term objectives.

Offer immediate gratifications or milestones along the path. These bite-sized rewards act as positive reinforcements, motivating continued progress and ensuring that our commitment to the distant future doesn't wane in the face of present distractions.

Personalize for each user

Gauge how users view their future selves & adjust the strategies. Someone who sees their future-self as very distinct might benefit from stronger reminders or more vivid visualizations of future benefits, while others might resonate with different approaches.

Show an older “someone like you”

When we see people with similar backgrounds, circumstances, or aspirations facing the outcomes of their decisions, it humanizes the abstract idea of the future. We tend to be influenced more by those we can relate to. By presenting a future-self that mirrors our current demographics, values, or lifestyle, the future becomes more tangible and personal for us.

👓️ In the field research & examples

AARP's "Future Self" Study on Saving Behavior

AARP and Stanford researchers utilized virtual reality technology to generate age-progressed avatars of study participants. Participants were introduced to a digital reflection of themselves that visually aged in real-time, effectively allowing them to 'meet' their future selves. This was a unique approach to make the concept of the "future self" more immediate and visceral.

After this virtual interaction, participants were asked questions about their financial priorities. The main finding was that those who interacted with their aged avatars exhibited a greater inclination to allocate money for their future, indicating an increased willingness to save for retirement. In essence, meeting their "future self" made the idea of retirement more tangible and immediate, thereby affecting their financial decision-making in the present.

The study demonstrated the powerful role of self-perception in financial behavior. By making the future more relatable and less abstract, individuals seemed to place greater value on long-term financial security.

🖥️ Product Example

Here is a design mockup created by the team at Patent355 on how this concept theoretically could show up in a retirement savings app. As part of the onboarding process users are shown an augmented version of what they’ll look like at age 65 closing the current-self, future-self gap.

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