Fogg Behavior Model
Your users aren't lazy — your prompt fired when motivation was low and the task was hard.
- Term
- Fogg Behavior Model
- Equation
- B = MAP (Motivation × Ability × Prompt)
- Author
- BJ Fogg, Stanford
- Descendants
- Hooked, Tiny Habits, CRO practice
Forms & parts of speech
Definition in plain terms
The Fogg Behavior Model states that a behavior happens when three things converge at the same moment: MOTIVATION (the person wants the outcome), ABILITY (the action is easy enough), and a PROMPT (something triggers the action now). B = MAP. Miss any one and the behavior doesn't happen — and the model's action curve shows the trade: the higher the motivation, the harder the task can be; the easier the task, the less motivation required.
The mechanics
The model's working insight is diagnostic: every conversion failure is a Motivation, Ability, or Prompt failure, and they have different fixes. Motivation failures need value and proof (or accepting that low-motivation users need tinier asks); Ability failures need simplification — Fogg's own emphasis, since ability is cheaper to engineer than desire (cut fields, steps, thinking); Prompt failures need timing — the right trigger at the high-motivation moment (the post-success rating ask, the cart reminder at payday). The model underwrites the Hooked loop (its trigger-action core is B=MAP applied) and Fogg's own Tiny Habits method (shrink the behavior until ability is trivial).
When it matters
Reach for it in CRO (audit every funnel step: which letter is failing?), onboarding design (sequence asks by the motivation curve — big asks at peak excitement, tiny asks later), and lifecycle messaging (prompts timed to motivation moments, not marketing calendars). Its ethics note is Fogg's own: the model powers manipulation as readily as service — the design test is whether the behavior serves the user who performs it.
Synonyms & antonyms
Synonyms
Antonyms
Origin & history
Created by BJ Fogg of Stanford's Persuasive Technology (now Behavior Design) Lab — taught from the mid-2000s and formalized in his 2009 paper 'A Behavior Model for Persuasive Design'; originally B=MAT (trigger), revised to B=MAP (prompt). His students' startups carried it into product culture; Tiny Habits (2020) carried it home.
Etymology: source.
Usage trends
Search interest for this term over the last five years:
Common questions
- What is the Fogg Behavior Model?
- B = MAP — behavior happens when Motivation, Ability, and a Prompt converge above the action threshold.
- Who created it?
- BJ Fogg, founder of Stanford's Behavior Design Lab, who formalized the model in 2007-2009.
- How is it used in marketing?
- As a conversion diagnostic — every funnel failure is a motivation, ability, or prompt failure, each with a different fix.
Related tools & calculators
Resources & people to follow
- paperFogg (2009) — 'A Behavior Model for Persuasive Design'
- bookTiny Habits — BJ Fogg
- bookHooked — Eyal (the model applied)
Curated, non-competitor resources verified per term.
Related training
Disciplines
Areas of marketing where fogg behavior model is a core concern: