Persuasion techniques and examples to improve conversion

'You say tomato we say tomayto', 'c0mmunication breakdown', 'do you speaka my language', 'my baby’s gonna write me a letter'........? It’s funny how song lyrics, when paired with a catchy melody are easy to remember, bulging with emotive meaning.

How easy would it be, fellow webmasters, if there was an easier way to mainline understanding between a website and its target customers? Without the need to carefully group masthead, hero banner, top navigation, product description and call to action button?

The truth is web design and written text are like an arranged marriage. They barely know each other, they’ve never met and then suddenly there they are sharing a bed (or a webpage) for the next however many years.

Top tips for persuasive design

Page composition is often decided way before the body copy has been written - or vice versa. This rarely makes for a persuasive experience.…

How stimulating the full range of senses can affect consumer behaviour

Over the Summer, when we had a hot day and I was stuck on a commuter train I kept getting a whiff of somebody’s sun cream that has that coconut smell that instantly flooded my brain with thoughts of a summer holiday, sat on a beach, looking out to the horizon which takes my mind off being stuck on a commuter train. This smell got me thinking about neuromarketing, which considers all the senses and their response to marketing stimuli. We focus so hard on what we can see, we forget about our other senses, touch, sounds, smell. As marketing is now integrated with multi touch points I wondered how many people are putting these in action? In this post I would like to introduce and show learnings from the relatively new science- neuromarketing taken from the fantastic books by …

How Betfair used Persuasion Principles to increase conversions by 7%

The limited-choice days of consumers are long gone. Just a few clicks and you can have retailers lined up at your doorstep to deliver the product or offer the service you want. Such intense competition is probably the reason phrases like, 'persuasion tactics' are reiterated by people all around. But those who know how to put these theoretical 'tactics' into practice the right way are the real winners of the game. Our current case study also talks about one such winner. Betfair claims to be the world’s leading online betting exchange platform. Their business model is to allow bettors to set odds among themselves, which eliminates the need to have a traditional bookie. The site also offers a range of sports betting products, like poker and casino games, and much more. Business need? Attract traffic through various paid channels, like…

Increase conversion through 5 psychology principles

Pardot have released a useful whitepaper on 'Using Psychology to Increase Conversions', and this associated Infographic to summarise the key findings of their research.

As the marketing landscape is evolving they remind us that the way buyers think remains constant. Consumers interact with our products / services and this is determined by a 'pattern of behaviours which are derived from a set of psychological principles.'  Marketers can embrace within their creative and messaging within their sites and communications.

The report delves into 5 psychological principles, some you may recognise from the key principles of influence of American Pychologist Dr. Robert B. Cialdini. In brief, these are:

1. Social Proof: behaviours of others to influence our decisions.2. Loss Aversion: strong motivator is to 'avoid loss'3. Anchoring: individuals  use the first piece of information to judge choices.4. Foot-in-the-door:  obtaining 'opt-in' to something small then it's hard for consumers to say…

Review your persuasion approaches to increase conversion

Websites that are effective in conversion often share common approaches to persuasion. I'm often on the look out for simple, practical persuasive ideas so I can include them in workshop or conference talks. This post summarises 10 tried and tested approaches I've seen grouped under key areas of persuasion for websites. I hope you find them useful!

Page headlines

1. Ask a question Are you writing statement-based headlines? If so, try turning some of them into questions. Question-based headlines are more attention grabbing. Questions entice us to find out more. In a world where text scanning, rather than reading, is the norm, questions force us to sit up and pay attention:

“Do you want to engage your audience?” rather than “Engage your audience”.

2. Create a problem Once you’ve identified your audience, give them a familiar problem to…