Persuasion, Emotion & Trust
The Strategy of Persuasive Design
UK Brighton, 11th August 2009
Robert Gillham
Project Director EMEA, Human Factors International

Human Factors International
• 200+ user-centered design professionals
• 27 years of operating history
• Project teams composed of both “local” and “global” experts Courses in London,
• ISO certified offices (ISO 9001:2000) Utrecht and Hamburg
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San Francisco New York
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Chicago Mumbai
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Bangalore
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Why Consumer Experience is Important
79% of consumers will commit to a deeper brand relationship – through
product or service adoption – after a satisfying online experience
59% of customers will stop doing business with the brand after just one
bad experience in any channel
IBM customer study
3

Initial relationship building has passed to the hands of the users
Internet &
Salesman Store
Self-serve
4

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Persuasion, Emotion & Trust?
Persuasion Emotion Trust
• Communication • Defined loosely as a • To have faith or
intended to induce physiological state of confidence in
belief or action arousal something or
• Process of guiding • Triggered by beliefs someone
someone toward the about something
adoption of an idea, • Has cognitive,
attitude, or action by physiological, social,
rational and symbolic and behavioural
means aspects
• Not coercive
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“Six Weapons of Influence”
• Reciprocity
• Commitment
Consistency
• Social Proof
• Authority
• Liking
• Scarcity
HFI Proposal: Project Title for Client 7

“Six Weapons of Influence”
• Reciprocity
• Commitment
Consistency • People tend to return a
• Social Proof favour
• Authority
• Liking
• Scarcity
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“Six Weapons of Influence”
• Reciprocity
• Commitment
Consistency • People behave more
• Social Proof consistently when they have
• Authority committed to something
• Liking
• Scarcity
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“Six Weapons of Influence”
• Reciprocity
• Commitment
Consistency • People are more likely to do
• Social Proof what everyone else is doing
• Authority
• Liking
• Scarcity
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“Six Weapons of Influence”
• Reciprocity
• Commitment
Consistency • People will obey perceived
• Social Proof figures of authority
• Authority
• Liking
• Scarcity
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“Six Weapons of Influence”
• Reciprocity
• Commitment
Consistency • People are more likely to buy
• Social Proof from people they like
• Authority
• Liking
• Scarcity
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“Six Weapons of Influence”
• Reciprocity
• Commitment
Consistency • Goods become more valuable
• Social Proof as they become scare and we
• Authority compete for them
• Liking
• Scarcity
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Tools for PET Design
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PET – BEYOND the site
• Do consumers connect with the site?
• Does the experience educate?
• Do behaviors and attitudes change?
Will Can
do? do.
USABILITY– WITHIN the site
• Can users find information?
• Do they understand what they find?
• Can they interact with it?
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BUT, …. Emotion influences perceived usability
Once a consumer feels positively (or negatively) about a product
or service, their emotional reaction influences the perceived
importance of small usability issues
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Challenges to PET design
“You Can’t Just Ask”
• Pantyhose Study by Nisbett and Wilson
12% 17% 31% 40%
“This pair is sheerer”
“I think this pair is better
made.”
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Tools for PET Research
1. Desk-research
• Demographics
• Existing research (psychological and domain-specific)
2. Priming Questions (Telling Stories)
• Lets talk about the last time you…
• Tell me what inspires you about…
3. Open Exploration
3. Conversion-related Tasks
• Physiological (eye tracking)
• Expressive (facial expressions, tone of voice, body language)
• Verbal
4. Retrospective Analysis
• Emotion: Circle the emoticon
• Describe the site/Draw a picture/Read the text
5. Trust Questions
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PET techniques illuminate/confirm drives, barriers & beliefs
Target Attitudes
Barrier Target Behavior
Barrier
Barrier Barrier
Belief Barrier Feeling
Barrier Barrier
Feeling Belief
Motivation
or Drive
Feeling Belief
Belief Feeling
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PET Design creates a conversation that addresses those issues to create a conversion path
Target Attitudes
Barrier Target Behavior
Barrier
Barrier Barrier
Belief Barrier Feeling
Barrier Barrier
Feeling Web Site Exposure Belief
Motivation
or Drive
Consumer
Feeling Path Belief
Belief Feeling
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Finding the flow

HFI Case Study
Persuasion, Emotion & Trust| New Product Messaging
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Lovaza is in a new space: PharmaAlternative
New pharma
product
Alternative Traditional
Medicine Pharma
Prescription supplement

PET techniques illuminate/confirm drives, barriers & beliefs
Fear of
prescription
Talking to medications
Filling the script
the doctor
takes effort
Is intimidating Big Pharma
is not
trustworthy
I want to
I want to
learn more
protect
about how
my health
to be healthier

Drives | Protecting my health is critical
“I want to
Beliefs protect Feelings
my health”
Feel I can control
Diet and exercise
Is hard
Need to be there
for my family
Should be able
to control through
diet and exercise
Fear of early
death Doubt whether
I’m lazy this will work
Putting chemicals
In your body Is Uncertainty about
bad for you level of risk Hope this
will work

Building Trust | People like me & people I like
Do you know who I am?
Challenge: I don’t see myself here
– Only 3 photos: 2 people and a doctor
– Physique is not representative
Strategy
– Show people throughout the site
– Use a wider range of body type,
especially heavier
Addresses: Mistrust of Pharma (Block)

Current Strategy: Create urgency to drive action
Get concerned about Ask doctor about
Visit the site
triglycerides prescription
Get and fill Numbers are down – May stop taking
prescription fear reduced meds

Augmented approach
Goal: Create proactive health seekers
• Create urgency to drive action
• Educate to adherence
Drive small, Change behavior
Modify
incremental to reflect new
self-image
commitments self-image
“I am a person “I take my meds
Fill out a who takes consistently to
questionnaire responsibility for maintain my
their health” health”

Measuring Persuasion | Analytics
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Define where in the user journey we intend to attract, engage & persuade
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Enter Site Browse & Choose a Start Commit to Converted
Explore conversion path “Checkout” Convert Visitor
Unengaged Unpersuaded Unconverted

Common Analytics
Common Conversion
Enter Site Browse & Choose a Start Commit to Converted
Explore conversion path “Checkout” Convert Visitor
Common Conversion =Convα/Vα

Persuasion Analytics
Common Conversion
Engaged Conversion
Enter Site Browse & Choose a Start Commit to Converted
Explore conversion path “Checkout” Convert Visitor
Engaged Conversion =Convα/Vα-VU

Persuasion Analytics
Common Conversion
Engaged Conversion
Committed Conversion
Enter Site Browse & Choose a Start Commit to Converted
Explore conversion path “Checkout” Convert Visitor
Engaged Conversion =Convα/Vα-VU Committed Conversion =Convw/inpath /Vw/inpath

HFI Case Study | Persuasive Design
AAA-MidAtlantic
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Measuring discovery…
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What does AAA do?
What people know…. What AAA does
1. Roadside Assistance 1. Membership benefits
2. Trip-tiks 2. Travel
3. Automotive
4. Entertainment Discounts
5. Loans
6. Insurance
7. Banking
The original design applied a sell everything everywhere
strategy. This resulted in a cluttered and overwhelming sites.
Benchmark eyetracking studies showed that visitors left the
homepage before they even noticed the critical value of an AAA
membership – saving money on every day purchases.
Persuasion Emotion and Trust (PET) explored how target
customers think about the products and services that AAA
provides. One key finding was the seducible sequence for
cross sell and upsell of related products and services.

Before

Is the website doing its job?
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Members
hip
benefits
Auto Car
Insurance maintenance
Extended tools & tips
Research
warranty car
Auto
Loan
40

Create different groupings than card sort…
Original design HFI redesign
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Create different groupings than card sort…
Original design HFI redesign
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Creating the Seductive Sequence
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Measurable Changes
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From persuasion to profit …
ROI – Membership
• 2 x more visitors / day enter the join
funnel
• 17% convert in the funnel
• Basic membership costs $60
Conservatively:
• 700 new members * 17% * $60 * 30
days =
• $214K increased conversion in 1st
month
• [Project cost recovery < 1 month]

Summary
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• Human beings make decisions based on emotional
responses as well as rational thought processes
• Usability governs ‘Can They Do It’, but Persuasion,
Emotion & Trust governs ‘Will They Do It?’
• The tools for uncovering PET issues are similar but differ
from usability (e.g. ‘Think Aloud’ isn’t much help)
• Psychological principles give us a framework for thinking
about PET solutions
• PET can be engineered, measured and ROI justified
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