Karla Rivershaw, head of marketing, Turtl Visit the CharityComms website to view slides from past events, see what events we have coming up and to check out what else we do: www.charitycomms.org.uk

1. Content
Psychology 101
What goes on in the heads
of our readers?
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2. The online reading conundrum
Most people prefer reading from a printed page yet
studies show there is no obvious functional reason for this
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3. In search of answers
Can psychology help us improve the effectiveness of our online communications?
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4. 1. The value
of pictures
How imagery speaks to our primitive brain
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5. Cave paintings
• 40,000 years old
• Non-realtime communication
• Convey vital information
• Present a distinct survival advantage
• Beginnings of visual content
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6. Ideograms
• 7,000 years ago
• Easier to read and write
• Still based on real, visual concepts
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7. The alphabet
• 4,000 years ago
• We repurpose ancient neural networks
• The pictures are gone. Except they're not.
• Our brain craves pictures to aid understanding
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8. As a result of our evolution
• Vision accounts for 2/3 of electrical activity in the brain
• Half of all neural tissue deals with vision in some way
• Estimates are that up to 90% of our brain power is spent on visual activity
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9. Numbers don't lie
• 10% retention becomes 65% with images
• Content with visuals is 43% better at persuading
• Even lawyers are not immune
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12. The content marketing status quo
• One image per page if we're lucky
• Endless pages of unbroken, scrolling text
• Not visually persuasive
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13. In summary
• We are wired for visual communication
• It's a very persuasive communication type
• It can improve our content performance
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14. 2. The power of layouts
Looking beyond the words themselves
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15. Layouts are our maps
And we use it to navigate and remember information
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16. Pages offer real topography
Pages, columns, images, pull-out boxes all act as anchors
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17. Running out of memory
Chunking helps us avoid feeling overwhelmed
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18. Is this surprising?
• Research confirms that spatial layout clues improve cognition and retention
• Layout helps us build a "better sense of the text" Severinson Eklundh (1992)
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19. In summary
• We use physical recognition circuits to read
• Layout plays a large role in the reading process
• It drives cognition, retention and enjoyment
• But we still create long pages of scrolling text
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20. 3. The joy of interaction
Shifting the brain from passive to active and "bringing a smile to the mind"
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21. Extrinsic vs
intrinsic motivation
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22. Intrinsic goal framing
• Deeper engagement
• Better retention of information
• Higher persistence
[Deci, Lens and Vansteenkiste, 2006]
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23. Self Determination
Theory
• Competence
• Relatedness
• Autonomy
[Deci and Ryan, 1971]
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24. Share a Coke with...
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26. The status quo
• Passive, scrolling PDFs
• Passive, scrolling webpages
• Interaction and engagement is very limited
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27. In summary
• Intrinsic motivations are extremely powerful
• Interactive content can improve performance
• Established principles show how to create intrinsic motivation
• Despite this, we create more and more PDFs to the point
where there over 2.5 trillion in circulation
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28. “The Medium is
the Message”
[Marshall McLuhan, 1964]
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29. Are we missing the
mother of all tricks?
• We focus our resources on the message
• We neglect the medium
• We miss half of the equation
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30. Psychology in action
MindMind - Workplace Wellbeing Index: 147 leads and 800 reads from just 3 social media posts, linking ROI
to social activity for first time
Plastic OcPlastic Oceeans UKans UK - Bouncerate reduced to 10%, 200 signups from one piece of content, average read
time 6 mins, content helped attract more funding
"We presented our information in a really engaging, interactive way which is much more appealing than
our usual PDFs...[and] it makes people want to read more."
Hannah Dennett, Communications Manager, Mind
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31. In summary
1. Visual information plays a vital role in
the effectiveness of our communications
2. Layout is far more important for
reading effectiveness than we might think
3. Interaction is a fantastic opportunity to
drive engagement, cognition, persistence
and enjoyment for our readers
4. Huge benefits can be gained by
spending more time on the medium
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Thanks for listening
Content psychology
101
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