Review of some of the most popular commercial and public sector persuasion methodologies. Plus some reasons why they may not work and some criticisms, and a comparison of how supermarkets persuade us, offline.
2. What is Persuasion
Persuasion is an attempt to change attitudes or behaviours or both (without
using coercion or deception).
B.J. Fogg, Stanford University www.bjfogg.com
Persuasion … is the process of moving others by argument to a position or
course of action either temporarily or permanently.
Robert Cialdini, Arizona State University
Persuasion Architecture creates an experience that leads your visitors to find
what they want by acknowledging that these two processes – buying and
selling – occur in tandem and take place on every page of a Web site.
Bryan & Jeffrey Eisenberg, & Lisa T. Davis, Future Now Inc
3. Changing attitudes is really really hard:
Clunk Click Every Trip
Don’t Drink and Drive
Green Cross Code ≈
Keep Britain Tidy
Don’t Die of Ignorance
Eat Five a Day ≈
Smoking Kills ≈
Even when these are backed up by:
Compulsion: Laws, Taxes, Police & the Criminal Justice System
Support: GPs, Free Condoms, Home Visits
Social Pressure making behaviours taboo
Don’t Change Minds
4. By the 70s we knew that
men in white coats weren’t
persuading people: so why
not try an odd pop DJ?
5. Cialdini [Chal-dini]: Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion
Reciprocity - People tend to return a favour. So success of free samples. Also
good cop / bad cop
Commitment and Consistency - If people commit, orally or in writing, to an
idea or goal, they are more likely to honour that commitment. It helps to
resolve cognitive dissonance (should I / shouldn’t I)
Social Proof - People will do things that they see other people are doing, eg
the Asch conformity experiments
Authority - People will tend to obey authority figures, even if they are asked to
perform objectionable acts, eg the Milgram experiments
Liking - People are easily persuaded by other people that they like, eg the
power of viral marketing and celebrity endorsements
Scarcity - Perceived scarcity will generate demand. For example, saying offers
are available for a "limited time only" encourages sales
6. Cialdini: Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion
Cialdini suggest that persuasion works the same basically
everywhere, but what works best is weighted differently
among cultures:
United States, people are best persuaded with RECIPROCATION.
Has this person done me a favour lately?
Asian countries, people are best persuaded if the requestor has
AUTHORITY and is connected to senior members of their small group?
Spain/Latin countries, people are best persuaded because of LIKING.
Is this connected to my friends?
Germany, people are best persuaded if the request is CONSISTENT with
the rules and regulations of the organization.
7. Persuasion in Action
Commitment and ConsistencyCommitment and Consistency Social ProofSocial Proof ScarcityScarcityLikingLikingAuthorityAuthorityReciprocityReciprocity
8. Persuasion not in Action
No
Commitment and Consistency
No
Commitment and Consistency
No
Social Proof
No
Social Proof
No
Scarcity
No
Scarcity
No
Reciprocity
No
Reciprocity
Wrong
Liking
Wrong
Liking
Wrong
Authority
Wrong
Authority
Wrong
Jumper
Wrong
Jumper
If you failing to
persuade someone,
badgering is not a
persuasive technique
So please stop it…
9. HFI PET (Persuasion Emotion Trust)
70 Techniques, such as these 11…
Optimal Level of Dissonance – “Draw my attention or make me read more
if I present something that seems a bit unusual, but not so unusual that it
looses credibility or turns the consumer off.”
Feel Good Principle – “If you give me a reason to feel good about a
decision, then I’ll be more likely to make a decision”
Reason for Request – “If you give a reason for making that decision, I’ll
also be more likely to make a decision”
Contrast Principle – “One of the most powerful things you can do is help
me see the value of something, but we don’t have an internal value meter
that tells you how much everything is worth, so we always evaluate things
in comparison to other things.”
10. 0
HFI PET (Persuasion Emotion Trust)
Visceral Processing – “The way our brains automatically respond to
stimuli, like bright saturated colours and smooth objects.”
Social Proof – “Assume popular things are things that are worthwhile”
Social Learning – “We are influenced by others, especially by people like
us or people we respect”
Scarcity – “If there is much of something left, people must really want it or
it must be really worthwhile.”
Extrinsic Reward – “Give people something, that can help motivate people
to act”
Association – “Link a specific image with a specific concept”
Written Public Statement – “Ask people to put something in writing, they
are much more likely to follow through with that later
11. 1
HFI PET (Persuasion Emotion Trust)
Optimal Level of Dissonance
Feel Good Principle
Reason for Request
Contrast Principle
Visceral Processing
Social Proof
Social Learning
Scarcity
Extrinsic Reward
Association
Written Public Statement
12. 2
B J Fogg: Persuasion as Simplicity
The minimally satisfying solution at the lowest cost
(not the most elegant or the ultimate solution)
Depends on the person
Depends on the context
Depends on a person’s resources
Therefore, simplicity is not a characteristic of the product, it is the
perception of an experience we have of accomplishing the task
Time To some degree these
can be traded off
against each other, but
ultimately, simplicity is
a function of the
scarcest resource at
that moment.
Perceived simplicity is
completing a task with
less resources than
expected (so set
expectations high)
Money
Physical Effort
Thinking Effort
Deviation from Social Norm
Routine
13. 3
B J Fogg: Persuasion as Simplicity
So phone apps have become so simple to
buy, many of us have hundreds of
fascinating applications we don’t actually
need or use
How did we ever manage before without
applications like Easy Fart
Likewise the Kindle Store or even iTunes
14. 4
MINDSPACE: Public Sector Persuasion
Paul Dolan et.al. synthesised a public sector methodology:
Messenger: One of us / respected authority
Incentives: Avoiding loss, Gain, Over-weighting small probabilities
Norms: Do what others do
Defaults: Go with the flow
Salience: What’s new or in it for me
Priming: Getting in the (unconscious) mood, setting expectations
Affect: Emotional, not deliberative, responses drive decisions
Commitments: We try to uphold our public promises
Ego: We like to act in ways that make us feel better about yourselves
16. 6
Thaler & Sunstein: Choice Architecture (Nudge)
Or time to unpack Richard Thaler & Cass Sunsten’s ...
iNcentives
Understand Mappings
Defaults
Give Feedback
Expect Error
Structure Complex Choices
17. 7
Why Persuasion Doesn’t Always Work
Incongruence: We don’t have to make sense (in the moment)
Example of someone holding conflicting beliefs
18. 8
Why Persuasion Doesn’t Always Work
Hierarchy of Goals: We don’t have to make sense (over time)
Example of divergent goals: The yo-yo diet
Determined to
Lose Weight
Determined to
Lose Weight
Want to
Enjoy Life
Want to
Enjoy Life
Ashamed
of “slipping”
Ashamed
of “slipping”
Get slim for
Special Event
Get slim for
Special Event
Too busy
to Eat Well
Too busy
to Eat Well
19. 9
Why Persuasion Doesn’t Always Work
Low Trust
Poor Usability & Trust damage Persuasion: The engaged user may become
ambivalent and ultimately inactive if the online process is frustrating, anxiety-
provoking, or both.
High Trust
Low Usability High Usability
I am impatient!
I am cautious…I am inactive.
I am engaged.
Concern
decreases
trust
Frustration
decreases
motivation
20. 0
Criticisms of Persuasiveness
None of the agree
Too controlling
Paternalist: Big Brother has your best interests at heart
Manipulative: a Licence for Snake Oil Merchants
Is it all just a bit Spivvy?
Too much psychology and too little practical advice
Just Bits and Bobs of Psychology bolted together
Things that have been known for a long time, are “discovered” and
described by “science words” by psychologists (eg, priming)
Treats people as all the same
As tested on American college students
A lot of it is really about good visual design
And the rest of it is really about good narrative (often through imagery)
21. 1
Criticisms of Persuasiveness
If these 6 (or 70 or 9 or 6) factors are so crucial to persuasion,
how come these have been so successful:
And why are we often blind
to flashy attention grabbing
stuff?
Unless it’s very very …………………..
22. 2
Elaboration Likelihood Model
Petty and Cacioppo [Ca-cho-po]
suggest there are two
ways we make decisions /
get persuaded:
When we are motivated
and able to pay attention,
we take a logical,
conscious thinking, central
route to decision-making.
This can lead to
permanent change in our
attitude as we adopt and
elaborate upon the
speaker’s arguments.
23. 3
Elaboration Likelihood Model
In other cases, we take
the peripheral route.
Here we do not pay
attention to persuasive
arguments but are
swayed instead by
surface characteristics
such as whether we like
the speaker. In this case
although we do change,
it is only temporary
(although it is to a state
where we may be
susceptible to further
change).
24. 4
Elaboration Likelihood Model
So it depends how involved your user is. The right word at the right moment
can be just as good to an involved user. That’s how Google has made a lot of
money out of these:
This has low peripheral cue complexity, and is more
appropriate and effective for highly involved and motivated
individuals – say those visiting Edinburgh
Higher degrees of peripheral cue
complexity pique the attention of
minimally involved individuals and lead to
more elaborate and focused cognitive
processing of the message itself – or flash
stuff gets your attention when you
weren’t bothered
25. 5
Persuasion: How to test it?
For increased engagement and conversion rates:
Usability Tests focusing on persuasion rather than ease of use – so less on
the shopping basket funnel, and more on what goes on before the “Buy
Now” button
Expert Evaluation using one of the methods as heuristics
For behavioural change:
Ethnographic Studies
Longitudinal Studies
Contextual Studies
Interviewing with sensitivity for incongruity and over adaptation, listening
for “try to”, and mixed hierarchy of goals (trying to avoid what people will
think they will do, compared to what they will do)
26. 6
Persuasion: Any defence against it?
No
Not really
Unless it goes too far
Even when we know
its going on, it is hard
to resist...
27. 7
Persuasion: What Supermarkets Do
Entrance hall and wide aisles at start of shop that funnel down into narrower aisles
to slow down walking pace – this is part of the bounce pattern
Fresh produce at start of shop to suggest freshness
Bakery smell vented into shop to stimulate hunger & suggest freshness
Carefully managed display lighting to suggest freshness
CCTV at shop entrance to encourage safety & deter shoplifting
Careful management of product display (eye-line (59” woman, 64” man and best
viewing angle 15° below 0) facing, tumble display, end-cap, price spread (premium,
value, budget), shelf-talkers
Matched special offers and coupons to promote cross-sells
Statements about price checking
Family car parking near door to give extra care to big spenders
Promote impulse buying (2/3 of your baskets)
Loss leaders on basics
Bargain hunters tend to actually spend more
Changing mood music tempo and volume
28. 8
Thank you
For further information, please contact:
Rob van Tol
User Vision
55 North Castle Street
Edinburgh
EH2 3QA
Tel: 0131 240 1492
Email: rob@uservision.co.uk
Web: www.uservision.co.uk