Online Persuasion: What I'm currently thinking about

Richard Sedley, cScape Customer Engagement Director

Key words:

marketing, persuasion, motivation, conversion

customer engagement, credibility, logan tod, cscape

PersuasionStone Roses, child nursery,

The Economist & bread makers,

Logan TodWednesday 2 April 2008

• Credibility

• Influence

• Timing

A few things learnt…

• The power of storytelling

• Semantic vs. episodic memory

• The role of relativity

A few things bouncing…

Utility

The conversion triangle

PersuasionUsability

The goal of persuasion is to change someone’s attitudes or behaviour.

Make them comply with a request using an understanding of human psychology.

What is persuasion?

Elaboration Likelihood Model

• High elaboration (central route)Requires great deal of thought to make a

decision

• Low elaboration (peripheral route)Requires little thought, reliant on decisional

heuristics

How we make our decisions

Petty & Cacioppo, 1981

The need for decisional heuristics

500 milliseconds to

determine credibility

4 seconds to

determine usefulness

• Credibility

• Motivation

• Timing

• Presumed

• Surface

• Reputed

• Earned

Four types of credibility

Stanford University, Persuasive Technology Lab, 2003

=

=

=

=

General assumptions in the

mind of the perceiver

Simple inspection or initial first

hand experience

Third party endorsements,

reports or referrals

First hand experience that

extends over time

The power of credibilityA B

Conversion rate = 2.69% Conversion rate = 3.03%

% change = 12.64%

Projected monthly gain = $30,582.30

Marketing E

xperiments Journal, F

eb 2007

• Credibility

• Influence

• Timing

• Reciprocity

• Commitment and consistency

• Social proof

• Affinity (Liking)

• Authority

• Scarcity

Principles of influence

Robert Cialdini, Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, 1984

Incentives and reciprocity

Sign-up Report

Report Sign-up

A B

Conversion rate = 84% Conversion rate = 72%

44%

completion accuracy

91%

completion accuracy

Embedded Persuasive Strategies to Obtain Visitors’ Data. Gamberini, Petrucci, Spoto, Spagnolli

Social proof (consensus)

Experiment: Milgrim, Bikman and Birkowitz

Good testimonials...

Why testimonials do (and don’t) work: Holly Buchanan, Future Now

Sean DeSouza: Pyschotactics

Marketing Experiments: Optimizing site design

• are focused – talk about specific benefits or

personal situations• overcome objections – target conversion

barriers• are contextual – position where customer might

ask questions and need reassurance• are plentiful – build a wall of testimonials• are credible – lead with skeptics and problems

• Credibility

• Motivation

• Timing

• When you are in a good mood

• When your world view no longer makes sense

• When you can take action immediately

• When you feel indebted because of a favour

• Immediately after you have made a mistake

• Immediately after you have denied a request

Persuasion windows

Stanford University, Persuasive Technology Lab, 2003

• The power of storytelling

• Semantic vs. episodic memory

• The role of relativity

Copyright: Steve Double - www.double-whammy.com

The first,

the last,

the best

and the rarest?

Make them feel proud?

Elements of a good story

The Elements of Persuasion: Use Storytelling to Pitch Better, Sell Faster

& Win More Business by Maxwell and Dickman

• PASSION to make your customers care• a HERO to drive the action• an ANTAGONIST to challenge the hero• a moment of AWARENESS where the hero

realises how to overcome his or her obstacles• TRANSFORMATION wherein the hero

accomplishes his or her desired goals

• The power of storytelling

• Semantic vs. episodic memory

• The role of relativity

The role of memory in the customer odyssey

The memory of meaning. Memory that preserves only the

gist, the general significance of remembered experiences.

The memory of ephemeral details,

individual features or the unique particulars of an experience.

• The power of storytelling

• Semantic vs. episodic memory

• The role of relativity

68%

32%

84%

16%

0%

Thanks for listening

• Richard Sedley: r.sedley@cscape.com

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