Persuasion Architectures: Nudging People to do the Right Thing

Rob van TolSenior User Experience Consultant

November 2010

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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

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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

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By the 70s we knew that men in white coats weren’t persuading people: so why not try an odd pop DJ?

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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

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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.

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Persuasion in ActionCommitment and Consistency Commitment and Consistency Social Proof Social Proof Scarcity Scarcity Liking Liking Authority Authority Reciprocity Reciprocity

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Persuasion not in ActionNoCommitment and Consistency NoCommitment and Consistency

NoSocial Proof NoSocial Proof

NoScarcity NoScarcity

NoReciprocity NoReciprocity

WrongLiking WrongLiking

WrongAuthority WrongAuthority

WrongJumper WrongJumper

If you failing to persuade someone, badgering is not a persuasive techniqueSo please stop it…

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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.”

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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

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HFI PET (Persuasion Emotion Trust)

Optimal Level of Dissonance Feel Good Principle Reason for Request Contrast PrincipleVisceral Processing Social ProofSocial Learning ScarcityExtrinsic Reward Association Written Public Statement

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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

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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

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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

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MINDSPACEI don’t have the space here to unpack the whole model!

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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

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Why Persuasion Doesn’t Always WorkIncongruence: We don’t have to make sense (in the moment) Example of someone holding conflicting beliefs

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Why Persuasion Doesn’t Always WorkHierarchy 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 LifeWant to Enjoy Life

Ashamedof “slipping”

Ashamedof “slipping”

Get slim for Special EventGet slim for Special Event

Too busyto Eat WellToo busy

to Eat Well

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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

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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)

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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 …………………..

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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.

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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).

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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

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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)

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Persuasion: Any defence against it?

No

Not really

Unless it goes too far

Even when we knowits going on, it is hardto resist...

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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

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Thank you

For further information, please contact:

Rob van TolUser Vision55 North Castle StreetEdinburghEH2 3QA

Tel: 0131 240 1492Email: rob@uservision.co.ukWeb: www.uservision.co.uk