Fresh

This year I had the opportunity to go to SXSW. As a conference newbie I didn’t know what to expect. I heard stories from friends and co-workers and read some awesome blog posts about how to get ready, mainly Last-Minute SXSW 2010 Planning Guide and Tweeting from SXSW — Don’t Throw Up On Me Please. No rookie mistakes for me.

As the new kid on the block, I didn’t know what sessions I wanted to see or which ones would be most appealing. So, after reading through session descriptions, I found a few that I thought would be interesting. Two that I stumbled upon that I found particularly interesting were about web design psychology. Mind control- Psychology of the web by Ben Scofield (here are his slides and blog) and The Art and Science of Seductive Interactions by Stephen P. Anderson (here are his slides and blog).

I had learned about some of these theories from my peers, and most are pretty intuitive, but having them laid out in one place will hopefully be a useful reference or helpful review.

Below is a graph illustrating usability and psychology (The X axis represents the goal of what you want users to do). By increasing motivation and limiting friction (better usability) you have better chances of getting users to what you want them to do.

Why is this graph important? Because online motivation and the reduction of friction play huge roles in getting users to do what you want them to do on your website (which is usually a conversion metric of some kind or another).

There were lots of good ideas I heard from each session but here are a few that might be helpful to keep in mind when you review and/or build your next website.

Social proof

Identify groups and show people what others are doing. People tend to follow the lead of others who are doing something similar.

Example: Testimonials, ratings and reviews, snapshot of currently community members

Commitment

Give people a low-cost way to commit. Have you seen the forms nowadays? Holy cow, do you really need all that information? If you do, then please use multiple choice or one-click options. People are lazy and don’t want to spend 5 minutes filling out a form. That’s why I hate the doctor’s office. AHHHHH!!!!

Example: Sign up forms, profile set-ups, etc.

Pattern recognition

Make it easy to compare choices or keep items in the same place from page to page. Clients may ask us to move an item from one page and then move the same item to a totally different spot on another page where it obviously shouldn’t be. Keep way-finding consistent; our brains remember things more easily this way.

Example: Price page (grid), search bars, main and secondary navigation

Decoy effect

“Whereby consumers will tend to have a specific change in preference between two options when also presented with a third option that is disproportionately dominated.”  ~Wikipedia

If you want users to choose something, make the one you want them to choose the best option. For example, if you present users with 3 pricing options, make the one you want them to choose the best option and make the others decoys or not as good options. Stack the deck in your favor. This works when you are offering a service, product or membership levels.

Example: Memberships, products, services

Peak-End rule

We judge our past experiences on our perceptions of how they were at their peak (good or bad) and how they ended. Why is this important you ask? You want users to remember your site right? This is a way to do it.

Peaks may be the main highlight or a tiny surprise placed along the way. Everyone loves fun surprises.

The End could be a confirmation page, fulfillment email, you don’t want to leave your users hanging.

Example: Fun surprises, confirmation emails, fulfillment emails.

Conclusion

These are just a few that stuck out for me from the sessions. Hopefully understanding these concepts make it easier to come up with ideas and solutions for your website or clients.

To read more about interaction with products, services or processes, check out Johnny Holland Magazine. Enjoy!