Removing blockers and increasing persuasion

• What are cognitive biases?

• Removing blockers

• Improving persuasion

What we’ll discuss today

UX Camp Brighton 2017

1What areCognitive biases?

What is a cognitive bias?

A cognitive bias is a person’s tendency to think in a certain way that deviates from logical or rational thinking.

In other words, it’s the immediate and intuitive way we make judgements or decisions without taking into account analytical reasoning.

Kahneman and Tversky (1996)

The confirmation bias has become more visible with the rise of “Fake news”

Wikipedia lists over 166 cognitive biases, and it’s most likely incomplete

Why is it important for UX?

Because your site’s users are irrational, emotional and biased!

Using cognitive biases to your advantage can help:

• Users find products/content more easily• Prevent overwhelming users with too much

information in their journey • Persuade users to buy, buy more, or more frequently

Basically, create a better user experience

Cognitive biases can be dangerous for designers..

Three biases to be aware of:

• Déformation professionnelle: the tendency to look at things according to the conventions of one's own profession, forgetting any broader point of view.

• Framing: drawing different conclusions from the same information, depending on how that information is presented.

• Bias blind spot: recognizing the impact of biases on the judgement of others, while failing to see the impact of biases on one's own judgment.

UX Camp Brighton 2017

2Removing blockers

• Information overload/complexity

• Choice paralysis

• Trust

• Compatibility

Examples:

• Time

• Usability issues

• Price

• Clarity

• Distractions

What are blockers?

Blockers can be anything that prevent a user from completing an action or a goal. Most common blockers are cognitive biases and physical blockers.

Time is money, time is precious..

Time is incredibly precious to people and if they think it’s being wasted by a website, they will leave.

• Users expect a page to load in 2 seconds or fewer (Forrester Research)

• A 1 second delay in page response can result in a 7% decrease in conversions. (KissMetrics)

• 1 second delay can cost Amazon $1.5Bilion per year (Amazon)

https://blog.kissmetrics.com/loading-time/?wide=1

Choice Paralysis - More isn’t always better

• Study by psychologists Sheena Iyengar and Mark Lepper

• Supermarket display table with 6 types of jam and 24 types of jam

• The display table with 24 pots of jam had substantially more interest from customers

• The display table 6 pots of jam sold 10x more products

Compatibility issues – Why you should care about IE

• Internet Explorer is probably the most hated browser by designers

• Internet Explorer version still in use:• IE8 (2009)• IE9 (2011)• IE10 (2012)• IE11(2013)

Compatibility issues – Why you should care about IE

• What if IE 8 could have the same CR as IE11?

Browser Sessions CR Conv. AOV Revenue

IE8 (original) 8,657 0.2% 17 £45 £756

IE8 (New) 8,657 2.39% 207 £45 £9,135

+190 +£8,379

UX Camp Brighton 2017

3Improving persuasion

Improving Persuasion

By “improving persuasion” we mean using the user’s cognitive biases to persuade them to complete a desired action.

Please don’t resort to dark patterns when using cognitive biases.

6 persuasion techniques by Dr. Cialdini - S.L.A.C.R.S

• Social Proof• Liking• Authority• Commitment and Consistency • Reciprocity • Scarcity

Booking.com

Amazon.com

Social ProofPeople assume the actions of others in an attempt to reflect correct behaviour for a given situation.

ReciprocityThis is our tendency to reciprocate the actions of others creating a wave of indebtedness. If somebody does something for us, or gives us something, we are more likely to return the favour or pass the favour on to others.

Very.co.uk

Spotify.com

ScarcityPeople place a higher value on an object that is scarce, and a lower value on those that are abundant. The thought that we, as humans, want something we cannot have drives us to desire the object even more.

Booking.comAmazon.com

HM.com

In Conclusion..

• Giving users a large range of options doesn’t mean that they will make a decision. Less can be more.

• Although Internet Explorer can be very annoying, there is still a lot of potential in those browsers.

• Genuine user reviews and displaying what other users have done can have a good impact on the bottom line.

• Something that we can’t have, will make us want it more.

• Always test before implementing these ideas. It may be that your audience isn’t as easily influenced.

Blog post: Blockers and Persuaders – The Simple Key To Conversion Success (Luke Hay)

Google: Fresh Egg Blockers

Thank you UX Campwww.freshegg.co.ukTwitter: @hansie19

UX Camp Brighton 2017