Fort Myers Web Design & SEO
March 7 2011
Intelligent web design isn’t all about pretty pictures and selling attractive products, it’s about getting the visitor to do, or think what you want them to. If you’re selling, you want the visitor to buy, if you’re educating, you want the visitor to learn. But how do we do that? We’re web designers, not psychologists.
We use several techniques that are proven to illicit desired behavior in people. They are authority, social proof, commitment, reciprocation and rarity.
Authority is used to convince the visitor that the website knows what they are talking about. This is to convince them that if you say it’s true, it must be because you’re an expert and should know.
To use it effectively, we highlight the expertise of the author, the client, or the business. We show it to be honest and trustworthy and convince the visitor that they can be trusted. This can be in the form of testimonials, feedback, and reviews. We build a picture of the site, and the business and provide credibility of authority.
Social Proof is a relatively new phenomenon. Thanks to sites like Facebook and Twitter, the opinion of other people has never been so available. Like it or not, the social networks are all about opinion. Website designs that include social media apps aren’t just there to look cool, they are also there to provide social proof of the site’s popularity to visitors.
Persuading a course of action from a site visitor can be achieved by subtly letting them know that everyone else is using, loving, buying the product or service, and that it has a following of loyal customers. This can create FOMO (Fear of Missing Out), which results in another sale.
Commitment is all about showing that the client has the courage of their convictions. That they are in it for the long run and that the products and services they offer aren’t going to disappear overnight.
Conversely, if the website can get a little commitment from the visitor, it’s probable that they will begin to feel support for the product or service. That support can evolve into loyalty, which all businesses want. Using “Like” features for Facebook is one way of getting this.
Reciprocation is a very useful tool in web design because it instantly creates positive emotions in the visitor. For example, offering a free e-book, samples, or teasers. This generous offer can, in many cases, cause the visitor to want to reciprocate.
This is easy to implement in a web design in all the methods mentioned above. On its own, reciprocation isn’t the strongest tool, as we are increasingly becoming used to getting things for free. Used in conjunction with other behavior tools and it becomes more effective.
Rarity is all about creating the impression that the product is limited and that the visitor has to move fast. This is an old selling trick, but one we still use in website designs every day. By creating the impression the item is limited, it also increases in value.
All these techniques are used readily in website designs to illicit a required response. Just like advertising on other mediums, large amounts of psychology is used to ensure our clients get exactly what they want.
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