In today's post we bring you 8 techniques that will help you get the users that come to your website to perform actions of value for you. Intrigued? Then read on!
Persuasion technique 1: Principle of self-efficacy
This principle states that it is easier for us to perform actions when we believe in our own competence or capability. If we believe we are doing something right, we will continue to engage in that behavior. Applied to the world of websites, this means that if we reward our users along the conversion funnel, it will be easier for them to complete it and reach the end. A good example is forms with inline validation: thanks to the free version of Typeform we can try adding more dynamic forms to our website and see how our conversion rate and leads increase.
Persuasion technique 2: Visual guides
We have to take into account that nur attention is focused on the point that we register with our eyes. Knowing this, we must detect in which part of the web our users focus their sight and place there the elements that we want to highlight. We can obtain this information through heat maps, here is an example:
As you can see, when the child looks straight ahead, the user's attention is focused on him (red color). However, to redirect the focus to the text and the product we are interested in, we can make the child look where we want users to look. In this way, we manage to highlight the part of the web page that interests us.
There are many similar examples, but broadly speaking we can list 4 best practices for creating visual content:
- Put a face to your content.
- Be visual on social networks.
- Increase your credibility.
- Create an emotional connection.
Persuasion Technique 3: Paradox of Choice
Human beings are contradictory by definition, we like to have options, but we hate to have to choose. Has it ever happened to you that the great amount of variety of a type of product has made you feel overwhelmed and unable to decide? And, even if we are able to decide on one of those products, we often feel dissatisfied with our choice and with the feeling that "there was a better option". Well, to avoid all these negative feelings, it is important that we help our users to decide. How do we do this?
- Add formats that help the user to see the product in a different way (videos, for example).
- Let's show an adequate number of alternatives.
- Include filters to help reduce the number of possibilities.
Persuasion technique 4: Decoy effect
This technique is well known and is often used by major brands. It is about offering several possibilities in such a way that we are promoting the product we are interested in selling. This is best seen with an example:
If we were at the cinema about to buy popcorn, which one would we choose? Indeed, the biggest of them all because, for 0.50$ more, who is going to choose the second one? We are falling prey to the decoy effect without realizing it and we are choosing the seller's preferred option. Why not try it out on our website too?
Persuasion Technique 5: Principle of coherence and reciprocity
Users tend to be consistent with their decisions, so if we can get a user to make a small share with our product, it will end up making a bigger one. The principle of consistency is closely related to de reciprocity, we tend to give based on what we have received.
That is why there are several things we can do to make it easier for users to make a first approach with our product, such as: offering a free course, a webinar, trial periods, a guide of interest, a discount for subscribing to the newsletter, etc.
Persuasion technique 6: Egotism
Egotism is a problem that we can find in websites that focus on selling their brand image, without stopping to think about the users. Therefore, what we must do is to focus on knowing what the user is looking for when accessing our website and provide it. How? Highlight on our website discounts, promotions, special services, everything that focuses on meeting the needs of our audience.
Persuasion Technique 7: Principle of Sympathy
This technique is based on the premise that people prefer to say yes to people they like or identify with: people who are like us, who cooperate with us on common goals, etc.
In this, social networks play a fundamental role: be communicative in your networks, give a different touch to your publications and interact with users. Through the website it is more difficult to establish this relationship, since there is not that kind of interaction. However, we can try to humanize our company by adding a "meet our team" section, creating a video presentation of the company with the employees, etc.
Persuasion technique 8: Immediacy effect
Human beings have a tendency to prefer rewards that are near to those that are far away. Most people prefer immediate gratification. Therefore, it is important that you generate that feeling on your website by adding offers that they can get at the time of purchase, or with a directly applicable discount code, etc.
So much for today's post! We hope you found it interesting and that you apply some (or several) of these techniques in your websites. If so, you can always tell us about your experience in the comments 🙂
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