Increase website conversion: How to use cognitive beliefs
Friends, we want to share with you an adapted translation of the article by Tim Ashe in the online magazine Clickz.com about effective, but not very common ways to increase conversion, allowing you to use the features of human thinking to increase conversion. The translation is supplemented with examples and tips from the Witget team.
A bit of theory. There are “traps” or cognitive biases in our mind. These are the installations with which we were born. These include:
1. Comparison. Our brain is designed so that it checks all objects for similarities with the images that we have in memory. If he finds something appropriate, then he assigns to the object he sees all the qualities of the object that he is familiar with. For example, someone does not like the name "Love", but not because it is bad, but because this person has Lubov's acquaintances with whom he has negative memories.
2. The effect of projection. We very often judge others by ourselves. If we like to rest abroad, then the rest too. If we get up at 8 am, then for us it is nonsense when someone rises with roosters.
3. The effect of selectivity. Of the texts, dialogues, pictures, we often grab what we need. This effect is extremely useful and allows you to save time, however, it turns against us when we do not hear the opponent’s arguments, we don’t see important details.
4. The effect of justification. We often commit rash acts under the influence of emotions and desires: we make purchases for large sums, spend time lying on the couch, eat unhealthy foods. But after this comes the repentance and the moment of justifying their purchases. We rarely admit that we made a mistake.
5. Effect of evaluation. We are accustomed to assess the correctness of the decision on the result achieved.
')
Of course, cognitive biases work at a subconscious level and influence our behavior. Even people who believe that they always act rationally and logically have cognitive prejudices that distort how they perceive the surrounding reality. In fact, some cognitive biases are so common that you may well rely on the fact that most visitors to your site will have them. And for you, as a marketer, this information can be very useful.
Below are 5 cognitive biases that you can use to increase conversion rates and make your site more effective.
Effect of Restorf
According to the Von Restorf effect, elements that stand out from others are likely to be remembered much better than those that merge with the background. That is why so many students highlight key points in their textbooks. As it was found out, it is much easier to remember the information that is underlined, as it stands out from the rest of the text. This principle is applicable not only when you repeat the material covered - it can also have a big impact on the conversion rate.
You can use the Von Restorf effect to design your website in such a way that customers will pay attention to exactly what they need to see and remember. For example, you want them to pay attention to the call-to-action button. What color for this button would you choose: would you prefer a shade that is in harmony with the rest of the page, or would you choose a bigger and fatter font? Von Restorf suggests paying attention to the last option.
If site improvements are not available to you, then to attract the attention of visitors, you can place vivid images on the site - elements of the site that are placed on top of it and stand out noticeably both in color and design, while fulfilling marketing tasks.
Example. Against the background of an ascetic white site with black text, a bright girl with a sign.
An example from the Eco-Mecca site.
You can use our Witget.com service to create and test the effectiveness of vitzhets .
If you have done your job well, the conversion rate will increase significantly. Be sure to use a tool such as the Attention Wizard to make sure that the desired visual effect is achieved.
Pay attention to the beginning and end!
According to this phenomenon, when people browse items on a list, they are more likely to remember those that go at the beginning or the end of the list than those that are in the middle.
For example, you place the logos of your customers. Most likely, you will arrange the images in the list in the order in which they appear in your company and will be added as they are updated. The same with the recall. Most often, a new review is put in the beginning. But is he better at selling and characterizing you than the previous ones?
At the first and last place you really need to put the most key elements.
Including in transfer of key advantages of your product.
Pay attention to the following example from the website looksima.ru . Try to answer the questions:
1. Is the registration form striking?
2. What is the advantage of registration you remember?
3. What distracted your attention from registering?
If there is a lot of information and you need to remember the whole text , then use other cognitive attitudes:
1. Intelligence. What is clear and felt is remembered faster. Therefore, write a simple and accessible language - the language of the client.
2. Interest. If there is interest in the topic, then the memorability is higher. So try to captivate, enable gamification. For example, in the beginning ask questions that a person can find the answers in the text.
3. Setting to memorize. If a person understands that he needs to remember this, then the effectiveness is higher. In this case, we advise at the beginning of the text to give this installation to the person himself. For example: "It is important to know!", "It will certainly come in handy", "Useful information."
4. Braking. Information that is similar to the one that was recently learned is remembered worse. Therefore, the texts must be original, the images are different from each other. For example, use different models more often to showcase clothes.
5. understatement. Best of all is remembered unfinished actions, phrases. Therefore, it is sometimes possible to mark important places with a question, a paradoxical thought.
6. Mutual influence. If you give a site visitor two blocks of very important information, the first one will be adversely affected and most likely forgotten. Therefore, alternate blocks of useful information and give only one key idea and key message for one block. For example, that this English course will allow a novice to start speaking after 3 weeks. Information about how many academic hours, questions and tasks, how many workshops, simply can not be remembered because of the abundance of information.
7. Temporary reservoir. Events that occur close in time refer to phenomena of the same order. Therefore, try to divide the text into large blocks, accompany them with either a memorable example, or a vivid illustration to create associative links.
The effect of negative emotions
People react differently to the same fact, depending on how the data are presented: in a positive or negative light. For example, students who will be aware of the penalty for delay in paying a study fee will be more likely to register on time compared to those who are given a discount for early registration. This type of psychological impact can affect everything: from choosing a dress for prom night and ending with the acceptance / non-acceptance by defendants of a plea bargain in the courtroom. It also affects the likelihood of users switching to a particular web page.
According to psychologists, in view of the fact that the effect of negative emotions is much stronger than of positive ones, the fear of loss motivates more than the opportunity to get benefits. Imagine the extent to which this simple principle can affect your messages. As a marketer, you try to convince your visitor to take a targeted action (to make a purchase, to subscribe to a trial use of a product, leave an e-mail, etc.) and your messages are focused on the benefits that visitors receive. But, knowing the power of the negative impact, an alternative approach can emphasize what losses the user will face if he does not take advantage of your product.
For example, show that there are N hours and N minutes left until the end of the action, report that the quantity of goods is limited, or even state the quantity of goods / services remaining, inform that the discount is reduced with each paid.
An example from the site Groupon.ru .
Of course, you can report what will happen to the person if he does not buy the product or does not use the service:
- 87% of cases that are carried out by the plaintiff without the participation of a lawyer, fail,
- 64% of accidents are due to the fact that the car owner did not change seasonal tires in time,
- life without active sports (for example, in advertising of goods for sports) reduces life expectancy by 7 years, etc.
Such hints simultaneously inspire fear and motivate to buy.
Images are more important than text!
Perhaps no one will argue with the fact that images are remembered much more efficiently than text. However, did you know that the text is much easier to remember if it is printed on the picture?
An example from the Renault Russia group on Facebook.
Not only do people memorize visual signals better, they also process visual information 60,000 times faster than textual ones. You, as a marketer, are obliged to pay attention to this phenomenon, because one of your tasks should be to develop an effective image that will attract the user's attention. Think of imagery not as a design element, but as a means of communication. Know that pictures convey information much better than text fixed in the mind of your client as a specific rule. Also remember that the images not only help visitors to form the first unconscious impression of your site, but are also remembered for a much longer period than the title or text calling for action.
Therefore, pay great attention to banners, infographics and presentations. Merging text, image, numeric information is ideal for perceiving a marketing message.
Crowd effect
We can deny as much as we want, but obviously we like to do what others do. And the more popular your product becomes, the higher the likelihood that more people will try it. This is the so-called crowd effect, which largely explains the newfangled trends in clothing, which the woman eventually puts on, vowing never to wear “such bad taste”.
It is no secret that the media is the main lever forcing this effect to work for you.
When people see their friends like your post, they will also be inclined to appreciate it. You can use the effect of the crowd even on your website, proudly demonstrating with the help of ratings and reviews how many customers use your services.
An example from amazon.com .
The effect of the crowd on your site:
- likes of social networks, comments,
- data of social networks: how many people are in your group, the number of topics discussing, the number of visitors to your office / store on four square,
- reviews (opinions of real people who have already bought),
- an arbitrary scale of stars, where the product is rated based on the points put up by site visitors,
- an indication of the specific number of people who bought or used the service (for example, 18 people out of 25 enrolled in a Microsoft course),
- photos and videos about the use of your products / services by real customers.
Learn to think like a customer
At its core, conversion optimization is inextricably linked with human psychology. Convince users to make a decision on cooperation with you, make sure that you understand the peculiarities of customers' thinking, you understand what motivates them to make a positive decision. After you start thinking like a customer, use your knowledge to optimize the conversion!
Editor - Anna Chaschina .
Thank you for your attention and for your positive feedback. Subscribe to our blog on Habré , read useful articles in the blog on our website , watch the video in our YouTube channel to follow the updates from the company Witget.com.
A bit of theory. There are “traps” or cognitive biases in our mind. These are the installations with which we were born. These include:
1. Comparison. Our brain is designed so that it checks all objects for similarities with the images that we have in memory. If he finds something appropriate, then he assigns to the object he sees all the qualities of the object that he is familiar with. For example, someone does not like the name "Love", but not because it is bad, but because this person has Lubov's acquaintances with whom he has negative memories.
2. The effect of projection. We very often judge others by ourselves. If we like to rest abroad, then the rest too. If we get up at 8 am, then for us it is nonsense when someone rises with roosters.
3. The effect of selectivity. Of the texts, dialogues, pictures, we often grab what we need. This effect is extremely useful and allows you to save time, however, it turns against us when we do not hear the opponent’s arguments, we don’t see important details.
4. The effect of justification. We often commit rash acts under the influence of emotions and desires: we make purchases for large sums, spend time lying on the couch, eat unhealthy foods. But after this comes the repentance and the moment of justifying their purchases. We rarely admit that we made a mistake.
5. Effect of evaluation. We are accustomed to assess the correctness of the decision on the result achieved.
')
Of course, cognitive biases work at a subconscious level and influence our behavior. Even people who believe that they always act rationally and logically have cognitive prejudices that distort how they perceive the surrounding reality. In fact, some cognitive biases are so common that you may well rely on the fact that most visitors to your site will have them. And for you, as a marketer, this information can be very useful.
Below are 5 cognitive biases that you can use to increase conversion rates and make your site more effective.
Effect of Restorf
According to the Von Restorf effect, elements that stand out from others are likely to be remembered much better than those that merge with the background. That is why so many students highlight key points in their textbooks. As it was found out, it is much easier to remember the information that is underlined, as it stands out from the rest of the text. This principle is applicable not only when you repeat the material covered - it can also have a big impact on the conversion rate.
You can use the Von Restorf effect to design your website in such a way that customers will pay attention to exactly what they need to see and remember. For example, you want them to pay attention to the call-to-action button. What color for this button would you choose: would you prefer a shade that is in harmony with the rest of the page, or would you choose a bigger and fatter font? Von Restorf suggests paying attention to the last option.
If site improvements are not available to you, then to attract the attention of visitors, you can place vivid images on the site - elements of the site that are placed on top of it and stand out noticeably both in color and design, while fulfilling marketing tasks.
Example. Against the background of an ascetic white site with black text, a bright girl with a sign.
An example from the Eco-Mecca site.
You can use our Witget.com service to create and test the effectiveness of vitzhets .
If you have done your job well, the conversion rate will increase significantly. Be sure to use a tool such as the Attention Wizard to make sure that the desired visual effect is achieved.
Pay attention to the beginning and end!
According to this phenomenon, when people browse items on a list, they are more likely to remember those that go at the beginning or the end of the list than those that are in the middle.
For example, you place the logos of your customers. Most likely, you will arrange the images in the list in the order in which they appear in your company and will be added as they are updated. The same with the recall. Most often, a new review is put in the beginning. But is he better at selling and characterizing you than the previous ones?
At the first and last place you really need to put the most key elements.
Including in transfer of key advantages of your product.
Pay attention to the following example from the website looksima.ru . Try to answer the questions:
1. Is the registration form striking?
2. What is the advantage of registration you remember?
3. What distracted your attention from registering?
If there is a lot of information and you need to remember the whole text , then use other cognitive attitudes:
1. Intelligence. What is clear and felt is remembered faster. Therefore, write a simple and accessible language - the language of the client.
2. Interest. If there is interest in the topic, then the memorability is higher. So try to captivate, enable gamification. For example, in the beginning ask questions that a person can find the answers in the text.
3. Setting to memorize. If a person understands that he needs to remember this, then the effectiveness is higher. In this case, we advise at the beginning of the text to give this installation to the person himself. For example: "It is important to know!", "It will certainly come in handy", "Useful information."
4. Braking. Information that is similar to the one that was recently learned is remembered worse. Therefore, the texts must be original, the images are different from each other. For example, use different models more often to showcase clothes.
5. understatement. Best of all is remembered unfinished actions, phrases. Therefore, it is sometimes possible to mark important places with a question, a paradoxical thought.
6. Mutual influence. If you give a site visitor two blocks of very important information, the first one will be adversely affected and most likely forgotten. Therefore, alternate blocks of useful information and give only one key idea and key message for one block. For example, that this English course will allow a novice to start speaking after 3 weeks. Information about how many academic hours, questions and tasks, how many workshops, simply can not be remembered because of the abundance of information.
7. Temporary reservoir. Events that occur close in time refer to phenomena of the same order. Therefore, try to divide the text into large blocks, accompany them with either a memorable example, or a vivid illustration to create associative links.
The effect of negative emotions
People react differently to the same fact, depending on how the data are presented: in a positive or negative light. For example, students who will be aware of the penalty for delay in paying a study fee will be more likely to register on time compared to those who are given a discount for early registration. This type of psychological impact can affect everything: from choosing a dress for prom night and ending with the acceptance / non-acceptance by defendants of a plea bargain in the courtroom. It also affects the likelihood of users switching to a particular web page.
According to psychologists, in view of the fact that the effect of negative emotions is much stronger than of positive ones, the fear of loss motivates more than the opportunity to get benefits. Imagine the extent to which this simple principle can affect your messages. As a marketer, you try to convince your visitor to take a targeted action (to make a purchase, to subscribe to a trial use of a product, leave an e-mail, etc.) and your messages are focused on the benefits that visitors receive. But, knowing the power of the negative impact, an alternative approach can emphasize what losses the user will face if he does not take advantage of your product.
For example, show that there are N hours and N minutes left until the end of the action, report that the quantity of goods is limited, or even state the quantity of goods / services remaining, inform that the discount is reduced with each paid.
An example from the site Groupon.ru .
Of course, you can report what will happen to the person if he does not buy the product or does not use the service:
- 87% of cases that are carried out by the plaintiff without the participation of a lawyer, fail,
- 64% of accidents are due to the fact that the car owner did not change seasonal tires in time,
- life without active sports (for example, in advertising of goods for sports) reduces life expectancy by 7 years, etc.
Such hints simultaneously inspire fear and motivate to buy.
Images are more important than text!
Perhaps no one will argue with the fact that images are remembered much more efficiently than text. However, did you know that the text is much easier to remember if it is printed on the picture?
An example from the Renault Russia group on Facebook.
Not only do people memorize visual signals better, they also process visual information 60,000 times faster than textual ones. You, as a marketer, are obliged to pay attention to this phenomenon, because one of your tasks should be to develop an effective image that will attract the user's attention. Think of imagery not as a design element, but as a means of communication. Know that pictures convey information much better than text fixed in the mind of your client as a specific rule. Also remember that the images not only help visitors to form the first unconscious impression of your site, but are also remembered for a much longer period than the title or text calling for action.
Therefore, pay great attention to banners, infographics and presentations. Merging text, image, numeric information is ideal for perceiving a marketing message.
Crowd effect
We can deny as much as we want, but obviously we like to do what others do. And the more popular your product becomes, the higher the likelihood that more people will try it. This is the so-called crowd effect, which largely explains the newfangled trends in clothing, which the woman eventually puts on, vowing never to wear “such bad taste”.
It is no secret that the media is the main lever forcing this effect to work for you.
When people see their friends like your post, they will also be inclined to appreciate it. You can use the effect of the crowd even on your website, proudly demonstrating with the help of ratings and reviews how many customers use your services.
An example from amazon.com .
The effect of the crowd on your site:
- likes of social networks, comments,
- data of social networks: how many people are in your group, the number of topics discussing, the number of visitors to your office / store on four square,
- reviews (opinions of real people who have already bought),
- an arbitrary scale of stars, where the product is rated based on the points put up by site visitors,
- an indication of the specific number of people who bought or used the service (for example, 18 people out of 25 enrolled in a Microsoft course),
- photos and videos about the use of your products / services by real customers.
Learn to think like a customer
At its core, conversion optimization is inextricably linked with human psychology. Convince users to make a decision on cooperation with you, make sure that you understand the peculiarities of customers' thinking, you understand what motivates them to make a positive decision. After you start thinking like a customer, use your knowledge to optimize the conversion!
Editor - Anna Chaschina .
Thank you for your attention and for your positive feedback. Subscribe to our blog on Habré , read useful articles in the blog on our website , watch the video in our YouTube channel to follow the updates from the company Witget.com.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/227211/
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