Mankind. The rational animal. Or maybe not.

This month we're looking at how irrational we really are, how we make decisions based on circumstance more than reasoning, and how we can be fooled by the simplest of tricks. This month we're looking at the black art of persuasion, and how you can use it to make your marketing more... sinister.

And if you're interested in an actual demonstration of how these effects can be used to increase your conversion process, maybe you should contact us to see how persuasive design can improve your revenue.

The Rule of Reciprocation

When someone does us a favour, we feel a strong impulse to give something back. It's coded into us. So if you want to get something from some one, you might want to try a little holiday spirit and give something first...

Variation, personalization, and choice were one of the great lessons of late 90's marketing, and so it seems strange to suggest that customers could actually be dissuaded by choice. Yet, a study conducted in 2000 by Sheena Iyengar and Mark Lepper found that while a supermarket sampling booth with 24 tasting options attracted more initial interest than one with six it sold one tenth as many products. Mayhap cleverly decreasing your options could increase your sales this holiday season?

Scarcity

It's no secret that people like rare things. Hence why people collect stamps, or cards, or any other physically valueless objects. The perceived value of something that is rare is much higher than something that is common, regardless of economic values. Michael offers a few easy examples that you can use to capitalize on scarcity.

Diffusion of Responsibility

Kitty Genovese was killed in broad day light in a crowded residential district. No one helped her. This isn't a sign of the horribleness of her neighbors but of how responsibility diffuses when we're in crowds. Studies have found a demonstrable "diffusion of responsibility" where an individual is far more likely to help some one in trouble than a group. However, there are some tricks to get around this by speaking directly to your audience, which in turn can be applied to your sales copy to make it more affective.

Speaking to some one involves more than speaking at them. We trust those who share our beliefs and opinions, and we love those who say what we think (especially those who can say it better). Michael explains that this is especially useful for companies selling niche products, whose audience may be more inclined to think as they do.

High Price Equals Good

Which is better, a $60 Pommard Les Vignoys - Doudet Naudin 02/05 Pinot Noir, or a $16 Tinhorn Creek '06 Pinot Noir? Likely the $60 yes? And if offered both you would likely say that the Pommard Les Vignoys is the better wine, and that you prefer to drink it. The thing is, studies show that if you tried each blind you would likely prefer the cheaper wine.

High prices can change the flavour of a wine, they can change the quality of a table, they change how much you like a lamp. They shape the perceived qualities in things, and there are ways that you can take advantage of this.

Dan Ariely asks, Are we in control of our own decisions?

Scattered throughout the above are citations to Dan Ariely, the MIT "Behavioral Economist". In this talk to the TED audience he argues that we are not really in control of our own decisions. Instead he argues that we often make decisions subconsciously, based on factors that we are not in control of--but which we can control with persuasive design. Included are the contrast principle (or "ugly Jerry"), how an opt-in versus an opt-out can greatly change response rates, how doctors will usually try one alternative but not two, and how man kind is anything but rational.