Nonconscious motivation and cognitive biases — CXL Digital Psychology and Persuasion Minidegree Review — Part 4

This is part 4 out of 12 reviewing the digital psychology and persuasion minidegree at CXL Institute. For 12 weeks, I will deep-dive into areas such as psychology foundations, neuromarketing, persuasion models and behavioral psychology. Each week I will post one article reviewing the course content and discuss my learnings as well as my personal thoughts on it.

Dual process theory

Just as last week this week’s courses were also instructed by brilliant neuromarketer Roger Dooley. He starts off by talking about the dual process theory. Since I have already covered some of this earlier I will just give you a quick recap of what this theory is about.

When we make decisions we use two different systems of thinking, these systems are referred to as system 1 and system 2. The characteristics of these systems can be described as below.

System 1 — unconscious, fast, automatic, non-logical, nonverbal and requires low effort.

System 2 — conscious, slow, controlled, logical, language link and requires high effort.

It is important to be aware that system 1 is our default system. Our job as marketers or optimizers is to know how to reach our customers’ minds, especially the non-conscious since this is where our brain prefers to be.

How do we reach our customer’s non-conscious mind?

In one of my earlier posts, I have already explained Cialdini’s 7 principles of persuasion briefly. This week I have been diving deeper into these principles and learned more about how they can be used online.

Liking

Showing attributes you share with your customer creates a liking effect. On a website, this can be used on the ”about us” page. Here you have the chance to show the customer what you have in common with them. Flattery can also be used to create liking since studies have shown that when you flatter someone they will like you more and they will remember more. This even applies to flatter that is not considered as genuine.

Social proof

Most people are familiar with social proof since this is a frequently used principle in today’s online marketing. Social proof is a phenomenon where people see other’s behavior as correct and therefore they tend to do as other people do. Social proof can be customer reviews, ratings, testimonials, social media proof, company logos etc.

Customers are persuaded 12x more by others than you as a marketer. Or as online marketer Angie Schottmuller puts it in her talk at CXL Live 2016 Conference, social proof is evidence of/from others that help to reduce fear or uncertainty. Therefore when working with social proof the first thing we need to do is to identify our customer’s fears, anxieties, questions and doubts.

Angie has come up with 6s formats of social proof;

Sum it, Score it, Say it, Sign it, Show it, Shine it

These words describe what form the social proof takes if it is in numbers, words or visuals. Angie emphasizes the importance of brainstorming and inventory 6s formats to buffer the customer’s fears and questions. She implies that many companies have social proof, such as testimonials for instance, that are not being used as social proof. Angie Schottmuller has also created a social proof scorecard with factors that indicates the persuasion quality of the social proof. The scorecard can be used to grade and score social proof.

Action vs preference

When using social proof it is better to include how many people that liked your post than how many that viewed your post or how many people that are preferring your service than using your service. If the social proof is expressed in this way it will be more effective studies have shown. Exact numbers are also more believable. Instead of using an even number such as 10.000, rather write ”10137 people prefer our products”. Photos and videos also increase the trustworthiness of social proof.

When to not use social proof?

In general social proof doesn’t work for luxury items, status items and art and craft items. The reason for this is that people buying these items want to be unique and then it is not advantageous to use social proof. When selling these kinds of products it is better to use Cialdini’s authority principle.

Authority

The authority principle refers to people’s tendency to comply with authority figures. By using authority symbols such as experts, celebrities or uniforms you can add authority to your website and the customers will be more persuaded to buy from you.

Reciprocity

Reciprocity is the principle referring to the tendency to be more likely to do something for someone if that person first did something for you. Reciprocity is created when you do something for someone without expecting anything in return.

When it comes to online sales and subscribing to newsletters a way of using this principle is to offer free information or advice and after that ask the customer to subscribe to your newsletter. Asking the customers for their email addresses so they can get something for free is not the way to go. The customer will be more likely to do something for you if you first do something for them.

Commitment and consistency

The commitment and consistency principle says that people have a need to appear consistent about their words and actions. If you ask someone for a small favor first they will be more likely to also say yes to a bigger favor in order to appear as consistent.

Completing small steps invoke commitment and consistency. Studies have shown that if people see a long web form they will scroll down and scan the form for difficult questions before starting to filling it out. Another way of using the commitment and consistency principle is to use two button opt-in forms. If the copy is chosen wisely one of the buttons can have a statement that is consistent with the customer’s beliefs and the other that is inconsistent. Then it will create more cognitive dissonance for the customer if he or she wants to click on the inconsistent statement.

Scarcity

According to the scarcity principle, scarce things are perceived as more desirable. The scarcity effect is widely used on travel and hotel sites with messaging such as ”Only 3 rooms left”. Decreasing availability increases the scarcity effect. Example ”The offer ends in xx minutes”, ”Booked less than 1 min ago”, etc.

Unity

This principle is similar to the liking principle but instead of a shared attribute, the unity effect is about shared identity, family, tribe and co-creation. The unity principle is about making your customers feel you are part of the same tribe.

Cognitive biases

Cognitive biases refer to the systematic errors in thinking that affects human decision and judgment. Cognitive biases are ways of thinking about and perceiving the world that may not reflect reality.

In this part of the course, several cognitive biases influencing purchase behavior are presented. I will explain some of the most well-known ones I learned about this week.

Loss aversion

The loss aversion bias refers to the tendency to prefer to avoid losing compared to gaining an equivalent amount. Fear of loss is more motivating than desiring a gain. Loss aversion can be used to cut cancellations. When the customer is about to cancel a subscription, inform the customer about what they are going to loose when canceling.

Framing effect

The framing effect is a cognitive bias that impacts our decision-making and is based on how the choices are framed. The choice is made from how the information is presented, if it creates negative or positive connotations. This bias can be used to write copy that emphasizes loss, risk and uncertainty.

Fluency bias

Things that are easy for our brain to process are perceived as more credible and believable. People tend to prefer things that are simple to understand or use. This can be used by using easy language, simple fonts and intuitive UX.

Confirmation bias

The tendency to look for and trust information that is aligned with our existing beliefs. Use information that your customers are likely to agree with. The more your message agrees with your customer’s beliefs the more persuasive you will be.

Priming effect

Priming is a phenomenon where exposure to one stimulus influences a response to a later stimulus unconsciously. By using language and visual cues for your offer you can prime your customers.

Ambiguity aversion bias

This effect refers to people’s tendency to choose options with a probable favorable known outcome rather than a choice with a probable favorable unknown outcome. People don’t like ambiguity so by reducing this in our marketing and on our website our customers will be more likely to take an action.

Bandwagon and the cheerleader effect

The bandwagon effect is the tendency to do something because other people are doing it. This bias is the one that drives social proof influence. The cheerleader effect refers to the tendency to perceive people as more attractive when seen in a group than on their own. By using pictures of staff, testimonials, group photos or photo montages this can increase the attractiveness of the people on the site or in the advertising.

Precision bias

The precision bias represents our belief in precise numbers. Studies have shown that we consider products with precise numbers such as 9998 as being worth more than products with even numbers such as 10000. Precise prices are perceived as more believable and seem less inflated. There is also something called the syllable effect that refers to our tendency to favor numbers in simple terms rather than numbers with currency symbols, punctuations etc. Simple forms of the same price are perceived as cheaper.

Anchoring

The anchoring effect is our tendency to depend too heavily on the first piece of information offered, the ”anchor”. Price anchoring can be used in digital marketing. If you use a high number first before telling the customer what they have to pay, the second price will be perceived as cheap in comparison with the initial price.

Decoy effect

The decoy effect refers to people’s change in preference between two options when also presented by a third, less attractive, option. Adding a less attractive offer can boost sales of a similar offer and adding a more expensive product can boost sales of a lower priced product.

Paradox of choice

Too many choices can complicate decision making. A smaller number of choices leads to higher sales, higher satisfaction and less regret. The paradox of choice can be avoided by guiding the customer by using ”popular choice”, ”today only”, ”recommended”, etc. If you have many choices you have to be able to differentiate them from each other. This can be done by offering filters, detailed info, having customer reviews etc.

Summary of the fourth week

This has been my favorite week of the course so far. I have learned so many new useful psychological tools that I can apply in my future job as an optimizer. Speaking of decision-making, starting this course at CXL is one of the best decisions I made this year. I am really looking forward to the upcoming weeks!