32
Can do.
Will do.
Still do.Persuasion, Emotion and Trust take designing
beyond usability to building deeper relationships
with customers.They enable brands to understand
what triggers customers to respond and make
purchase decisions.
by Saurabh Gupta
Photo Credit: Apdk
Commerce

Kuliza Social Technology Quarterly Issue 08 33
India is witnessing an e-commerce
boom. Undoubtedly, adapting to several
platforms, whether it is the web, Android,
iOS or other mobile platforms, has resulted
in increased sales. But the question
remains whether the usability of web and
mobile channels are going to be enough
to win the battle for elevated customer
attention, acquisition, interaction, and
loyalty? The answer is definitely in the
negative unless it is realized that design in
the information and digital age is all about
designing for Persuasion, Emotion, and
Trust (PET design™). E-commerce stores
used to be clones of brick and mortar
stores. However, issues of usability and
navigation have been tackled by the most
primitive of e-commerce platforms. But
beyond usability, the need of the hour is
to spruce up the overall user experience.
The online experience must be enticing,
besides being easy and satisfying. It has
to be the kind that makes consumers feel
engaged and ultimately committed.

Rule of
Reciprocity
In the 1970s, the Disabled American
Veterans, while soliciting donations,
decided to send potential donors
personalized labels in a mail. They
told people to keep the labels even
if they did not make a donation. The
result of this strategy indicated an
increase in the number of people
who made contributions, which
nearly doubled—jumping from 18
percent to 35 percent. Made popular
by Robert Cialdini’s book “Influence:
The Psychology of Persuasion,” the
rule of reciprocity is about the deeply
ingrained human instinct to repay a
debt. If someone gives something
to us, we feel obliged to repay that
debt. This rule operates not only
with familiar people, but also with
strangers. Be it refreshments served
in a store while shopping or an offer,
the underlying assumption with
this rule is that it nudges people to
purchase.
Once it has been made usable, a web or
mobile channel needs to persuade clients
to transact or convert.
It is this step of persuasion that PET
design is primarily concerned with. A
usability engineer can make it easy for a
person to purchase insurance online. But
the need for insurance is not the lone reason
for a person to buy the policy; a dominating
factor is the persuasive nature of the site.
Several methods and tools for persuasion
are implemented ranging from selling a
value, making an emotional statement to
the extent of making one feel frightened and
insecure about what could happen to their
family if they did not buy insurance.
There is an exhaustive list of persuasive
techniques to choose from when designing
for PET, but here are seven principles that
can make web and mobile channels more
engaging and influential. These principles
can not only answer what solutions can
be implemented immediately, but also lay
foundation for future strategies that will
work in the long run. Also, significance has
to be given to the context of the products
and services, the objective and the
emotional drives and blocks of your target
audience. There are key questions every
e-commerce platform should answer to
understand the contexts before any of
these principles are implemented:
1. Can do
• Can users find the information they’re
looking for?
• Can they find the button they need to
press?
2. Will do
• They can find the button, but will they
press it?
• They can find the information, but will
they act on it?
3. Still do
• Will they come back?
• Will they be loyal?
These principles work on the
assumption that high level of engagement
is necessary for people to associate with a
brand. It must be taken into consideration
that although people can do something
does not mean they are bound to do those
actions. The future of design is about
creating engagement and commitment
to meet measurable business goals. It
is therefore a necessity to understand in
depth the subtle and emotional triggers
through different sets of practices.
References
Schaffer,Eric.Dr,perf.“Beyond Usability:
Usability is No Longer Enough.” Human Factors
International,Inc.2008.
Weinschenk,Susan.Dr,perf.“7 principles that
make your website more engaging.” Human
Factors International,Inc.,2011.
Amabile,Teresa M,and Steven J Kramer.The
Progress Principle: Using SmallWins to Ignite
Joy,Engagement and Creativity atWork.USA:
Harvard Business Review Press,2011.

We Love to get More
of Anything
In a coffee shop there were two deals
for a cup of coffee. The first deal
offered thirty-three percent extra in
the regular cup of coffee. The second
took thirty-three percent off the regular
price. If we were to analyze which deal
was better, both would seemingly be
equal. However, it is not so. People
would tend to go for the first deal
because we do not use math to arrive
at the decision, but use emotional
math. In this case getting something
extra “for free” feels better than getting
the same for less.
Scarcity
As a corollary to the previous
principle of wanting more, if
something is unavailable or is scarce,
it is perceived as more valuable.
Therefore, on a website when
notifications are provided such as
“only four more days to order your
plane tickets,” or “only three items
left,” these notification act as triggers
and signals to the brain to fasten
the process of buying and induces a
fear of losing out on something. The
human brain is sensitive to messages
that have to do with losing. Fear of
loss is a trigger that causes people to
take action.
It is not Always Best
to be First
Research shows that people are less
likely to choose the highest rated
option in a quality ranking when
it appears first on the list. People
tend to gravitate toward choices in
the middle. When given an array
of five options, they tend to choose
the fourth one, especially when the
choices are presented side by side.
The middle position has something
inherently attractive to the human
mind. As social creatures, the middle
seems a good and safe place to
be in comparison to being at the
edge, towards the end or at the very
beginning.

36
Conscious Minds
areVery Sensitive to
Food,Sex,Danger
and Protection of
Offspring
To get and hold the attention of
humans and get them to act, you need
to engage with their old brains. A major
job of the brain is to keep us from
harm. A threatening situation, even
if unreal or happening to someone
else, can cause the brain to set off
an alarm, putting our information and
emotional processing systems on high
alert. This implies that anything that
happens while we are on high alert
will be processed through emotions
and thereby will be deeply ingrained in
memory. Marketers thus use images,
references and related content of food,
sex or danger in order to stimulate
actions. This helps a viewer connect
deeply and therefore one is bound
to remember the product because of
strong emotions attached to it.
Use the Power of
Small Wins
According to Teresa Amabile and
Steve Kramer in the book The
Progress Principle, of all things that
can boost emotions, motivations, and
perceptions, the single most important
thing is the perception of making
progress. The more frequently people
experience a sense of progress, the
more likely they are to be motivated in
the long run. Whether it is an attempt
to solve a major scientific mystery or
simply fill out a form, even a small win
can make a difference to how people
feel and their next set of actions.
Designers can use this to principle
to leverage progress and motivate
people to perform more actions.
Popular networking site, LinkedIn
efficiently uses the concept of progress
to motivate people towards profile
completeness. The design consists of
a graph that indicates completeness
of one’s profile, which would result
in better opportunities. This ensures
that every piece of information that is
added to the profile is perceived as a
small win.
Social Validation
When people are uncertain of
what to buy or whether an offer is
good enough, they look to others
to decide what to do. This is why
ratings, reviews and testimonials
are powerful. The more information
available through ratings and reviews,
the more powerful and the more
influential that rating and review is.
Research even shows that reviews
from other people, especially ones
from peers are the most influential.
Peer reviews are more influential
than reviews or testimonials from
experts or recommendations from the
website itself. According to a survey
of US internet users by online video
review site EXPO, consumer reviews
are significantly more trusted - nearly
twelve times more than descriptions
that come from manufacturers.

Kuliza Social Technology Quarterly Issue 08 37
It is
necessary to
understand
in depth the
subtle and
emotional
triggers that
motivate
customers to
buy.
Photo Credit: Kuba Bozanowski