Persuasion, Trust, Emotion and Usability

Posted by Jozzua on Sep 25, 2008 in Random Blabber | 1 comment

While browsing for Usability training seminars in the US, I encountered Human Factor’s PET program. It’s an interesting look at where the User Experience (UX) and Usability fields are going to.

The idea is this:

Websites no longer just need to be Usable or Efficient, they also should appeal to the trust and emotional aspects of human beings. Simple, easy-to-navigate, searchable web pages are good. But you need something more to engage your users. You need to be able to:

- Explain clearly what value you provide
- Get their trust
- Attune to their emotions

Doing this will eventually drive better conversion rates for you. It will get you more subscribers or get your more income.

Now look at all the websites you visit. When you look for information, you scan the page, right? If it’s cluttered and full of ads, you get confused. This affects your perception of usability and trust. If you can’t even trust the site, do you think you can be emotionally convinced?

Look at the fundamental elements of persuasion:

Content Or “What Is The Message”:
The message is based on the positioning statement, the strategic approach and the evidence to support your message. This is the traditional approach used for marketing writing and communications. Content addresses the cerebral cortex of the brain. A reader learns new information; analyses and compares information; makes decisions and stores the information.

Credibility Of The Writer And Message:
Readers filter messages depending on their perception of the credibility of the author or message. The more credible the writer, the more information passes the filter to the cerebral cortex, where the message is analyzed, compared and so on. This absorption filter implies trust, which is an emotion. Hence, a message needs to go through the limbic system to be treated in the cerebral cortex.

Credibility of the writer and message is fundamental for persuasion. Messages that seem to mislead will close the absorption filter for an extended period of time. Hence, credibility implies that the message must be truthful and straight forward.

Emotional Involvement Of The Reader:
To be persuasive, a message has to go through the limbic system. As we have seen, trust is the gatekeeper for information passed to the cerebral cortex. Emotions tell the reader when to pay attention. Furthermore, emotions are processed faster than logical thought and have the final say in moments of indecision. To be persuasive, the message MUST stimulate an emotional reaction from the reader.

Emotions are stimulated by psychological, sociological, cultural, economical, and historical experiences and associations. Thus, to stimulate an emotion, the message needs to create these associations.

In marketing, we are now familiar with what we call “trust” elements. If you don’t know the credibility of a website, you look for things like:
- Hackersafe Logo
- SSL Security
- Verisign certificate
- Better Business Bureau logo

On you have that, you just need to touch the emotional side of your visitor while providing convincing, straightforward and informative copy.

Just take a look at how posters like the following tap on your emotional side:

Think about doing that on your website.