Hello. This is Devan Rome. Welcome to Part 12 of my 12-part series reviewing the concepts I’ve learned in CXL’s Digital Psychology and Persuasion Program. Here is a link to the course. In this series, I review the principles discussed and taught in the course. I also write about some of my opinions of the course. With that said and out of the way, I will now get on to this week (week 12’s) review of the course. I am now about half way through this 12-part series, and I am certainly learning a lot. I’m typing this from an airport and sending it a bit later because of the business travel I’ve been doing. This will be the last post before my final exam.
Currently watching the video on writing case studies and testimonials in the social proof course. Good reviews have specificity, relatability to audience, and ability to support an actual claim. Now for conducting customer interviews. You should interview interviewees who are willing, who reflect who your ideal market is, and who also have time to commit. You want 30-45 minutes. You should structure your interview in a way conducive to this. Keep it improv like and conversational. You never want to assume. It’s ok to ask the same question in different ways to make sure you’re getting the right answer.
Now for where to include social proof. There should also be a reason why there is something on your side. You can use this in a pricing section, for example. For example, if you say you’re the best, you should use a testimonial to prove it.
There is also negative social proof. If you only show 5 star reviews, for example, it might be questioned. Showing some other reviews can help you look more realistic and trustworthy.
Now for common mistakes in social proof. One is not displaying a testimonial in a way that is not credible. Anytime you can use a headshot, a name, and more, you can improve the authenticity of your testimonial. A face is helpful. You should also use context. For example, if you use a company’s logo, then give it context so that your audience know why it’s relevant and whether it’s actually legit.
Now for keeping social proof fresh. Social proof won’t go away, and it likely won’t change significantly. However, the way in which it can be best presented for your audience might change. For example, videos might work better. Perhaps in the future, people may expect more testimonial videos. Like David Ogilvy, said test! You may also want to use a redundant amount of reviews. The instructor recommends using audio and video, or at least testing them.
Now for the psychology of communication course. The first video is getting the timing right. The context and timing is important. Small factors can have significant influence on one’s decision. The instructor mentions that study on judges and lunch time. Been there, learned that. He mentions the BJ Fogg behavior model.
Now for capturing attention. People looking for brain tumors often missed a gorilla in the photo, for example. Specificity is important. Who, what, why. Who, what, and why it’s important, that is. Emails are often opened based on their subject lines. Cocktail party effect. We’re often wired to focus on when our name is mentioned. Personalize your notification for them. However, don’t get too personal. You don’t want to get creepy. When it comes to subject lines, start long. Put your value proposition as early as possible.
It is Saturday evening, and I am now on the heuristic analysis course. We shall start with the relevance video. People want relevance. First impressions come up in under 50 milliseconds. Wow. We looked at some websites and were able to come up with some first impressions within only a few seconds. He showed us some banking websites, and I thought they were all different websites. Wow! Scientists have determined that first impressions are often determined by body language, and there is a certain body language for websites as well. You should consider the language your websites uses both on your own website, but also on the search engine results page. He states there is a difference between resonance and relevance. We are now talking about a neuromarketing model. It’s called the limbic map. The three main elements of this model are dominance, stimulant, and balance. Like the RGB model, there are shades between this model. We can allocate our first impressions or implicit feelings along this map.
Now for stimulating people to buy. This is psychologically based on the principle of giving people a stimulus in order to stimulate an action. You should remember that your users are optimizers are too. There are a lot of unconscious thoughts going through their head while they are making decisions. When it comes to getting your user to take an action, you can think of this as crossing the Rubicon. It is the “stimulus” that helps your user when it comes to crossing the Rubicon. Make sure you give a reason why they should buy. Think of the Fogg Behavioral Model. Price may be a reason they can’t buy. We’re now talking about the cost benefit analysis. Make sure you clearly detail why your benefits outweigh the costs. Benefits. Benefits. Benefits. Also make sure you’re appealing to both system 1 and system 2 when making your case. System 1, according to the research, will have a more significant effect on this, so be sure to think about system 1. Make sure you give reasons why they should act now. Make sure you give explicit value propositions. Your value prop should be easy to see and easy to understand .The instructor showed a Spotify page where it simply said “It’s easy.” Yep. Simple and clear. The design of your price also affects how your users perceive the price, so make sure your price is designed well and for your audience.
Make sure you make it fun for your audience. Fun websites will probably get more returning visitors! Haha
I am looking forward to taking and passing the final exam. The CXL Digital Psychology and Persuasion Program was definitely good. I definitely learned a lot. I would say this course is definitely good for beginners that don’t have much knowledge of psychology.
