A Day in the Life of a Persuasion Architect

Leave No Brain Unturned

While many of those in the persuasion business are hunting and scammin' for the next big trick or technique to help increase sales, at Future Now we rely on one big trick ourselves...

Curiosity

We are constantly researching and gaining a deeper understanding of the reasons why people do the things that they do. And while conversing with our clients it is not uncommon for us to toss around terms as "Dorsolateral Prefrontal Association Area", "Jungian Archetypes", "Progressive Disclosure", etc. It's not that we like to drop 50 cent words (well ok...some of us do like to drop 50 cent words) it's just that we take the study of human behavior very seriously.

It's just not enough to know what works, we commit to understanding why it works. To accomplish this our staff is constantly sticking our noses into and learning a spread of topics. Everything from sociology to psychiatry to history to cognitive neuroscience to current news and events. If there is a hope that it will give us insight to human behavior it's likely that one of us is learning, or has learned something about it.

Persuasion is not a static collection of finite steps and procedures, it is an artform, a science, and a craft. Persuasion is hard work and it involves the practical application of knowledge from a variety of fields.

I was reminded of this by our friend and Wizard of Ad's partner Craig Arthur, he just posted his case for studying the human brain. I'm sure you can guess, we certainly agree.

Optimize Your Site for Cross Channel Shopping

According to ClickZ stats there are even more numbers that prove that you should be optimizing your site for offline sales, that is where the internet is currently have the most monetary influence.

Majority of US Consumers Research Online, Buy Offline

There are those who walk into a store not knowing what they may find. Then, there are those that come in to a retailer already knowing exactly what they want because they've done their product research online.

Forrester Research has a name for it: "cross-channel shopping." It's rapidly becoming a force to be reckoned with. In a report titled "The US Consumer 2004: Multichannel and In-Store Technology" the research firm details a number specific shopping characteristics and behaviors particular to cross-channel shoppers. The analysis was based on a survey of 8,000 online consumers.

Cross-channel shoppers actually comprise the majority of all online consumers, 65 percent in 2004. Of these, 51 percent are characterized as active cross-channel shoppers who made at least one purchase in the past three months. The trend is bound to continue; the number of new cross-channel shoppers in the past year was 30 percent. Read the entire article.

Bryan Eisenberg's two most recent Click Z articles deal with lead generation.

Optimize Your Site For Lead Generation
Jumping B2B Hurdles: Lead Generation and Complex Sales

Been putting off time and attention to your website because you aren't selling online?

If this isn't smelling salt then I don't know what it is.

Bread crumbs, Tasty or Not? You Decide

In the October edition of the UI Design Newsletter, Kath Straub and Dr. Eric Schaffer of Human Factors International share their take on breadcrumb navigation.

Here are some highlights...

The resistance to using breadcrumbs is perplexing. They increase efficiency. They support site learning. They reduce the user's "where-was-I?" memory burden by providing a list of recently visited pages. They make it easier to cross levels of the navigation decision tree within the browse environment.

Breadcrumbs make site learning and navigation more efficient. And it's the designer's job to enhance efficiency, right? So we continue to design sites with breadcrumbs.

But breadcrumbs are only beneficial if users notice them. And largely, they don't. Or maybe they do and they are telling us something.

And more...

Hull and colleagues conclude that minimal training may be sufficient to get users to increase their use of breadcrumbs, and as such increase their task efficiency. Specifically, they argue that training makes sense in Intranet environments, where the ROI for the training would be more than offset by increased productivity.

Still, the idea that users need to be trained should be a red flag.

The article continues...

Executing the business goals through good design is an even more primary goal. Taken from that perspective, efficiency of task completion may not be the holy grail in e-tail environments. In bricks-and-mortar retail environments, being exposed to something increases your likelihood of buying it. Think candy in the supermarket checkout aisle. Further, the longer you browse, the more you are likely to buy. It is reasonable to believe that these same effects hold in on-line environments.

To that end, successful e-tailers do everything they can to facilitate browsing. Think Amazon. Amazon is one of those environments—or the original books/music store was, at least—where users often know exactly what they want, to conduct a strategic search and leave. Amazon's designers know that. And they go to great (and successful!) lengths to offset that tendency and encourage browsing to combat it.

Still, there is an art to this kind of salesmanship. Customers need to feel they are in control of their purchasing experience

Ahhhh yes.

Building a site is not building user friendly 'software'. Nor is it building a heavy handed user blind sales pitch.

A persuasive website successfully merges 2 distinct sets of goals, the visitors goals and the website's business goals.

The article concludes the following...

I can't see the effort in training users on breadcrumbs to gain a 1/3 increase in usage—it just makes no sense. Instead I think I will reserve breadcrumbs for hierarchically organized sites with a lot of expert users. Otherwise it does not seem like they are worth the clutter.[Read the entire article]

Yes, we agree , on most websites, breadcrumbs are a waste. Many visitors ignore them, other visitors may 'skip' over opportunities you have to persuade them by breadcrumbing from section to section. We usually don't recommend them.

But there are exceptions that prove the 'rule'. Apple's iTunes music store uses breadcrumb navigation, and as you spend time inside the store sampling and buying songs it's easy to understand the value of breadcrumb nav within the store.

Because the iTunes music store does such a tremendous job of keeping you clicking deeper and deeper, sampling songs and albums that you never ever intended to sample, every once in a while the user needs to get back to to a category page to get reoriented. Imagine physically being in a store where the products and the store layout make it easy to get lost in endless nooks and crannys of the store seeing and basketing all kinds of cool products each product begging and enticing you look at another. Every once in a while you might wanna run to the center aisle (breadcrumb navigation) so that you can start on brand new 'fun' path to start all over again. But most sites don't have the momentum 'problems' that the iTunes music store has.

Oh and breadcrumbs do have other tasty uses as well

Marketing in 2005 and Beyond

Our Strategic Partner Roy H. Williams, the Wizard of Ads gives us his insight and suggestions on the cultural shifts taking place all around us.

Marketing in 2005 and Beyond

The Age of the Baby Boomer ended in 2003. The torch has been handed to a new generation with new ideas and values. Sure, we Boomers still hold the power at the top, but the prevailing worldview that drives our nation is completely other than the one we grew up with. Businesses that don’t get in step with the new world order are going to find it increasingly difficult to succeed. Being a Baby Boomer isn’t about when you were born.

It’s about how you see the world.

Baby Boomers were idealists who worshipped heroes, perfect icons of beauty and success. Today these icons are seen as phony, posed and laughable. Our cool as ice, suave lady’s man James Bond has become the comic poser Austin Powers or the tragically flawed and vulnerable Jason Bourne of The Bourne Identity. That’s the essence of the new worldview; the rejection of delusion, a quiet demand for gritty truth. We’re seeing it reflected in our movies, our television shows and our music.

Baby Boomers swayed back and forth to the lyrics of a 1971 Coke commercial featuring teenagers from around the world singing, “I'd like to buy the world a home and furnish it with love, grow apple trees and honeybees and snow white turtle doves. I'd like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony, I'd like to buy the world a Coke and keep it company...” The idea was pure and wholesome, but it required no action other than belief. Today’s generation would retch if that ad were aired, saying, “What has Coke actually done to promote world peace? Nothing. They’re a bunch of phony posers.” Consider the lyrics to the Grammy-winning, Record of the Year for 2004 by Coldplay: “Come out upon my seas, cursed missed opportunities. Am I a part of the cure? Or am I part of the disease?”

Baby Boomers believed in big dreams, reaching for the stars, personal freedom, “be all that you can be.” Today’s generation believes in small actions, getting your head out of the clouds, social obligation, “do your part.”

A Baby Boomer anchored his or her identity in their career. The emerging generation sees his or her job only as a job.

Baby Boomers were diplomatic and sought the approval of others. The emerging generation feels it’s more honest to be blunt, and they really don’t care if you approve or not.

Boomers were driven, self-reliant and impressed by authority. Emergents are laid back, believe in working as a team, and have less confidence in “the boss.”

Idealistic Boomers had an abundance mentality, believed in a better world, and were opulent in their spending. Emergents see scarcity, believe in doing what it takes to survive, and are more fiscally conservative.

Based solely on the core values of the emerging generation, here’s what I believe we can expect to see beginning to happen during the next 3 to 4 years:

1. A decline among prestige brands such as Rolex, Harley-Davidson and Gucci.
2. The end of “upwardly mobile” as a slang expression.
3. A decline in the effectiveness of traditional advertising.
4. Comparison-shopping to be done increasingly online, though purchasing will remain in brick-and-mortar stores in many product categories.
5. An increase in volunteerism and donor support to socially responsible organizations.
6. A slow increase in the popularity of labor unions.
7. A slight decrease in the divorce rate as couples become increasingly committed to family unity and fall less under the spell of idealistic “true love.”

Read the whole article (PDF Download)

What Women Want ... Online

Gentlemen, it's has finally happened.

Through the modern miracle of the consumer survey, a research firm has actually revealed, what women want.

This is of course, an earth shattering breakthrough for the male race, considering that most of us have been trying to answer this question since ..well.. Adam and Eve?

Ohh wait never mind, no such luck.. this research is confined to what women want online. Now that's something a tad different.

What do women want online? Easier, more personalized shopping

Women want their online shopping experiences to make their lives easier. That’s the outcome of research based on a series of interviews with women two at a time that consultants Resource Interactive conducted for the Shop.org Summit this week in Anaheim, CA, and that resource Interactive president Kelly Mooney presented Wednesday.

The 10 things women want online, Mooney reported, are:

Read the story.

In the Persuasion Architecture process, each of these "10 things" women want occur as a natural bi-product of our persona-based design approach. In fact, Persuasion Architecture actually, in some cases, goes further and accounts not just for 'women' in general, but for women with different preference types and motivations.

What I found most fascinating about this research was the methodology used. I'm curious what some of the marketing to women experts like Michelle Miller and Yvonne DiVita have to say about this approach. My suspicion is that it is a refreshing step in the right direction but might not represent the gamut of preferences that the fairer sex has when shoppin' online. I wonder if this methodology may skew the results to reflect a more "Expressive/Humanistic" preference type.

Regardless, we can say with firm resound that any retailer would be smart to implement these.

Psst.....I'll even venture to say that there are many men that would appreciate some of these elements in a website.

When Conversion Happens Offline

Just ran across this on Internet Retailer...

Web research leads to 70% more spending offline than online, new study says

A survey of 3,000 adults found that online research led to $180.7 billion in offline retail sales, 70% more than the $106.5 billion in direct online consumer spending, The Dieringer Group said today in its latest American Interactive Consumer Survey. "The data confirm that the Internet`s role as a consumer product information utility is much larger than its role as a direct selling medium," says senior consultant Thomas E. Miller. Read More.

I have a confession to make.

I really hate buying online.

But I will tell you what I do love. I love shopping online.

I'm one of those that use the internet as a 'consumer product information utility'. In the last week alone the internet has influenced my buying decisions on no fewer than 4 significant purchases. I've selected a vacuum cleaner online, picked out a waffle iron, bought a broadband phone subscription, and decided on a new external hard drive to backup my 12' Powerbook.

My kids were online recently picking out halloween costumes that will be purchased at a brick and mortar sometime this weekend.

My wife just decided upon an optometrist online, made her grocery list, and even surfed the website of a gym that she is going to start working out in.

All within the scope of a week, and all without ever dishing out our credit card number online.

During that process we discounted several services and products simply because their websites did not 'persuade' us that their products and services were worthwhile.

It makes me wonder how many business are losing selling opps because they aren't awake to the power of the internet to sell offline as a lead generation tool, or because they don't take it seriously enough and have built inadequate product centric websites. And according to our Conversion Assessment Director Jenn Weeks, of all the Conversion Assessments we do, only about 20% of them are for lead-generation sites.

How well does your site do in equipping visitors to leave the site and purchase your product or service offline? Have you been one of those that has mis-prioritized the importance of your site because you 'don't sell online'? If you are, I can only hope that we aren't buying from your competitor offline because they made a more persuasive case onine

Seems to me in light of this article , lead generation sites have the most to lose( and to gain )from maximizing conversion.

Two Types of Hyperlinks

If everyone had the same needs, same motivations, and were in the exact same stage of the buying process persuading them on the net would be as easy as whipping up a persuasive linear Powerpoint presentation, but that would be sad under-utilization of the internet's greatest talent, interactivity.

Hyperlinks allow visitors to interact with your site on their own terms.

But how does one manage the persuasive process, how can you make your persuasive case to visitors if they are flailing around your site smackin' links all willy nilly like? How do you manage the paths on your site and maximize them for conversion?

The solution: Proper use of the two type of hyperlinks.

Call To Action Links & Resolving Door Links

Bryan Eisenberg lays it all out in todays ClickZ Article...

The Resolving Door

You have goals for your business.

You want customers to come to your site and complete the action you want them to take. You want them to buy, register, or become a lead. You want visitors to engage with your Web site, your marketing, your brand and proceed down the path of your sales process. Read the whole article.

Personal Experience Factor, Your Best Friend or Your Worst Enemy

What do word of mouth, repeat business, profit margin, and conversion rate all have in common?

They can all be dramatically impacted positively, or negatively by your company's Personal Experience Factor (PEF).

Personal Experience Factor is the actual experience a visitor/customer has with your company or products during a site visit, while interacting with your company, and after the sale.

Of course many other factors contribute to the above, but by in large, PEF is the most commonly overlooked and misunderstood.

But overlook and misunderstand PEF at your peril.

We live in a world of blogs, email, forums, and chat where the word about your product, service, and company travels blisteringly quick...read this from the New York Times

A New Phone and Techie Controversy at Verizon

Last week on "The Amazing Race for the Perfect Phone," Verizon Wireless announced that it was emerging from its cocoon of technological backwardness.

At long last, the carrier with the best signal coverage began offering a full-featured flip phone with camera, voice dialing, speakerphone, memory card and Bluetooth: the new Motorola v710. Best coverage, great phone — what more could a gadget freak want?

Unfortunately, Web sites and blogs are teeming with complaints about one particular aspect of the v710: its crippled Bluetooth feature

The story continues...

The V710's page at the Motorola Web site sums it up like this: "From wireless talking to wireless synching, this phone makes it happen."

What it doesn't say is: "But Verizon makes it NOT happen."

Verizon, it turns out, has turned off features 3 and 4. If you want to sync your address book with a computer, you have to buy a $40 cable. And if you want to transfer pictures, you'll either have to send them by e-mail or use Verizon's Pix Messaging service — 25 cents per photo. (You can't transfer pictures via the phone's removable memory card.)

"That's Verizon for you," wrote one disgruntled customer. "They want you to pay them so that you can send your own photos to yourself."

"The v710 is targeting technophiles," wrote another. "Crippling these features is an act of bad faith that undermines the desires and expectations of the core customers for this very product."

So irritated are Verizon's customers that the Web site NuclearElephant.com has instituted a hacking competition (www.nuclearelephant.com/papers/v710hackers.html). Crack the crippling code, and you win the pot contributed by interested parties (about $1,660 so far). Read the whole story.

The bad news is that bad news about you will spread speedier than butter on hot toast.

The good news is that good news about you will do exactly the same thing.

So we must do our part to help spread some good news. Our own Jeffrey Eisenberg recently did some business with Zazzle.com, below is a pleasant exchange Jeffrey had Justin, a smart, well trained, considerate representative with Zazzle.

Justin, I never believed that your intent was to deceive. Now I am pleasantly surprised. You really only know the quality of a business' service when there is a conflict. I would be willing to do business again and I'll leave the best feedback that I can. I may even blog about it; our audience is fairly large. Best regards, Jeffrey Eisenberg Homepage: http://www.FutureNowInc.com Newsletter: http://www.GrokDotCom.com Please visit our new Blog: http://persuasion.typepad.com/architect

From: Justin Dunscombe [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Sun 9/12/2004 5:56 PM
To: Jeff Eisenberg
Subject: RE: Your Print Order (#66348)

Hi Jeffrey,

Thanks for your reply. While we do describe the different shipping
methods we employ for both posters and portfolio prints and while we do
mention that portfolios will be shipped with other portfolio sized
images, we have run into this problem previously regarding the confusion
over the separate shipping charge. We have been trying to adjust our
listings in such a way as to further clarify our shipping terms, but
being that we've got tens of thousands of items, it's an immense
undertaking. Please know that we are not trying to mislead anyone.

While our e-mail notifications do reflect the revised shipping charge
when two types of items are purchased, it usually comes after people
have already sent in payment. Unfortunately, neither PayPal nor eBay are
able to distinguish the items that are being purchased and cannot
calculate the appropriate shipping charge when different items are
present.

As a gesture of good faith, we'd like to waive the additional fee
attached to your order. Should you decide to purchase from us in the
future, please know that we offer two types of prints that cannot be
shipped together and that ordering them both at the same time will incur
an additional shipping charge. If you ever have any questions on the
type of items you're considering, please feel free to contact me.

Best Regards,
Justin
Support Team
Zazzle.com, Inc.
http://www.zazzle.com

-----Original Message-----
From: Jeff Eisenberg [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Saturday, September 11, 2004 1:55 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Your Print Order (#66348)

I paid immediately as I was hnoring our agreement. Didn't you know this
when you set up the shipping fee? I bid based on the shipping fee and so
do others. I'm sure it was not your intention to be deceptive but
nvertheless that is the result. I was misled about the price. I don't
think that I should be responsible for your mistake.

------Original Message------
From: Justin Dunscombe
To: Jeffrey Eisenberg
Sent: Sep 10, 2004 3:20 PM
Subject: Your Print Order (#66348)

Hi Jeffrey,

Thank you for your order! Unfortunately, we are unable to complete it at
this time due to a need for additional funds.

Part of your order is a portfolio sized print which comes on a glossy
card stock. The print is not very strong and requires different shipping
than our regular prints. In order to guarantee a quality product we
shrink-wrap the portfolio to a cardboard stabilizer and place it in a
stay flat envelope. Our poster prints are on a high quality satin-finish
paper and are easily rolled and shipped in a reinforced cardboard tube.

Because of this process, we must ship them separately, which incurs an
additional $5 shipping charge. If you'd like, we can send you an invoice
for this amount via PayPal. I apologize for any inconvenience this may
cause.

Thank you and please let me know if you have any questions.

Best Regards,
Justin
Support Team
Zazzle.com, Inc.
http://www.zazzle.com

What kind of experience are you offering your customers?