Book review: NEURO WEB DESIGN
What Makes Them Click?
Genres:
- Computer Science
- Web Design
Review posted on:
7.03.2019
The number of pages:
162 pages
Book rating:
5/5
Year the book was published:
First edition published 2008
Who should read this book:
- Web designers, UX developers, and anyone working on websites.
Why did I pick up this book and what did I expect to get out of it:
Well, one of the reasons for picking up Neuro Web Design is that everything is going on the web. Web design is important not just because it is cheaper and easier to create a website and sell stuff or services on it, it is also a very competitive space. If you are not keeping up with what kind of web designs people like and what makes people decide, you will lose so many opportunities as a business trying to make it on the web.
When deciding to pick up this Neuro Web Design by Susan M. Weinschenk I took a look at the reviews on the web and they were mostly good reviews. But I was still a bit skeptical about picking it up. But then when looking at the table of content, and the covers I decided to give it a go. I expect to read about designs why certain elements are good and how they affect the human mind when deciding if they like something and if they want to buy it. I expect to read about the “hot buttons” we subconsciously have and how to implement them into your web design as well as some study cases of when that was done and what were the results.
My thoughts about the book:
Even though this book was published in 2009 it has a lot of useful examples and study cases based on neuropsychological research which you can implement today. At first, you will get to read a little bit about how your brain is built and which part of the brain is responsible for which action. After you learn that, you get to learn how to use this knowledge to get the attention of your potential visitors/customers. Each chapter consists of insights derived from psychology and neuroscience followed by a few examples and a short summary. This book will show you how and why you make decisions and how others influence you into making those decisions subconsciously online and in real life.
I like the book because of its simplicity. The author is concise and she makes her point without redundant wordage. If you are looking for advanced material then most probably you will not find it in this book. But then again every true master returns to the basics every now and then, because with new knowledge and experience, you get a different perspective (than you had the first time), and with it new ideas. I recommend this book to people just learning about human behavior, psychology, neuroscience, and web design, as also to the “masters of the trade” to “resharpen their knives“. This is definitely one of those books that I am happy to have read and to say I can build on the lessons learned from it.
If you pick up this book please let me know what you think of it in the comment section.
My notes from the book:
- We have three different brains. The old brain (outside of conscious awareness) is concerned with our survival, always looking at the environment around us, deciding what is safe and what isn’t. The midbrain (outside of conscious awareness) is where emotions are processed and it is the root of a lot of your impulse buying. The new brain (conscious awareness) is responsible for language processing, speech, reading, playing music, thinking thoughts, planning etc…
- We often don’t know why we do the things we do. But we are quick to make up a reason that we actually believe, even though it’s not true.
- When we are uncertain about how we should act or do we look to others what our behavior should be (if you put your customers into a situation in which they find themselves in for the first time, show them how other people acted).
- We are most influenced when we know the person and the person is telling a story. We are somewhat less influenced when we don’t necessarily know the person, but it’s still someone we can imagine because there is a persona. We’re even less influenced when we don’t know the person, and we can’t imagine them, but we are provided with a story. And we are least influenced when we don’t know the person, and we are provided with only a rating.
- If we know what others are doing we will do the same. Because we are drawn to belong.
- If we think that information is hard to come by, then we see that information as being more valuable.
- Invoke scarcity – if something seems unavailable, we seem to want it more. If there is limited availability of something, we assume it is more valuable, and we want it even more.
- We say we want a lot of choices, but the reality is that when we have a lot of choices, we can’t decide – Choice paralysis. Lots of choices will grab our attention, but too many choices overwhelm us – to the point where we likely won’t buy at all.
- It seems that if we make our choice unconsciously without conscious processing, then we stick with it over time. If we spend more time and logically analyze why we’re choosing what we’re choosing, we’re less satisfied over time with our choice.
- In the buying process, you can activate the buyer’s midbrain (emotions) by having the product in front of them, or if you are selling online by using words like “instantly”. The midbrain pays attention when it sees that it can get it by a certain date, and when there are only a few minutes left.
- Because the old brain cares about safety and danger, any pictures or headlines that look or sound frightening will automatically get our attention.
- Using the word “YOU” is an automatic way to grab the attention of the old brain. The old brain cares about YOU. It cares about protecting you, feeding you, and helping you to reproduce.
- We tell ourselves stories about who we are, and then we tell those same stories to others. We will take action based on one of those stories, or personas we have about ourselves. We have more than one persona. We have different personas for different aspects of ourselves in relations to others.
- If you want someone to take action, you need to get a commitment first to something small that will activate a persona, and then you need to ask for a commitment to something larger later. The more public you can get that first commitment, the stronger the persona change will be.
- We are swayed most by those we think are similar to us.
- We are most afraid of losing what we already have – that is why in stores you get to try the product with all options (especially typical for the car sales industry). The way you word something can trigger the fear of losing (a 90% chance of success is better than saying a 10% chance of failing).
- The fear of losing motivates us more than the opportunity to win.
- If an event is associated with emotion, we will remember it better.
- The visual part of the brain takes up half of the brain processing power. So it shouldn’t be a surprise that we remember things we have seen visually better than anything else (Pictorial Superiority Effect – PSE).
- Our brains are built to process pictures, and we think in pictures, so presenting information as pictures is the most efficient way to present information to people.
- Be sure to put up ratings of a product on the first product page. Also, make sure you make the number of reviews visible. Ratings and reviews work unconsciously to activate our need for social validation. But they also give us the rationalization we need or want after we have made our decision unconsciously.
- When recommendations were provided for a particular item, that item sold 20% more volume than an item that did not have a recommendation.
- Also, an effective strategy is to show what and how many (in %) ended up buying a certain item (or maybe show which item they bought instead).
- By adding more information about the buyer (such as what else did they buy or how many times they have bought an item. other ratings/average rating score they have given) gives more credibility and is seen as more credible and thus being more persuasive. Reviewer feedback is most powerful when we know more about them.
- Free shipping with conditions (orders of $50 or more) may not be seen as a gift and therefore may not trigger reciprocity.
- If something changes at the site every few seconds, our old brain – and hence our attention will be engaged.
- To strengthen the level of commitment (of the visitor of the site), website owners should enable their visitors to post reviews of the post/site/product. Reviews act on others as a form of social validation, but they also act on the self as a form of commitment.
