“Neuro Web Design: What makes them click?” A book review, summary, and takeaways

So, I’m gonna begin by saying that this is not going to be a short read (unfortunately, maybe?). However, the reason that it’s not is because of how AMAZING I found the book to be. I learned so much about why we do what we do, what motivates us to take action, and what is the meaning behind certain things, whether it be websites, website designs, or just plain human nature. Also, the narrative in this article is taken from my notes, just bare that in mind please. So, here it goes…

I’m doing some UX reading right now from a book called “What makes them click?” It’s really, really, really interesting and fascinating. The first chapter basically talked about how we have different kinds of brains: old brain, mid brain, and new brain; it said that the best kinds of website experiences are where all 3 different brains are used. This chapter also said how basically most of the times we don’t really know why we do what we do, like how our actions are subconscious or something.

These are some bottom lines from Chapter 1:

- We like to think we make our decisions based on careful thought, but most of our decisions and actions come from our unconscious

- The unconscious is smart, efficient, and fast. We couldn’t survive without it.

- We sites that “speak” to all three brains (old brain, mid brain, new brain) are the most effective.

Very curious.

I’m on 2nd chapter now.

What this chapter is talking about is how we are really influenced by the crowd and how we take our cues on how to act and behave based on how the crowd is acting and behaving. I’ve heard of this before. It’s giving some examples of how people have died before because the death happened in a crowd and everyone thought that someone else was going to help that person. Also, a lot of times people just don’t want to get involved. It’s like, the more people that you get murdered around, the less likely that someone is going to get help… Unfathomable!

Few things from the 2nd chapter so far:

- The need to fit and belong is wired into our brains and our biology

- People look to others to decide what they should do. This is especially true when they are uncertain about whether or what action to take.

Just some food for thought.

Just some concluding insights from Chapter 2 (really interesting insights):

The reason that it talked about people and crowds and how we want to belong, is because it actually then lead into product reviews and recommendations and how we look at these things based on the kinds of ratings and recommendations that we see, and how our trust develops in that review of the product… fascinating.

From the book:

“If we see that a product has received only one out of five stars, we don’t even take a closer look. It’s social validation at work.”

It also says how ratings should be shown right away, not having us to click on several screens to see them, because then you will risk losing the buyer.

Something else from the book:

“If recommendations were provided for a particular travel destination, that destination was selected 10 % more often than a destination for which there was no recommendation. If a photo of the person accompanied the travel recommendation, the travel experience condition increased to 20 percent.” Fascinating!

But this info led into more detailed info about reviews.

Basically it said how we trust reviews more that have stories in them, where people share personal experiences with the product and how it helped them.

Another awesome info about reviews was that if there is a mini persona included next to the review about the reviewer, a name, some details about them, frequency of use, type of user, etc., we trust that review even more! :slightly_smiling_face: ha.

We love stories, and stories sell. This is applicable in reviews too.

Bottom lines from Ch. 2:

- We’re called to act when we know what others have experienced with a product, or we know what they’re doing at a Web site, or we even know what they’re doing right now on the website.

• We will do what others are doing. We will be drawn to belonging.

Chapter 3 from “What makes them click?” book review

This chapter basically discusses the feeling of indebtedness and reciprocity. Once someone gives us something, something that we consider as a gift, like something free, we feel indebted to them and like we have to give back to them, reciprocate. It was a really fascinating read with a bunch of stories, and really it kind of made me feel that this is how you manipulate people into doing what you want… lol. Like for example, one story said that parents from this one school wanted to build a play yard for kids. They estimated that the cost would be around $5,000. However, they had to present this plan to the school board to get it approved. When the chosen person went in front of the school board to present to them, he actually asked for $7,500… haha. The board debated and told the person that they really can’t do that. To counteract the board’s decision, the presenter then gave them a ‘reduced play yard plan’ that is $5,000. What the presenter was doing, in the eyes of the board, was giving them a gift of the reduced price. In turn the board felt that they had to reciprocate the gift (since they were now indebted), so they agreed to the $5,000 plan, which is what they wanted originally… really funny J

There’s a lot of examples like that in this chapter, of how people are WAY more willing to do something when there’s a feeling of reciprocity and indebtedness involved. And, the author says that Free Gifts are extremely powerful, like free shipping, which is what Zappos does.

Some takeaways:

“Ask for more than what you really want and then offer a concession to a lesser request (which is what you really wanted).”

“Even giving visitors recommendations can be seen as a gift.”

“Giving a gift triggers indebtedness, which increases the likelihood that others will reciprocate by giving you something.”

“If you first ask for something that others consider beyond their means and they say no, follow immediately with a more reasonable request, and they are more likely to say yes.”

So fascinating! Human psychology at work haha

Ch. 4 review from “What makes them click?” book.

Title of this chapter is “Invoking Scarcity — If something Seems Unavailable, we seem to want it even more.”

This concept was not unfamiliar to me. I’ve heard, and probably read about it before, how we want what we can’t have basically. It was interesting to read about it from a different, design-like, perspective in this chapter.

“If it’s scarce, we think it is more valuable and more desirable. We’ll want it more.”

Funnily enough this actually made me think about relationships and the whole concept of men chasing women and how they want a woman more when she’s hard to catch, and when he has to chase her, be chivalrous, wine and dine her, and then he tells all of his buddies about how hard it was to get this girl. Anywhoo..

“Scarcity works — not just for products, but for information.”

“If we think that information is hard to come by, then we see that information as being more valuable.”

“If we think a lot of people liked the cookies and that there aren’t many cookies left, it creates an even stronger pull to action.”

These are just some interesting excerpts from this chapter, all, again, about how we think and what makes us ‘click’, or just what gives us a drive to do stuff, and I SO totally agree with everything it says. It’s just so incredibly curious to have it all put into one, well analyzed, read about our behavior, and all that in the context of website design too! ha.

“A concept similar to scarcity is the idea that things that are more expensive (and therefore harder to get — scarce) are of higher quality. We unconsciously tend to want what is expensive. We unconsciously equate expensive to “better.””

“If something is totally inaccessible, then it is really scarce. If something is forbidden or banned, then we REALLY want it. If it’s banned, then it is really desirable.”

Bottom lines:

- If something is scarce, it will seem more desirable and more valuable to us.

- Showing a limited quantity in stock, or a limited time frame that something is available, invokes scarcity. Scarcity motivates us to act.

• Not only products can be scarce. Access to information might be hard to get, and therefore will make that information seem more valuable to us as well.

Chapter 5 review — “Choosing carefully — given too many choices, we freeze (and then we don’t choose at all)”

This was a pretty interesting chapter too. It basically discussed choices and how we choose and decide what to buy, or if to buy at all.

It said that when we are presented with too many choices, a lot of times we don’t choose at all. But lesser amount of choices, says 6, creates a better chance of an actual purchase. It’s like too many choices really overwhelm us and just freeze our brain, or maybe we don’t even know what to do or what to choose.

Lol, just had an idea of relationships again…. A friend of mine who is a bit older, around 60 or 70 years old, told me how he met his wife and how they’ve been married for many years now (not without issues, though). He said that she lived in the other side of town, and he’d drive to see her, and that was how they got to know each other and got married. I feel like today it’s so much more difficult to find a partner because of the number of choices that internet and dating apps and websites have presented to us, these days. I think in the past people were more likely to settle, even if the partner wasn’t totally ‘perfect’. Like, maybe they wouldn’t decide the dating alternatives based on the genetics, that the guys I’m dating HAVE to be tall so my kids would be tall. This is what one guest on a radio show called “Second Date Update” said. Maybe people would fight for the relationships more. But, they would also be WAY more apt to also stay in very unhealthy relationships too, I’m sure, out of fear of not finding anything else, or better. So, there are two sides to the case. Who’s to decide what is wrong and what is right?

From the book:

“One interesting thing about choices is that we think we want a lot of them, but in actuality, a lot of choices hinders our decision-making process. If given a choice between a few alternatives or numerous choices, we will most likely want as many choices as possible. But research shows it doesn’t help us as much as we think. This is a classic case where what we think we want (conscious brain) is just plain wrong. We really don’t make better decisions with more choices, but we think we do. Too many choices just make us freeze and then we make no choice at all.”

“Lots of choices will grab out attention, but too many choices overwhelm us — to the point where we likely won’t buy at all.”

“… 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, we’re less satisfied over time with our choice.”

“If we see that we’ll get what we want right away, that will speak to the mid brain and encourage us to act. Use the word ‘instantly’ to capture the mid brain. For the mid brain, it’s all about immediacy…. The next best thing is to let us know it will be there very soon.”

Something else the chapter talked about is how to make someone buy a more expensive item. It said that if someone is buying a camera that costs like $700, you have to show options of other extra items, like a camera bag that costs $30 or so, on the same page close to the camera. This way the $30 seems like a bargain compared to the $700. So, you’re more likely to purchase the $30 bag vs. a $9.99 one. Curious stuff.

Bottom lines:

- We think we want a lot of choices, but lots of choices just makes us unable to take any action at all.

- We can focus only on one or two product attributes at a time.

- If we think we can get something right away, that notion will be a strong pull to take action and buy right away.

• If you want someone to choose a particular product at a Website, list that product first.

Chapter 6 review — “It’s all about you: speaking to the self-centered, unconscious mind.”

“Your primitive old brain is wired to care about you. To the old brain, everything is about you. You are all that matters.”

The old brain is constantly scanning the environment looking for any changes that signal danger, food, or sex.”

Which product would you buy? You’d likely buy the one that says “you” and “your.” This is not a conscious decision. Your non-conscious old brain will tell you that the second product is better for you.”

… there are times when you want to be unselfish. But it is a fact of nature that if you want to get and hold the attention of humans, and if you want to get them to take action, you need to engage the old brain [which is selfish and only focuses on you — your safety and satisfaction].”

Basically what the above excerpts from Chapter 6 are saying is that to get someone’s attention you have to talk about food, danger (or how to be safe, from danger), sex, and YOU. All your old brain cares about if you, you, and you. If you mention something like “Fulfill YOUR wildest dreams,” this add is much more likely to get attention, readership, and possible action.

“We pay attention to anything that happens when we are in an emotionally arousing situation. We also remember it more deeply. Because the old brain cares about safety and danger, any picture or headline that look or sound frightening will automatically get our attention.”

The other part of this chapter talks about food, and how much images of food command our attention — that being A LOT. Especially if those images are really good, really clear images of food. Even if a website does not sell food, but has images of food, we will look.

Lastly, to get and keep someone’s attention on a website, you have to NOT let them get bored — you have to change and switch their focus, add change. An example the chapter suggests was when videos start to play automatically as you scroll down the page. This adds change and variety to grab and keep our attention.

Something else the site says is that we have to be aware of our audience. It says that according to research, older people do not like much change on a website that distracts their attention. This is not the same with the younger crowd that is stimulated by constant change.

Bottom line:

- The old brain cares about you. It cares about protecting you, feeding you, and helping you reproduce.

• If you want to grab someone’s attention, you need to get the attention of the old brain by having something change, by showing food, by implying sex, or by using the word you.

Chapter 7 review — “Building Commitment — we want to think we’re consistent”

This chapter pretty much talks about how to create brand/company commitment. As I said in previous chapter reviews, this was also very, very interesting and ‘fascinating’. Really fascinating J.

I’ll start from the beginning though, and the research that the author presents to base her insights from, as applicable to websites, tech, and design.

“We tell ourselves stories about ourselves. We have “self-personas.”

“We have multiple personas, but that’s not the same as multiple personalities!

“These self-personas are important in decision-making because we strive to be consistent in our decision-making.

“It is more likely that someone will take a particular action if one of their personas is activated.

“Once we make one decision consistent with one of the personas, we will try to stay consistent with that persona. We will be more likely to make a decision or take action if it is consistent with that story or persona.

“If you ask someone to commit to something small first, then it will be easier to get to a larger commitment from them later.

So, basically what the above sentence talked about later is this research that was done about big, ugly-looking signs that said ‘drive safely’. There were these 3 different study groups to study how likely people were going to place those big ‘drive safely’ signs on their lawns in a city in California. Group A subjects were asked right off the bat to just put the signs on their lawn. Less than 20% agreed to do it. Group B were asked to first put a small sign saying the same thing — “drive safely” in the back window of their car. Group C participants were asked to put a sign on their lawn saying, “Keep California Beautiful.” Later, both group B and C participants were asked to put up the big, ugly sign saying “Drive Safely.” Well, group B participants responded by doing it 76% of the time. Group C participants did it 46% of the time. Something interesting to think about.

More about commitment:

“If we make a commitment publicly, or write it down, the commitment and consistency effect is even stronger.”

“Writing something down is a powerful act of commitment.”

“… if a public commitment is not “owned” by a person, and is mainly made to gain a large reward, the individual is not deeply committed and will not show deep commitment in future behavior of our inner belief instead of strong outside pressures, we feel committed. A large reward, for example, may lead us to action, but it will not create inner responsibility for the action, and we won’t feel committed to the action.”

“Interestingly, you can “grown” commitment…. The pressure for consistency causes the commitment to deepen.”

Something else about how to get us committed is we have to activate a certain kind of persona in them, a persona that would take that action. So, this chapter gave an example of this. They presented this water-donating quiz, to gage an interest (somehow you came upon this specific quiz because you were interested in the quiz, or the topic of the quiz). You answer some questions, but at the end of the quiz there is a call to action, asking you to donate water in Africa, for real.

The final segment of this chapter talked about reviews and recommendations.

It says that when we write a review to a product, this act of writing a review is actually creating our commitment in the product.

“Any time we state positive feelings or opinions about a product or service to someone else, even if that someone else is a faceless person behind a Web site, we have committed. And that commitment increases the likelihood that we will engage with that website again.

“Surveys can be used not only to gather data from customers, but also to elicit a public statement of support that will help clinch commitment.

“The more public the commitment, the more it will stick — and the more it will affect current and future behavior. Completing an anonymous survey is better than no commitment at all, but it is still fairly hidden. To strengthen the level of commitment, Web site owners can heighten the public element of the action. A review posted at the Web site for others to read is a stronger public statement of commitment. If you have written a review of a product or a testimonial of the company, you have made a more public commitment. You are saying, “I am a person who believes in this product,” or, “I am a person who donates to this organization,” or “I am a person who buys from this company.”

“Writing a review is an act of public commitment.”

“Reviews act on others as a form of social validation, but they also act on the self as a form of commitment. If we write a positive review, we will then want to stay consistent, and that means we will take more action to interact with the site, the company, and the organization. If you want to build commitment to your brand, your company, or a product, then make sure you give visitors the opportunity to write a review.”

Bottom line:

- Ask people to commit to an idea verbally, or even better, in writing.

- If possible, do this in stages, so that you are asking for the commitment first and then, at a later date, asking for an action that is consistent with that commitment.

- Getting people to write or sign something strengthens commitment.

• If we go through a difficult experience, we will be even more committed to the product or affiliation.

Chapter 8 review — “Using Similarity, attractiveness, and association: are we the same?”

“You are more likely to listen to and buy from someone who is like you and someone you find attractive.”

This chapter discusses the fact that we are more likely to associate with people and/or things that are in some way similar to us. For example, if a person in an add picture is of our age, race, and gender, we are more likely to pay attention to it, and possibly buy the product.

“we are all affected by what someone looks like. And our decisions about who to talk with, whether to believe or listen to them, and whether to buy products from them are definitely affected by the cues that tell us whether the person is “like” us and whether the person is “attractive to us.”

“The old brain is deciding if you should flee, eat, or have sex.”

“Similarity builds rapport. If we feel people are like us, we tend to like them more. We find it easier to like those we are similar to or those whom we perceive to share our background or values.”

“… people who are physically attractive are perceived to be smarter, more capable, and more intelligent. In addition, we just plain like people who are attractive.”

This above is really interesting, but I think also really to the point, true. Curious.

“… there does seem to be a mathematical basis to our decisions about who is attractive, and that basis seems to hold true across cultures.”

“If someone who is attractive or liked is paired or associated with something else, the attractiveness or liking “bleeds over” or rubs off on the item that is close by. So, if an attractive person is holding a bottle of soda or beer, then the soda or beer becomes more interesting and attractive.”

“If you can’t get a celebrity, photos of attractive people will provide positive persuasion and association.”

“Sometimes instead of matching who the target audience is, it might be better to match who the audience wants to be.”

“If your site is of a particular demographic, make sure the photos are similar.”

“Narratives can also convey similarity. If we read stories about a celebrity using a product, or we see someone who seems like us using a specific product or service, we will be persuaded to also use that product or service.”

Bottom lines:

- For the old brain, it’s all about deciding to flee, eat, or have sex.

- Don’t underestimate the power of attractive people

- We are swayed most by those we think are similar to us.

• Associating an object with a celebrity or an attractive person will make the object more attractive, too.

Chapter 9 review — “Afraid to lose — how fear of loss trumps our anticipation of victory”

“Our old brain and mid brain react quickly to choices and reduce our alternatives based on minimizing loss.”

“There are two pathways for sensory information into our brains: a fast one through the amygdala and a slower more thorough one through the new brain.”

“When we are afraid, we are aroused, and when we are aroused, we remember better.

When we are emotionally aroused, whether negatively or positively, we forget the event less quickly, which means we encode it into our long-term memory more effectively.”

“Our old and mid brain knows what is going on before our new brains does.”

“Even the way you word something can trigger the fear of losing. Example: ‘this new sales system will give you a 90% chance of success’ vs. ‘if you undergo this treatment you have a 10 percent chance of dying.’”

“Fear of losing security is very motivating.”

Bottom lines:

- We are programmed to notice and pay attention to situations that might result in our fear of losing.

- Fear of losing motivated us more than the opportunity to win.

- Our bodies and our unconscious will pick up on possible loss situations faster than our conscious mind pick up on them.

- If an even is associated with emotion, we will remember it better.

• Even subtle wording can affect our response.

Chapter 10 review — “Using pictures and stories — the best way to talk to our unconscious mind.”

“One of the interesting things I’ve noticed is the effect on the audience of the words, “Let me tell you a story.” It’s as though I said, “Once upon a time.” Every time I say, “Let me tell you a story,” everyone looks up at me.

“When I hear a story, we give the storyteller all of our attention. A good story communicates information thoroughly and commits the information to memory. If you want to get an hold someone’s attention, tell a story.”

This chapter was very, very interesting to me.

“When you think about it, you realize that most of the communication we do in our daily lives is in the form of a story. Yet we rarely stop and think about stories and storytelling. Storytelling is so ubiquitous that we don’t even realize we are doing it.”

“A well-written story conveys great quantities of information in relatively few words in a format that is easily assimilated by the listener or viewer.”

“Stories are an excellent way for us to process and store information. A story contains large amount of information in digestible chunks. Stories allow us to break down events into smaller units so that we can better understand the information being communicated. Psychologists call this chunking of parts of a story event structure perception.”

“Images are the main content of our thoughts regardless of the sensory modality in which they are generated and regardless of whether they are about a thing or a process involving things, or about words or other symbols.”

“So, if you combine the fact that we process information as stories, we turn stories into mental images, and that PSE is real, you realize that stories and pictures at Web sites are the most powerful ways to get and hold our attention and persuade us to take action.”

Bottom lines:

- We are programmed to think in stories. Web sites with stories will grab our attention.

- Using the word “story” will grab our attention.

- We pay attention to and remember pictures better than words.

• Combining pictures and stories together in an unbeatable combination to grab our attention, hold our attention, and help us remember.

Chapter 11 review — “We’re social animals — finding the next big thing by making it social”

“When we are thinking about new ways to use technology, we are stuck in our “present” way of thinking.”

“The history of the internet is actually founded in social needs and our collective frustration with machines that made communication slow and cumbersome.”

“Today, the Internet is used for a wide variety of purposes. Certainly businesses use it to sell products and services. But it was initially used to communicate, and it has retained that use over time.”

“… humans will always take technology and find a way to use it to help them be social.”

“Social networking sites allow information to spread very quickly as they more from person to person, ‘virally’.”

Bottom lines:

- We are social animals. We will always figure out a way to use whatever technology is there to communicate and be social.

- Social networking sites that use principles of persuasion are the ones that grow the fastest.

• If you want to be the next big thing, figure out how to use a new technology in a social way.