Just because people can do something does not guarantee that they will. Firstly, they must be motivated. Secondly, they must be persuaded to make decisions. Understanding the emotions that support the desired behavior is the key to conversion. With experience in reward programs, B2C and e-commerce services, Jenny will show you how to apply psychology and persuasive design patterns, and why they work. You will learn the underlying psychological principles that drive humans toward action, and how to win customers and keep them without Please-Don’t-Go pop-ups. This talk was given at Code.talks Commerce in Berlin, April 2018.

1. @jennyshen
Jenny Shen
Persuasive Design Patterns
UX/Frontend

2. @jennyshen

5. • Defining persuasive design patterns
• E-commerce persuasive design patterns
• Engagement design patterns
• Design patterns for trust
• Persuasive design ethics
O U T L I N E

6. Defining Persuasive Design
01
why, where and what

7. @jennyshen Source: Opera. Logos: respective owners

8. Persuasive Design:
Designs that draw on a deep understanding of
user’s motivations, desires, and behavioural quirks

9. Applications in Digital:
• E-commerce
• Reward programs
• Social networks
• Political campaigns
• Non-profit organizations
• Clubs & communities

10. Persuasive Design to Sell
02
applications in e-commerce

11. Loss Aversion:
Fear of losing motivates us more than the
prospect of gaining something of equal value
Loss Aversion:
Fear of losing motivates us more than the
prospect of gaining something of equal value

12. @jennyshen Value function of prospect theory by Daniel Kahneman & Amos Tversky

13. @jennyshen Source: Infographic by One Productions

14. @jennyshen Source: GoDaddy, millo.co

15. @jennyshen
Loss Aversion:
• Frame gains and losses to make some
options seem more desirable than others

16. @jennyshen
Applying Loss Aversion:
• Limited time discounts
• Trial periods
• Lazy registration
What is lost by leaving
your product/service?

17. Endowment Effect:
We place greater value on objects if emotional
value has been invested

18. @jennyshen
• Amazon’s features: wish lists, make gift
organizers, rate and recommend products,
make lists, award users badges allow users to
gain ownership
• Endowment effect makes users place higher
value on buying on Amazon v.s. competitors
Endowment Effect:

19. @jennyshen Source: Amazon, Airbnb

20. @jennyshen Source: LinkedIn

21. @jennyshen Source: OKCupid

22. @jennyshen
Endowment Effect:
• Retain regular users
• Let users place more value in your
product over a competitor

23. @jennyshen
• Allow users to build their profiles with
wish lists, ratings, recommendations, etc.
• Highlight invested efforts that will be lost
Applying Endowment Effect:

24. Scarcity:
We perceive scarce objects as more desirable
and more valuable

25. @jennyshen Source: Airbnb, Kayak, Gilt, Amazon

26. @jennyshen Source: starbucks.co.jp, Kitkat
季節のおすすめ
Kyuusyuu Only

27. @jennyshen Source: Patreon, overflow.io

28. @jennyshen
• Encourages purchasing or other behavior
• Infers value and exclusivity
• Why it works: humans use an item’s availability to quickly
determine its quality and value.
• The scarcity principle is a shortcut for us to make quick
decisions
• Scarcity works most when it’s created by social demand
Scarcity:

29. @jennyshen
• Time-based scarcity: holiday sales, coupons with
expiry date, limited time offers
• Stock scarcity: highlighting remaining quantity or
highlighting limited quantity available
• Restricted access: paywalls, member-only content
Applying Scarcity:

30. 03
applications in reward programs & digital products
Persuasive Design to Engage

31. Hook Model:
An experience designed to connect the
user’s problem to your solution

32. @jennyshen Source: Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products, Nir Eyal and Ryan Hoover

33. Completion:
Provide a well defined end-goal and progress
to give a feeling of closure

34. @jennyshen
• As humans, we have an natural tendency to
avoid doubt and uncertainty
• The need for closure drives us toward a well
defined end-goal
Completion:

35. @jennyshen Source: dtelepathy.com, Google Plus

36. @jennyshen
• Provide users with a tangible end-goal that they
can strive toward achieving
• Set expectations and communicate progress such
as time, number of steps or % of progress
Applying Completion:

37. @jennyshen
• Points
• Badges
• Levels
• Certification
Achievements:
Gamification

38. @jennyshen Source: Foursquare, Hungrygowhere

39. Variable Rewards:
The sense of scarcity and unpredictability entices
users curiosity in discovering the pattern

40. @jennyshen
• Compared to fixed rewards, variable rewards produce
the highest activity in users
• Humans react differently to certain patterns of rewards.
Studies concludes that variable reward schedules and
contingencies motivate us more than fixed schedules and
contingencies.
Variable Rewards:

41. @jennyshen Source: society-plus.com, Nintendo

42. @jennyshen
• Give out rewards at variable ratio and interval
• Random and unexpected bonus and rewards:
upload quota bonus, gift for community
engagement, secret badge, spin to win
Applying Variable Rewards:

43. Persuasive Design for Trust
04
applications in onboarding and user acquisition

44. Authority:
Humans have a strong tendency to comply
with authority figures

45. @jennyshen
• We see information from a recognized authority as a
valuable shortcut for deciding how to act in a situation,
with little or no consideration
• People trust authorities, their taste and often believe
that it fits their own
• Humans are vulnerable to the appearance of authority,
even if there’s no real authority
Authority:

46. @jennyshen Source: Zalora, Visual Cinnamon, news.com.au, dailymail.co.uk

47. @jennyshen
• Certifications and awards
• Logos or names of known companies
• Associate your product/service with authority
figures in your industry
Applying Authority:

48. Social Proof:
Humans have a common tendency to adopt the
opinions and follow the behaviours of the majority
to feel safer and to avoid conflict

49. @jennyshen
Social Proof:
• We believe that acting in accord with social evidence is a
shortcut to correct behavior and good decision
• Most of us would rather imitate that initiate
• We often resort to short-cutting our thought processes
because thinking and decision making requires brain
energy

50. @jennyshen Source: joeydevilla.com, pjrvs.com, Usabilla, Booking.com

51. @jennyshen
Applying Social Proof:
• Use numbers from facts or statistics, e.g. 14 reviews,
80 people liked this, 590 subscribers, 200+ clients
• To assure users that they are not alone in the decision,
highlight what others similar to them did, e.g. “others
also bought / viewed this listing”
• Testimonials and ratings

52. Persuasive Design Ethics
05
are persuasion tactics dark patterns?

53. Is persuasive design ethical?

54. @jennyshen Source: https://medium.muz.li/malachidigest-3cad286bba02

55. @jennyshen Source: TheNextWeb, Twitter/Linkedin (respective owners)

56. Jakob Nielsen's 10 Usability Heuristics for Interface Design
User control and freedom

57. @jennyshen
Persuasion Design Ethics:
• Everyone’s scale of ethical/unethical is different
• Persuasion is subjective
• What we don’t like is when companies manipulate us
into doing things we later regret

58. @jennyshen
Persuasive design is not unethical, unless one
intentionally deceives user or takes away user’s
freedom to do something against company interest.
“
”
—Jenny Shen

59. • Loss Aversion
• Endowment
Effect
• Scarcity
P E R S U A S I V E D E S I G N C H E AT S H E E T
Jenny Shen / jennyshen.com
To Sell: To Engage: For Trust:
• Hook Model
• Completion
• Achievements
• Variable Rewards
• Authority
• Social Proof
Ethics:
• Respect user
control & freedom

60. jennyshen.com@jennyshen jenny@jennyshen.com

61. @jennyshen
• Source: http://ui-patterns.com/patterns
• Noun Project icons: Ananth (badge), Abner Ignatius (chat), Arthur
Shlain (document), Seyeong (scale), Hare Krishna (shop)