Persuasive Design Articles & Videos

  • Reciprocation: Why Login Walls Aren’t Always “Better"

    The reciprocity principle states that people, when given something upfront, tend to feel a sense of obligation to repay what has been provided. Login walls reverse this sequence and require users to disclose personal info before allowing access to content. People often resent this, and may not be as forthcoming or cooperative as a result.

  • Social Proof in UX

    Users take cues from other humans: if many others like something or do something, that makes people feel that this thing must be good.

  • The Scarcity Principle in UX: Don't Miss Out!

    When people think that something is rare or only available for a limited time, they will tend to act fast to secure that scarce item. This behavioral principle can be used in user experience design, but beware of overuse.

  • Net Promoter Score in User Experience

    Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a simple satisfaction metric that's collected in a single question. While easy to understand, it's insufficiently nuanced to help with detailed UX design decisions.

  • 4 Trustworthiness Factors

    Users are constantly evaluating whether they believe what you're saying and whether to leave a website. You can do 4 things to make users trust you more and stay on your site.

  • Video Game Engagement vs Addiction

    An engaging gameplay experience is good design. But there's a fine line between engagement and addiction, which would be bad UX, especially in the long term.

  • Persuasive Storytelling Rule #1: Adapt Your Vocabulary

    Storytelling is a powerful technique for UX teams and for working with stakeholders, but only if you use the proper words for your audience's domain. Here are tips for building vocabulary for your stories.

  • The Halo Effect in UX Design

    The Halo Effect says that any one element in a user's experience with a company will rub off on their interpretation of other elements and their feelings about the company as a whole. Good design in one part of a website will make people like other parts better (and like the company better), but the opposite is also true.

  • The Negativity Bias in a User's Experience

    Negative experiences have stronger emotional impact on humans than positive experiences do. Thus, in designing the user experience, we need extra emphasis on avoiding those lows.

  • How Anchoring Influences UX

    Anchoring is a psychological principle which can impact how people perceive value and make decisions — in real life and on an interface.

  • Ecommerce Selling Strategies from Brick and Mortar Stores

    The user experience of shopping online can be enhanced by employing proven selling strategies from physical stores in the design of ecommerce websites.

  • How Priming Influences UX

    Priming is a basic principle of psychology with big impact on user interface design: exposure to something makes a user more likely to think and react in related ways at later steps in the interaction.

  • 6 Rules for Persuasive Storytelling

    Stories build empathy and make the user needs and pain points memorable to your team. Effective stories speak the language of the audience, are rooted in data, and take advantage of compelling artifacts.

  • Interface Copy Impacts Decision Making

    The language used in interfaces influences the decisions that our users will make. Manipulative copy nudges users towards making choices that are against their best interests.

  • The Anchoring Principle

    People tend to focus on a single, initial piece of information, which influences how they estimate value and make subsequent decisions.

  • The Vortex: Why Users Feel Trapped in Their Devices

    Many users report anxiety and lack of control over the amount of time they spend online. We call this feeling “the Vortex.”

  • Usability in the Physical World vs. on the Web

    In the real world, you can get away with causing customers a small amount of difficulty, but on a website, visitors will leave at the smallest obstacle.

  • Prominence-Interpretation Theory

    Prominence-interpretation theory helps determine what shapes users’ perceptions of a site’s credibility.

  • The Availability Heuristic

    People make decisions based on the information that is most readily available to them. Understanding how the availability heuristic works will help you design for the way people think.

  • Persuasive Techniques for B2B and Intranets

    Tips for simplifying decision-making and engagement on B2B and intranet sites.

  • Reciprocation: Why Login Walls Aren’t Always “Better"

    The reciprocity principle states that people, when given something upfront, tend to feel a sense of obligation to repay what has been provided. Login walls reverse this sequence and require users to disclose personal info before allowing access to content. People often resent this, and may not be as forthcoming or cooperative as a result.

  • Social Proof in UX

    Users take cues from other humans: if many others like something or do something, that makes people feel that this thing must be good.

  • The Scarcity Principle in UX: Don't Miss Out!

    When people think that something is rare or only available for a limited time, they will tend to act fast to secure that scarce item. This behavioral principle can be used in user experience design, but beware of overuse.

  • Net Promoter Score in User Experience

    Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a simple satisfaction metric that's collected in a single question. While easy to understand, it's insufficiently nuanced to help with detailed UX design decisions.

  • 4 Trustworthiness Factors

    Users are constantly evaluating whether they believe what you're saying and whether to leave a website. You can do 4 things to make users trust you more and stay on your site.

  • Video Game Engagement vs Addiction

    An engaging gameplay experience is good design. But there's a fine line between engagement and addiction, which would be bad UX, especially in the long term.

  • Persuasive Storytelling Rule #1: Adapt Your Vocabulary

    Storytelling is a powerful technique for UX teams and for working with stakeholders, but only if you use the proper words for your audience's domain. Here are tips for building vocabulary for your stories.

  • The Halo Effect in UX Design

    The Halo Effect says that any one element in a user's experience with a company will rub off on their interpretation of other elements and their feelings about the company as a whole. Good design in one part of a website will make people like other parts better (and like the company better), but the opposite is also true.

  • The Negativity Bias in a User's Experience

    Negative experiences have stronger emotional impact on humans than positive experiences do. Thus, in designing the user experience, we need extra emphasis on avoiding those lows.

  • How Anchoring Influences UX

    Anchoring is a psychological principle which can impact how people perceive value and make decisions — in real life and on an interface.

  • Ecommerce Selling Strategies from Brick and Mortar Stores

    The user experience of shopping online can be enhanced by employing proven selling strategies from physical stores in the design of ecommerce websites.

  • How Priming Influences UX

    Priming is a basic principle of psychology with big impact on user interface design: exposure to something makes a user more likely to think and react in related ways at later steps in the interaction.

  • Usability in the Physical World vs. on the Web

    In the real world, you can get away with causing customers a small amount of difficulty, but on a website, visitors will leave at the smallest obstacle.

  • The Availability Heuristic

    People make decisions based on the information that is most readily available to them. Understanding how the availability heuristic works will help you design for the way people think.

  • Persuasive Techniques for B2B and Intranets

    Tips for simplifying decision-making and engagement on B2B and intranet sites.

  • 5-Second Usability Test

    The 5-second test is a simple usability technique to help designers gauge the audience’s first impressions of a webpage.

  • Don't Shame Your Users Into Converting

    Coercive tactics like Manipulinks and Please-Don’t-Go try to shame customers into doing what the company wants. Sacrificing long-term customer loyalty for short-term gains is shortsighted.

  • Pyramid of Trust

    Sites must meet users' basic trust needs before they demand that visitors enter information or engage with them. The trust pyramid has 5 distinct levels of user commitment, each with separate design requirements before users will give a website what it wants from them.

  • How Can We Study Website Credibility?

    Find out why asking users directly won't accurately measure a website's credibility -- and what you can do instead.

  • 6 Rules for Persuasive Storytelling

    Stories build empathy and make the user needs and pain points memorable to your team. Effective stories speak the language of the audience, are rooted in data, and take advantage of compelling artifacts.

  • Interface Copy Impacts Decision Making

    The language used in interfaces influences the decisions that our users will make. Manipulative copy nudges users towards making choices that are against their best interests.

  • The Anchoring Principle

    People tend to focus on a single, initial piece of information, which influences how they estimate value and make subsequent decisions.

  • The Vortex: Why Users Feel Trapped in Their Devices

    Many users report anxiety and lack of control over the amount of time they spend online. We call this feeling “the Vortex.”

  • Prominence-Interpretation Theory

    Prominence-interpretation theory helps determine what shapes users’ perceptions of a site’s credibility.

  • The Principle of Commitment and Behavioral Consistency

    Getting users to make a small commitment and follow up on it can increase engagement with content.

  • The Authority Principle

    A perceived high-authority status of the person making a request can make people more compliant with that request. Applying this principle in UX can ease users' decision-making process.

  • First Impressions Matter: How Designers Can Support Humans’ Automatic Cognitive Processing

    The first visceral reaction to a site’s design influences how users perceive relevance, credibility, and even usability.

  • Counterfeit or Credible? UX Design for Authenticity in China

    In China, websites must work harder than in other markets to gain users’ trust. Displaying the company’s local presence, past client work, and being available to answer questions via online chat are critical.

  • Five User Requirements for Online Ads

    Adhering to user expectations and usability heuristics will ensure advertising content is delivered seamlessly and that brand image holds integrity.

  • Instilling Confidence in Online Shoppers: I Bought a Sofa Online and Good UX Sealed the Deal

    A stellar user experience focused on users’ question and needs can persuade shoppers to make big-ticket purchases online.

  • The Most Hated Online Advertising Techniques

    Modal ads, ads that reorganize content, and autoplaying video ads were among the most disliked. Ads that are annoying on desktop become intolerable on mobile.

  • Stop Shaming Your Users for Micro Conversions

    Manipulinks make users feel bad about themselves in order to convince them to accept an offer or sign up for a newsletter.

  • Prospect Theory and Loss Aversion: How Users Make Decisions

    When choosing among several alternatives, people avoid losses and optimize for sure wins because the pain of losing is greater than the satisfaction of an equivalent gain. UX designs should frame decisions accordingly.

  • Trustworthiness in Web Design: 4 Credibility Factors

    The methods that people use to determine trustworthiness on the web have remained stable throughout the years, even with changing design trends.

  • Fresh Start Effect: How to Motivate Users with New Beginnings

    Clean slates encourage people to pursue their goals. Designers can leverage this tendency by adjusting message timing and content.

  • Perceived Value in User Interfaces

    The perceived value of a site represents the benefit that users expect to derive from using it. High expectations make users more likely to engage with the site.

  • Hierarchy of Trust: The 5 Experiential Levels of Commitment

    Sites must meet users' basic trust needs before they demand that visitors enter information or engage with them. The trust pyramid has 5 distinct levels of user commitment, each with separate design requirements before users will give a website what it wants.

  • Emotional Design Fail: I'm Divorcing My Nest Thermostat

    In an emotional-design fail, the Nest thermostat let me down: behaviorally, reflectively, and finally viscerally.

  • A Link is a Promise

    The words in a link label make a strong suggestion about the page that is being linked to. The destination page should fulfill what the anchor text promises.