Persuasive Design or The Fine Art of Separating People from Their Bad Behaviours – Online

“Free choice” may not be as free as it seems

The article explains that the subjects decision to press a button was made well before they were conscious of the decision.

This isn’t discussed in the article, but there’s another takeaway. If you are a marketer, sales person, or someone else involved in changing minds, it’s hard to rely on a person’s own accounting for their decision making. Because there are so many things occuring at a subconcious level, it’s hard for us to say which specific details were responsible for our decision.

Link:

Weight as Persuasion WAC

Link:

Why Persuading on Health and Safety Is So Difficult

Today I want to discuss the use of logic in the second headline. And I don’t mean the common usage of the word logic, like ‘Oh, that’s logical.’ I’m talking about the formal definition of logic – the use of AND and OR in structuring the offer.

The second headline uses the phrase ‘and/or’ several times through it. You can presume that the writer wasn’t intending to confuse the reader.(At least, let’s hope that’s the case.)  That leaves us with the idea that the phrase was to suggest the flexibility of the offer.

Did it work? Was the flexibility shown? I don’t think so.

Here’s why – When someone is reading a headline, you can assume that they are in a hurry. You have a few precious seconds to make a connection or you’re in the weeds. The reader will turn the page, leave your site, or throw your piece in the trash. You want the headline to be appealing and uncomplicated. By introducing the ‘and/or’ phrase, you create this convoluted array of combinations that’s confusing.

Imagine that the reader is humming along, reading your headline. Then she gets to the ‘and/or’ part and she stops to think,

‘Wait, does mean that it is included or that it isn’t included?’

More importantly, the language makes her stop just long enough to say,

‘This sounds like some type of trick. They are making it unclear so that they’ll have a loophole to get my money.’

And after that, she’s gone. One more prospect who’s left you.

Don’t add complications to the headline. Make it simple.