Persuasive E-commerce
Masterclass & workshop
Link to full presentation will be shared at the end
Meet Bouba & Kiki
The Bouba & Kiki Effect
Persuasive E-commerce
Masterclass & workshop
Today's session
Future Theory
Applied
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Persuasion?
Increasing
Motivation
Persuasion
Removing
Friction
(Us)ability
Friction
Motivation
Activation Threshold
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high
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When you’re walking down a street…
Community Builder Award
Wait, who’s talking?
Guido X Jansen
Global Business & Technology Evangelist @ Spryker
Cognitive Psychologist.
E-commerce Experimentation & Customer
Experience Optimization Specialist
Data
User
Research
Experiments /
Validation
Today's session
Future Theory
Applied
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Questions?
Theory
A: Something about e-commerce…
B: Something about the brain…
A: Something about
e-commerce…
Online conversion
rates s***
…compared to offline…
*when there’s no lockdown…
Average conversion rates
Offline
25-35%
Online
0.7-7.2%
E-commerce conversion rate by product type
Source: https://www.growcode.com/blog/ecommerce-conversion-rate
Ecommerce conversion rate by country
Source: https://ecommerce-europe.eu
Examples of good online conversion rates
8-11%
13%
(excluding Prime)
15,8%
25,3%
40,6%
Why are online
conversion rates so low?
Online lacks several key factors used in offline stores
Just some examples:
No commitment
until checkout
No
direct feedback
Less
sensory input
Less
personalization
Luckily, there’s a
workaround
B: Something about the
brain…
11,000,000 bits/sec
20 Watts
50 bits (0.00045%)
99%
Our decisions are for 90-99% unconscious
Our brain is lazy.
“Fixing reality” is
“cheaper”.
Some assumptions
our brain makes…
Expensive =
Good Quality
White coat = truth
More = Better
Because… =
a good reason
Shiny = New
Beautiful =
User friendly
Unknown =
Creepy
Familiar =
Safe
LIMITED
Knowledge
Time
Resources
Automated thoughts and actions
Heuristics
Intuition / Common Sense / Rule of Thumb / Educated Guess
Heuristics
Intuition / Common Sense / Rule of Thumb / Educated Guess
Cognitive Bias / Prejudices
Heuristic Categories (coping strategies)
Too much information
Too little information
What to remember
Time limitations
49
We all have many biases
… we’re not even aware
of most of them…
… and even when we are,
we still can’t ignore it.
Sure, this all sounds plausible
but I’m perfectly aware of all
the decisions I make. They
don’t fool me!”
-You
51
Let’s try this…
Availability
heuristic
Casualties from deadly situations
Terrorism Airplane Crash
Any Natural Disaster Swimming Pool
Actual Statistics
50% more people die drowning than the 3 other situations…
… combined Terrorism Airplane Crash
Any Natural Disaster Swimming Pool
Get your phone out and open (Google) Maps
Zoom in on a city in Japan
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
57
Our (experienced) brain sets the default,
but experiences between people
will (obviously) be different
Quickly guess the outcome
1×2×3×4×5×6×7×8 = 512
Quickly guess the outcome
1×2×3×4×5×6×7×8 =
8×7×6×5×4×3×2×1 =
512
2.250
Correct answer = 40.320
Theory conclusion:
﹘ Big difference between online and offline conversion
﹘ We have many Cognitive Biases and we are not aware of most
Today's session
Future Theory
Applied
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6 7 Weapons of Influence
1 : Reciprocation
4 : Authority
2 : Commitment
& Consistency
6 : Scarcity
3 : Social Proof
5 : Liking
7 : Unity
65
1: Reciprocity
We’re expecting something back
Cialdini
Reciprocation
● Newsletter
● eBook
● Tutorials
● Courses
● Webinar/Podcast
● Software
● Apps
● Giftboxes
● Swag
● …
● Be the first
● Be unexpected
● Provide real (personal)
value
● Keep on giving
● Don’t turn it around
(reverse reciprocity is
just an “exchange”)
67
2: Commitment &
Consistency
We’re sticking to it
Cialdini
Familiarity heuristic
/ Halo effect
72
3: Social Proof
We’re copycats
Cialdini
Conformity research by Solomon Ash
Social following & engagement
Show your users / clients
Reviews / testimonials
Customers who bought this items also bought…
Always Be Testing
“In the past month, [x] customers
bought this product”
Socially acceptable products
Socially undesirable products
79
Social proof
Social proof variants rejected
Social proof works especially well with…
● Same kind of people (ingroup)
● Uncertainty about choice
● Inexperience
How to start a movement: Sasquatch Music Festival 2009
83
4: Authority
We’re compliant
Cialdini
Industry leaders / influencers
Industry leaders / influencers
Industry leaders / influencers
Trust Logo’s
Don’t fake it
89
5: Liking
We like our friends better
Cialdini
All things being equal, people will
do business with a friend.
All things unequal, people will
still do business with a friend.
Mark McCormack
Our challenge
Referrals
Liking benefits from…
● Attractiveness
● Similarity
● Compliments
● Get likeable people to promote you
94
6: Scarcity
The less there is, the more we want it
Cialdini
Limited availability
10% discount restrictions
Version A:
no limit
per person
Version B:
12 cans limit
per person
average
3 cans
sold
average
7 cans
sold
Scarcity in…
● Time
● Amount/Stock
● Access
● …
98
7: Unity
Liking: Surface level similarities
Unity: Shared similarities
Cialdini
99
Appeal to the “We” or “Them”
Family, location, religion, social group,
products bought, pets, holidays…
PS: It’s not just these 7, it’s probably closer to 700
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cognitive_biases
1 : Reciprocation
4 : Authority
2 : Commitment
& Consistency
6 : Scarcity
3 : Social Proof
5 : Liking
7 : Unity
The Cognitive Bias Codex
Let’s go through a couple more…
103
Choice Paralysis
Choice Paralysis
Jam Experiment
6 options 24 options
Tasting
Buying
40% 60%
12% 1.6%
Hobson’s +1 Choice
4.77%
lift
Choice Paralysis
Book online now, and
you get:
Book online now, and
you get:
14% Lift
109
(remove/reduce)
Friction
Remove friction
+6-18%
111
Don’t make users think
A: “Hidden” Fees B: Fees right below pricing
12.5% uplift in CR
112
Perceptual Contrast / Framing
Anchoring and adjustment heuristic
$8 $13 $20
Perceptual Contrast / Framing
$45
Perceptual Contrast / Framing
Web subscription: $59
Print Subscription: $125
Web & Print Subscription: $125
16%
0%
84%
68%
32%
The Ugly Brother Effect
116
Distractions
A: Addons on PDP B: No Addons on PDP
14.9% Uplift in CR
A: Product Description B: No Product Description
Removed product description
10.8% Uplift in CR
Etsy A/B Tests Smaller & Shorter Product Titles
120
Reassurances
Product Reassurances (Amazon Canada)
122
Seeing is
believing
123
Because…
The Power of “Because…”
The Power of “Because…”
Variant 1: May I use the Xerox Machine?
Variant 2: May I use the Xerox Machine
… because I’m in a rush?
Variant 3: May I use the Xerox Machine
… because I have to make some copies?
60%
94%
93%
The Power of “Because…”
Today's session
Future Theory
Applied
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Workshop!
1: Pick 1 (product) page
2: Optimize based on this presentation or
card deck (scan QR code or go to URL)
3: Present 3 persuasion optimizations!
gui.do/cards
Today's session
Future Theory
Applied
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130
E-commerce in
5 years
automated persuasive profiling / targeting
Now:
“Optimize for the average customer”
Communication is the same
for everyone
Problem:
Large individual differences
(... but we see consistent behavior on
an individual level)
Future:
Dynamic websites tuned to
specific audiences
Everyone gets a different sales pitch
Gartners Hype Cycle for Digital Marketing 2021
Gartners Top Strategic Technology Trends for 2022
Decision Intelligence (DI)
Decision intelligence is a practical discipline used to
improve decision making by explicitly understanding and
engineering how decisions are made, and outcomes
evaluated, managed and improved by feedback.
Composable Applications
Demand for business adaptability directs organizations
toward technology architecture that supports fast, safe and
efficient application change
Total Experience (TX)
TX is a business strategy that combines the disciplines of customer experience (CX), employee experience (EX), user
experience (UX) and multiexperience (MX). The goal of TX is to drive greater customer and employee confidence,
satisfaction, loyalty and advocacy.
https://www.gartner.com/en/information-technology/insights/top-technology-trends
Already
available
through
134
2 final notes
135
1: Prioritize
(Hierarchy of optimization)
Persuasion
Usability
Functionality
Technology
2: Experiment & Validate!
137
What’s next?
﹘ “Psychology of E-commerce” blogseries on gui.do
﹘ Books
﹘ Online courses
﹘ More sessions by Guido: gui.do/presentation
﹘ …
Further reading
Let’s connect!
Guido X Jansen
Global Business & Technology Evangelist @ Spryker
gui.do
@guido
linkedin.com/in/gxjansen
guido.jansen@spryker.com
Slides & more: gui.do/onpersuasion

Persuasive e commerce workshop - Spryker