How persuasive design and impactful content builds great digital experiences

Usability is a great way to enhance the effectiveness of your site, but in an age where an alternative option is only a click away, is it enough to keep your users engaged?
Great content is the foundation of your website. The content you produce plays a fundamental role in marketing campaigns and needs to work in tandem with both code and design. It's also what your customers want.

Chris and Dan will explain the fundamentals of creating persuasive design and impactful content, then share tips on how the two should work together for your business.

In this webinar you will learn:
- Introduction to persuasive design
- How design can influence user behaviour
- The relationship between content and user experience
- How to define meaningful content
- Techniques to improve your website and services

Transcript

1. How persuasive design and impactful content
   builds great digital experiences
   Sigma & Siteimprove | December 2nd, 2020
   

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2. Chris Bush
   Head of Design, Sigma UK
   Dan Sitner
   Digital Practice Director,
   Siteimprove UK
   Your Presenters:
   

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3. - Introduction to persuasive design
   - Understanding user behaviour when engaging
   with content rich sites
   - The relationship between content and user experience
   - How to define meaningful content
   - Techniques to improve your website and services
   

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4. wearesigma.com @wearesigma
   Introduction to persuasive design
   

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5. wearesigma.com @wearesigma
   Persuasive design (or PET Theory) is a series of principles (based on
   cognitive biases) that help teams align usability, psychology and marketing
   principles with their digital products.
   ▸ Persuasion
   Principles used to encourage or discourage
   behaviours during a process.
   ▸ Emotion
   Principles used to encourage an emotional response such as
   satisfaction, achievement, empathy or surprise during a process.
   ▸ Trust
   Principles used to establish confidence during a process. For example,
   perceptions of security and credibility.
   Persuasive design
   

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6. wearesigma.com @wearesigma
   Search engine
   optimised
   Usable Persuasive
   Capturing user engagement
   

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7. wearesigma.com @wearesigma
   Search engine
   optimised
   Usable Persuasive
   Capturing user engagement
   Can do Will do
   Motivate
   Encourage
   Constrain
   

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8. wearesigma.com @wearesigma
   How design can influence
   our behaviour in the real world
   

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9. A USABLE DOOR
   

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10. INTRODUCING PERSUASION
    

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11. PERSUASION TO REDUCE ERROR
    

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12. wearesigma.com @wearesigma
    Understanding how users
    interact with information online
    

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13. wearesigma.com @wearesigma
    ► On average, most adults read about 190-225 words
    per minute when reading online content
    These are people whose first language is English, reading English
    ► People forage for information; they do not read whole
    sections or pages in sequence
    ► Users “hunt down” information based on its “scent”
    ► They scan each page looking for signposts and
    visual cues
    ► They are focused on specific information, goals and
    phrases
    How we read online
    

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14. wearesigma.com @wearesigma
    ► What users notice when they get
    to this content
    ► Headings stand out
    ► Details fade into the background
    ► This helps them navigate
    (It doesn’t help them read)
    Scanning text-heavy content
    

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15. wearesigma.com @wearesigma
    Usability specialist Jakob Nielsen analysed website access data to calculate the
    average time that users spend reading a web page:
    ► Average reading time = 25 seconds + (4.4 seconds per 100 words)
    ► Let’s consider three hypothetical pages. Nielsen’s formula predicts that, at 200 words a minute, a
    user will read the following amounts:
    Reading content
    Words on page Time spent reading Words read (maybe)
    952 ~1 minute ~200
    1,931 ~2 minutes ~400
    14,341 ~11 minutes ~2200
    

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16. wearesigma.com @wearesigma
    Which means…
    

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17. wearesigma.com @wearesigma
    A 2018 NN/g study found that users
    spend:
    ► 57% of their viewing time on the first
    screenful of content
    ► 74% on the first two screenfuls of
    content
    Scrolling pages
    1st
    2nd
    

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18. wearesigma.com @wearesigma
    Tips and techniques to improve
    your own sites and services
    

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19. wearesigma.com @wearesigma
    Organise your content and
    navigation around user needs
    Consider focusing on the top
    tasks of your users
    

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20. wearesigma.com @wearesigma
    Content summaries help users
    quickly build a mental model of
    the content in a section and
    decide a route forward (or back)
    

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21. wearesigma.com @wearesigma
    Frame information so that it
    aligns with to your user’s needs
    and expectations
    

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22. wearesigma.com @wearesigma
    Ensure your content is clear
    ► Establish a clear visual hierarchy that supports
    scanning
    ► Use headings correctly (H1 > H2 > H3 > etc)
    ► Check your contents readability tools
    like Siteimprove or Hemingwayap
    

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23. wearesigma.com @wearesigma
    Break content up into smaller
    easily distinguishable chunks
    to aid scanning
    

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24. wearesigma.com @wearesigma
    Quaternary action
    Primary action
    Secondary action
    Tertiary action
    Make sure you have a
    clear interaction hierarchy
    

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25. wearesigma.com @wearesigma
    Ensure microcopy and calls to
    action are user centred and
    focus on the user’s expected
    outcome
    For example:
    • “Start my free 30 day trial” over “Start your free 30 day trial”
    • “Get information” over “Order information”
    • “Join now” over “Sign-up” / “Create account”
    • “Get 3 months free” over “Download now”
    

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26. wearesigma.com @wearesigma
    For processes show users
    where they are in their journey
    and how much further they
    need to go
    

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27. wearesigma.com @wearesigma
    ► Focus on user needs and their objectives (Top tasks)
    ► Provide a structure that supports scanning
    ► Ensure that calls-to-action are clear and easily
    understood
    Recap
    Useful links
    http://www.getmentalnotes.com/cards
    https://theteamw.com/#books
    http://goodui.com
    Next
    ► The relationship between content and UX
    ► How to define meaningful content
    ► How content changes across the customer journey
    

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29. 500M 90M 70M
    

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31. Data/Image Source:
    Havas
    

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32. What
    people
    are
    looking for
    Content
    What
    brands
    want to
    say
    

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33. Google Panda Update
    2011
    Google Penguin Update Update
    2012
    Google Hummingbird Update
    2013
    Google announce mobile-first index
    2016
    Mobile First Index Rolls Out
    2018
    

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34. Data/Image Source:
    Google
    

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35. Data/Image Source:
    Google
    

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36. Data/Image Source:
    Google
    

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38. Define • What do you want to achieve?
    Plan • What data do we have
    about this topic?
    Distribute • How are we going
    to reach people?
    

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40. Image Source:
    Apple
    

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41. In the first month after launch, Virgin Media
    Ireland experienced:
    ✓ An overall 6% drop in calls to the Support team
    (exceeding the objective of 4%)
    Specific call drivers to the call center were
    drastically reduced, including:
    ✓ 63% drop in calls from the Moving Home page
    ✓ 22% reduction in calls from the Contact Us page
    ✓ 19% reduction in calls from the Support landing
    page
    Image/Data Source:
    Nomensa, Virgin Media
    

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42. Image/Data Source:
    CopylBlogger, Pinterest
    ✓ 80% of people will read your headlines
    ✓ 20% of those people will read the rest of your
    content
    

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43. Image/Data Source:
    SEMrush
    

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44. Pillar content
    Cluster content
    Hyperlinks
    

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