Part 2: E-Commerce Psychology Series - Because They Buy
Key takeaways while enrolled in a course at Interaction Design Foundation
Understanding the psychology of buying online is like unlocking a treasure chest full of jewels and shiny golden objects. Life tends to go a little more smoothly with some value in your pocket.
In this post I will dive deeper into the subconscious patterns of users. We'll find out a little bit about why they do what they do and what makes them tick.
As you read, continue to look for ways that you can immediately apply what you learn. Remember to consider the tangible as well as those thoughts that seem to come out of nowhere. As stated in the previous blog, the world is your manual and so is your user. Understanding they way they think is crucial.
Thinking and Decisions
Decision making is a sub-rational process. What this means is that when making most decisions through out the day, the laborious nature of choosing doesn't require the conscious effort of rational thinking. This is evident during activities such as driving, showering, exercising or choosing what to eat for breakfast; we're on autopilot. Our mental energy is reserved for more involved conscious thinking and rationalization.
If this is the way you and I think, then this is the way our customers and users think. So, how does this way of thinking, less about 'let me weigh my options' and more about 'I can do this in my sleep', apply to online e-commerce? Let's find out.
The Brain - Three in One
The human brain is one organ. However, it functions as three unified components. Hence the term, ‘Triune Brian’. Understanding how these three components work can empower you to make better business decisions. Whether you design for, market to or communicate directly with your customer, even small changes in your approach can go a long way.
Because each of the three parts of the brain manage decision making differently, it’s important to identify how what you create effects the way the user thinks when their senses latch on to design or marketing content. The old brain deals with instinct, ‘fight, flight, or freeze.’ The midbrain is the emotional center. The new brain handles the rational and conscious thinking. Why do users stay on your site? What drives higher conversion rates?
There’s really no crystal ball for these kinds of questions and you as the designer or marketer can’t predict who will and won’t buy. However, when all three parts of the brain are part of the user experience or buyer experience process, brain chemistry tells us that this is the secret sauce for success. Engaging the new brain, the midbrain, and the old brain is a skillset that can be learned. In other words, you can learn how to fine tune your approach.
The Old Brain
The old brain is often referred to as the ‘primal brain’. Fundamental feelings such as fear, anger, hunger, and reproductive urges stem from this region. It’s here that our rational or new brain thinking has the least amount of control or influence.
An example of the old brain in action can be illustrated by an experience I had in Japan almost 20 years ago. It was monsoon season and it had been raining all day, in fact, for weeks. I was speeding down a narrow alley on my bicycle and had just turned the corner when, crack, lightning struck behind me. The bright flash and deafening explosion of sound were inseparable from each other. What happened next, however, is the enlightening part of the story.
A split second after this event registered mentally, my old brain told my lungs, larynx, mouth and other biological faculties to orchestrate what we humans call a 'yell'. I just started to yell, while barely managing to peddle forward down the street. I also felt confused and worried, which are a few of the emotions the midbrain produced. My new brain rationalized that a car wreck had just occurred. But this thought was quickly debunked by the reality of all indications that lightning had struck several yards behind me.
The fact is that there's no way my new brain could control my yelling. It took a few seconds for me to even realize that I had been yelling. Those emotions weren't fueled by considering several options and choosing one or two. When the internal alarm died down, I was able to process what had just happened. My new brain packaged up the incident into a nicely defined memory and I was able to continue on my dripping way to my destination.
If a visitor to your site or ad hasn't navigated away saying "this is a scam," then you have engaged their old brain and achieved some level of success. Safety and security is important. All users unconsciously look for red flags. They really have no choice because this is part of their old brain's age old functionality.
Another thing to consider and which is manifested everywhere online is the use of femininity and masculinity. When targeting the user, strategic placement of an image of a female, or male depending on the market, speaks to their old brain. Reproductive tendencies are instinctive in humans. An attractive model in a stock image could play a part in retaining their attention.
If you can create a safe and attractive environment for the user, you've just involved the old brain in the decision process. When it comes time for a call to action, their primal thinking mechanisms are now on your side. One brain down, two to go.
The Midbrain
This part of the brain, the midbrain, is most often labeled the ‘emotional brain’. Though we have a measure of control over our emotional responses, they are often strong enough to over through our rational or new brain thinking. Without going in to great detail, lets examine the what the midbrain made of and how it functions.
The midbrain is comprised of it's own component group known as the limbic system. I've outlined three major parts of that system here.
Amygdala: This is where value judgements are made. A value judgement is a shortcut through your logic decision making process and determines things such as split second first impressions.
Hypothalamus: The pleasure and pain regulating region. Controls body temperature and works closely with the pituitary system.
Thalamus: The brain's true emotional center where our core emotions originate from.
Other parts of the midbrain deal with feeling rewarded for our thoughts and actions. A chemical called dopamine produces the sensation of achievement. Here's an example of how the midbrain can work during a common human predicament.
Imagine that last week you started a new diet. It's going pretty good. You think about it during the day and take actions because the app you downloaded and installed on your phone tells you to do so. You're committed. That's all there is to it.
On your way to work one morning you turn the corner and see an often visited donut shop. It's the donut shop "where everybody knows your name." You know, the place where they'd call out "Norm!" when you enter the building, especially if your name really was Norm. You realize that this is just what you need this morning, a donut.
The truth is that you are behind on a project at work. Stand up starts in less than an hour and you're going to look like a fool in front of everybody having not completed the work you committed to do as stated in yesterday's stand up meeting. The morning is shot anyway. Why not have a donut?!
So, just before you pass the front door of the donut joint, you roll your eyes, let out a sigh, turn and push the shop door open. Within a few minutes you exit the scene slightly resembling a happy chipmunk. You bounce down the street carrying a bloated white bag in one hand, sure to be a worthy companion for the day's doom and gloom you surely expect.
This happens to every human being in one degree or another most likely every day. In the story, why didn't you walk past the donut shop and stick to your diet? The amygdala gave greater emotional value on the stress relieving donut eating prospect rather than hurrying off to work to make a good effort on your project.
Your design or marketing message can be like the emotional value the donut provides. If you assist the user with feeling like they are getting the help and emotional value they need, then there you have the second brain taken care of. On to the third.
The New Brain
Now, we come to the new brain, the conscious center where logic, reason and real time thinking occur. This is the place where decisions are made. But here's the kicker, the new brain really takes the decisions that are served up by the old brain and midbrain and carries them out, ultimately justifying the purchase or involvement with your website.
At this point in the user's journey, they have remained on your site. They've made it past the average bounce rate because they're probably feeling safe. Their emotions are positive and pleasing. You, as the solution to their particular problem, have a real chance here. The best way not to "blow it" is to involve the new brain.
Enabling the new brain to take part is key. How? By providing rational solutions where thinking can be involved. Descriptions that make sense to the target user are important. Diagrams, an adequate quality and quantity of images will help. Calls to action that make sense and that are natural create direction. This is how customer loyalty is created, repeat customers increase, and the feelings of buyer's remorse is reduced.
Speaking to the old brain, the midbrain, and the new brain is a sure way to maximize efforts, resources, and energy. It's an endeavor that should be a topic for discussion before, during, and after any project.
Emotional Based Action
As stated before, decisions are made before the new brain or significant rational thinking even takes place, much of the time by emotion. Emotions aren't rational, however, they carry us through or stop us in our tracks during a life event even though we thought we'd respond to the situation a completely different way. We found ourselves creating a different outcome than expected.
Driving emotional involvement is one of many tools as a designer and marketer. You don't need to consider the facts about a scenic destination to enjoy it; the lighting, the elevation, the amount of trees around you, what you're walking on exactly, time of day. You just take it all in automatically; the snow capped mountains against a solid blue sky, the sound of a distant river, the yellow warbler that just flew past you, the sun melting into the west. You breath slower. Your heart rate decreases. Your emotions don't need coxing. Joy. Peace. Relaxation. Satisfaction. You could stay there forever.
Another class of scenery that also generates tremendous emotional response is scenes of unpleasant times. When we see pictures of war, we immediately respond emotionally. We think of the men and women who's lives were often cut short. The children who lost their father or mother. The parents who lost their babies to war. The unspoken events, daily fears, and nightly horrors. Holding a gun to inflict mortal wounds on another human who was just like them, trying to serve their country. It's awful. However, when an organization seeks financial support for their efforts to hinder the efforts of war, they will use images and sentiments that will cause the midbrain to sympathize and the new brain to donate.
These two images and their respective descriptions represent two examples of highly contrasting emotional responses. However, both are valid based on the service or product being marketed. Both can ultimately achieve the same final result.
Appealing to the emotions in the aesthetics of your design and the message of your copy is key. Take them to a place that they call a digital oasis if your objective is to create pleasing feelings. Bring them to the very lines of a battle front to invoke an action of support based on disgust or frustration. It all depends on which emotions you want them to tap into in order to take the right action. If the emotional response is right, the amygdalae within the midbrain will do the much needed work to get the user to commit to your prescribed calls to action.
The Subconscious Mind - The Real Hero
Out of all of the three brains afore mentioned, both the old brain and midbrain constitute the source of the subconscious mind. This is where the ease of human thinking takes place. It's where you want the user to spend most of their time while interacting with your user interface. If their experience feels effortless, automatic, intuitive, or like it flows, then you have winning design elements at play. If they have to think, calculate, reason, use logic, or concentrate, you may want to rethink your approach. What makes this so?
Aside from innately handling biological functions such as pumping blood, breathing, and blinking, the subconscious mind manages the intake of data. Imagine if you had to consciously think about everything your five senses take in. It would end in disaster, an overload of information; every smell, sound, physical sensation, sight, and taste. To wish to be able to process every packet of information would be a death wish, without question.
Thankfully, the super processor of the brain, the subconscious mind, takes care of all of that for us. The speed in which it executes such a payload is remarkable, a payload which is estimated as being billions of pieces of data per day.
It is said that the subconscious mind processes information 20,000 - 30,000 times faster than the conscious mind, which pales in comparison. In fact, the subconscious mind even solves problems while you think about other things. When you return back to a particular problem that your subconscious mind has already resolved, alas, you slip right into the solution. It works on it for you.
Presenting the user with unintended obstacles through your digital landscape serves neither them nor you. They'd rather find a well traveled path rather than carve out a new one. That would take work and the user's brain, like yours, looks for the path of least resistance.
Because data points from your design elements or marketing content hit the subconscious mind almost immediately, you can tap into the users stream of subconscious thinking effortlessly. Consistent design elements are important when appealing to the subconscious mind. Take them from the upper left hand corner to the bottom right hand corner of their screen. Create an ease of flow that is simple and clean, expected and delightful.
Recap
The bottom line here is to know your audience. Know your audience. Speaking to all three parts of the brain requires an understanding of what will resonate with them...specifically. One target market will react differently than another target market. One approach to create an emotional response may not work the same for other types of users. You've got to do your homework. Know your audience like you know your cell phone.
Talk to your audience. Document what you find. Create personas if that's the process you select in your user experience design journey. If you are a marketing expert, employ user experience design principles. Cater to the people. Cater to their subconscious thinking.
Action
The key here is that things can change. Your business can change. You can change. Designs, ads, everything can be reimagined. Money and expense can always be a concern. But, you can recuperate money. Time, on the other hand, can never be reclaimed.
Waste no time in trying out a few of these suggestions. I'd love to hear how this blog post helped you. Write a comment below and help others learn and grow through your experience.
Be self aware of the way you make decisions. Start with using your internal workings to get a better feel for how you personally think, react, and feel emotions.
Research your user. Understand the full breadth of who they are and why they think, act, and do what they do. Develop 1-3 personas for easy reference.
Create a mini design or marketing piece that you feel will engage all three parts of your particular target market's brain. Write out one or two line statements for each of the three parts of the brain supporting why you believe so.
Test out your design or marketing piece. Reflect and document the outcomes.
Have fun! Enjoy the journey.
Just go for it!
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