Persuasive architecture

An experience design framework

26 July 2016

Hello! Why are you here?

• It sounded cool

• I want to know what it is!

• How do I use it?

• I need a tool to communicate with my target audience

• My boss told me to come

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Cut through the noise

• Digital is and will continue to be disruptive

• Decisions are no longer linear – reciprocal, cyclical and driven by information from numerous sources

• User needs are complex, multi-faceted

• Users are inundated with information and need shortcuts to make decisions – what are these shortcuts?

• This inundation means it can be hard to get through to people

• How do business and government cut through the noise to effectively get their message across to their

target audience

• Before we can architect a persuasive strategy we need to understand what persuasion is and how it

works

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6 principles of persuasion

6 principles of influence

• Robert B. Cialdini’s 1984 book “Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion” still rings true today

• He outlines 6 principles to effectively persuade people in an ethical manner to create positive

organisational outcomes

• The 6 principles are:

• Reciprocity

• Scarcity

• Authority

• Consistency

• Consensus

• Likability

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I owe you one

• Give when you receive

• An unwritten social obligation

• Restaurants do it well, 1 x end of dinner mint = 3% increase in tip

• 2 x mints = 14% increase in tip

• Give one, walk away and giver another mint = 23% increase in tip

How do we do it:

• Be the first to give

• Make sure what you give is personal and unexpected

• Create exclusivity

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This is rare

• Basic supply and demand

• The less there is, the more people want it

• For example when Coke switched from their old recipe to new there was huge backlash, leading to people

requesting the old recipe be kept

• It became a favourite for consumers as soon as they knew they were going to lose it

How do we do it:

• Go beyond the benefits

• You need to point out what is unique about your proposition

• What will they lose if they fail to consider your proposal

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I like you, I respect you

• People follow the lead of knowledgeable experts

• Signal to others what makes you a credible, knowledgeable authority before you try to make your

influence attempt

• Referrals provide a sense of legitimacy

• For example a study compared the changes in appointments and signed contracts at a real estate agency

• The researchers found that when a secretary referred a customer to a colleague stating the years of

experience of profressional credentials there was :

• A 20% rise in appointments

• A 15% rise in signed contracts

How do we do it:

• Provide content created by people in positions of authority, power or experience

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I have done this before, I believe it

• We have so many choices to make everyday

• So we stick with what we know, or what we could have done before

• For example when users in a neighbourhood were asked to place a placard in front of their house that

urged drivers to “drive safely”

• In a neighbourhood close by four times as many residents were willing to place the placard in their front

yard – why?

• 10 days earlier these residents were asked to place a small sticker in their window of the “drive safely”

campaign

• This small commitment lead to an automatic compulsion – 400% increase in placards on front lawns

How do we do it:

• Ask for small actions first

• Encourage public commitment

• Reward people

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This is popular

• We trust things that are popular or endorsed by people we trust

• We will look to others to make our own decisions

• Who has stayed at a hotel?

• Have you reused your towel?

• Which of these notes in the bathroom would encourage you to reused your towel?

• Cited environmental reasons to encourage visitors to reuse their towels – 38%

• Said the hotel would donate a portion of end-of-year laundry savings to an environmental

cause – 36%

• Said the hotel had already given a donation and asked: “Will you please join us?” – 46%

• Said the majority of guests reused their towels at least once during their stay – 48%

How do we do it:

• Wisdom of crowds, experts, peers

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What is persuasive architecture then?

• We have to remember persuasion is not information

• Persuasion is getting your stakeholder to do something

• It’s understanding wants and needs

• It involves mapping out drivers, motivations and capability

• It means encouraging action and interaction by them, with them, for them

• Persuasive architecture can apply to design, strategy, content and technology

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Can you answer these?

• What do you want to achieve as an organisation?

• What do you actually want your audience to do?

• Have you thought about whether you’re targeting the right people?

• Who is your primary audience? Your secondary audience? Do you have internal and external

stakeholders that differ from your audience?

• What channels will you use to communicate with them?

• There are so many questions we could ask – and we should, so we know what we want to do and why

and for who

• So let’s see how our digital experts do it at Adelphi Digital

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The approach

We architect holistically

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The process of persuasion

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The process of persuasion

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What does this all mean?

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