Tag: neuromarketing

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Which one works: horizontal or vertical sites?

There is a huge trend out there on horizontal sites. They look modern, simple and on a first moment the new way to go. Not everything that looks cool works!

But are they the best choice for you?

Here are a few things you should know before deciding which way to go:

Always something to consider is the age of your target market. Remember that some age groups are more resistant to change than others.

In this case we also need to take into consideration some basic human patterns before we make this type of decision. It might seem just a design decision but it is much more than that because it will impact how many people engage with your site and how many leave before doing what they are supposed to do on your site: Buy, read etc.

Our brains like to recognize patterns that have previously led to successful interactions. We produce dopamine which gives us pleasure when we recognize familiar patterns around us.

Our recognition of objects relies mainly on their shapes. In the very early stages of recognition, our perceptual system uses information on the retina to identify the object by primitive features like lines, edges and angles. This helps our primitive brain to make fast decisions.

Our mind tends to complete incomplete shapes and create mental objects even if only a small part of the shape is displayed. Our mind does this by ignoring gaps and completing contour lines to form shapes already represented in our minds.

weight watchers

That is one of the reasons why you should question a horizontal layout : The horizontal box construction implies closure and is a pattern more typical of the bottom of a page.

When we see the closed horizontal structure, we do not look for more information. So we don’t see the rest of the page.

In a study done with heat maps, showed that visitors would scroll 34% less in horizontal site. That is significant when you are looking for engagement. This fact besides the results on your site would also impact how you rank on Google since it has and tracks metrics of engagement.

Engagement means not only sales but also time on site, pages viewed per visit, and so on.

Now, maybe you just changed your site and going back is not an option. What can you do to improve engagement?

Here are a few tips:

  1. Add a down arrow. You can locate the arrow on the lower end of the content block. Make it obvious there is more below.
  2. Add a vertical element or an element in half. This will make the visitor want to scroll down.
  3. Populate the sidebar. This is easy in some WordPress themes.
  4. Use floating arrows. They are a constant reminder to keep going down.
  5. Eliminate boxes and horizontal lines. Rectangular boxes and horizontal lines add a visual indication that the content has ended. Eliminating these will increase probability that visitors will scroll down.
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How do You Stand out From Your Competition?

So how do you stand out from your competition? Maybe tell a story with a different twist. Why pound of features and benefits and how great your services or products are when you can captivate attention telling a story. Even better, telling a story with a twist. The moment the brain perceives something as not being “normal” it starts paying attention. Plus our brain is wired for narrative. So tell stories.

Great example of creating contrast from your competition.

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How to create contrast in business

The brain likes contrast. It pays attention when there is contrast and like you know attention is currency to the brain. A lot harder to get than you might think at first. Every time you create contrast in your business, you win. How can you create contrast in relation to your competition? Get creative and think out of the box. Here is how one company did:

Contrast in business

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Narcissists Can Be Manipulated into Caring About the Environment

Although narcissists tend not to care about the societal benefits of pro-environmental activities, their attitudes change if their “green” behaviors are likely to be seen and admired by others, say Iman Naderi of Fairfield University and David Strutton of the University of North Texas. For example, narcissists considered an environmentally friendly laptop computer to be more attractive when they were told it was for use in public, rather than at home (3.7 versus 2.7 on a seven-point scale). Narcissism may be on the rise in the U.S., the researchers say: A nationwide analysis shows that college students’ scores on the Narcissistic Personality Inventory rose steadily between 1982 and 2009.

SOURCE: Can normal narcissism be managed to promote green product purchases? Investigating a counterintuitive proposition

narcissist

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How the Lucky Get Luckier

In a study of online gamblers, those who had won several bets in a row were found to have a higherchance of winning their next bets, say Juimin Xu and Nigel Harvey of University College London. Losing streaks had the opposite effect, decreasing gamblers’ chances of winning the next bet. The apparent reason is that after winning, gamblers tended to place safer bets, believing (falsely) that they were “due” to lose; losers believed they were due to win and placed riskier bets. The effect was to create good luck for the already lucky and bad luck for the unlucky.

lucky

SOURCE: A Self-Fulfilling Fallacy?

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World Cup Viewers Plan to Keep Up by Multiscreening

Digital devices are changing the way consumers watch events—and the World Cup is no exception, with US internet users saying the availability of multiple devices will allow them to watch more of the soccer games, as well as view those they miss.

neuromarketing

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The Price of Popularity: Lower Ratings

In the two years after books win splashy awards such as the Man Booker Prize, their average ratings on Goodreads.com decline by about a quarter-point on a 1-to-5 scale, whereas those that were runners-up maintain their high ratings, say Balázs Kovács of the University of Lugano and Amanda J. Sharkey of the University of Chicago. A big award draws a larger audience, which includes a greater proportion of people whose tastes aren’t aligned with the book’s style or subject. Also, readers sometimes react negatively to popularity and are thus more inclined to give lower evaluations to popular books, the researchers say.

popular

SOURCE: The Paradox of Publicity: How Awards Can Negatively Affect the Evaluation of Quality

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Your Belief That the World Is “Just” Can Make You Cruel

eople’s wish to see the world as just and orderly sometimes leads them to harm those who have already suffered injustice, according to Daniel P. Skarlicki and R. Anthony Turner of the University of British Columbia. In an experiment, managers with self-reported hiring experience provided lower ratings for fictitious job applicants whose only difference was that they had been mistreated by their former employers, such as by being laid off without notice. People derogate victims in this way to avoid the cognitive dissonance that comes from trying to understand how individuals can suffer injustice in a just world, the researchers say.

SOURCE: Unfairness begets unfairness: Victim derogation bias in employee ratings