Week 9 — How Companies Persuade Their Customers through Loyalty — Psychology of Persuasion Course Review
This week in the CXL Psychology of Persuasion course I looked at how companies build a rapport and loyalty with their clients. This started with a module by Roger Dooley who started his presentation by mentioning his loyalty to United Airlines and Amazon. I have to admit that although I’m dubious of Amazon’s ethical practices their service and delivery is almost second to none and I have remained pretty loyal to them for several years now.
I love to try out different brands though it is less of a stressor to stick with a brand once you know that you love the products and service. Perhaps for me an example of this is with Neal’s Yard Remedy products, though I also love Weleda because of the naturalness of the products as well as the ethics behind the firm. When I was in my teens this would have been the Body Shop as I loved everything that Anita Roddick stood for as well as her being a woman who had created a business that even I as a teen could relate to.
With Neal’s Yard Remedy products, I love that when I renew my membership with them, I can get products that are worth over £100 if not more and it feels like a luxurious brand from the ingredients used in their products to the look of their website which is clean and mainly in white and navy colours.
With the brand Fabletics they have a program where as long as I remember to skip the month, I can earn points towards a reward. There are two main terms associated with this. Goal gradient and endowed progress effect. This first refers to the movement towards a reward whether it is the free item that you end up getting as a result of buying different items.
I highly recommend watching the presentation at the end of the module that was given by Nir Eyal who wrote the book ‘Indistractable’ and ‘Hooked’, which this presentation was based upon. His presentation skills are excellent and captivating to the point that my six-year-old was watching the presentation with me and sat still for it! Eyal discusses triggers for different websites.
Influence and Interactive Design
This section of the course is presented by Brian Cugelman of Alterspark and is about working with our target audience and the aspect about educating customers loos at how we share features and benefits. I love Brian’s quote “ features tell and benefits sell.”
In evoking emotions Cugelman refers to evolutionary Psychology and Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Similar to before loss aversion and incentives is referred to as follows:
1. Parenting
2. Mate retention
3. Mate acquisition
4. Status/esteem
5. Affiliation
6. Self protection
7. Immediate Physiological needs
This is different from the study I had previously seen which is also shown here. Cugelman refers to mental health issues in relations to serotonin uptake which again is so important for wellbeing.
Further on Cugelman looks at analysis paralysis which can come about if there are not enough options or if there are too many options that its difficult to make the right decision. Persuasion takes up only 20% of what can make up a decision.
Digital Psychology and Behavioural design training
This CXL class is also presented by Dr Brian Cugelman and explains why we do the things that we do online. It is one of the largest modules that I’ve gone through so far though is still interesting and it’s clear that Cugelman has put an effort to make this interesting as well especially as he addresses why we as students should take a course with him even though the answer to that was clear in the preceding videos. Nevertheless, it was brilliant to hear about his background. He sells himself and his knowledge without sounding full of himself and is self-deprecating at times as well.
Psychology and Media
Cugelman talks about his life working as a Webmaster, which is similar to work that I’ve done in the past in my 20s when I was able to build a career as a web developer which I really enjoyed. I liked that he addressed something that has concerned me in the past, which is looking at trust on a website and using the example of Save the Children and showing how much of the money is going towards the cause rather than the bureaucracy.
I’m not sure if this will come up on the CXL Psychology of Persuasion course but I worry about the advertising using guilt to get people to donate to particular charities and all it takes is for a convincing marketeer to do this though it’s not ethical in my opinion. Funnily enough this was discussed in response to a Centrepoint advert that was shown on Facebook. It was a good advert, not promoting guilt but raising awareness that our young homeless people are vulnerable because they can be enticed to sleep on someone’s sofa and no one knows if that person has genuine motivations.
Our Approach
In this section Cugelman looks at different aspects of a website according to to
- Freudian Psychology
- Jungian Psychology
- Zodiac
And other frames of reference to show what people are thinking.
We can look at how people feel when we look at a sales page. From a Psychological theory we can look at how people feel and act and the best studies can be measured by empirical studies that test over and over again. Neurology is more specific though it is also more complex and then there is industry information which is specific to industry experts.
Cugelman then goes into what happens if you’re too theoretical or too practical both theory and experience are so important.
Outcomes
The results of a website are so important regarding user’s initial response which can be built upon. Comprehension is important from interpretation to influence. Emotions then must be fired up to get a reaction. Trust is also required before action can be taken. We then need someone to take action and with maintenance is where there is loyalty and the user keeps coming back. In contrast there is inaction or abandonment, which is not often discussed.
Next week in the CXL Psychology of Persuasion Course I will still be looking at Digital Psychology and Behavioural Design Training and exploring a few more elements across the modules. I’ve been setting myself goals to spend more time on the course to cover more modules, which at the moment will work out to about one hour per day.
