The Psychology of Graphics

In the previous two articles, we discussed both The Psychology of Color and The Psychology of Copy. In this third and final article in this three part series, I will be discussing one of possibly the most influential psychological aspects to a web site.  That if done effectively, will create an outstanding increase in your web site conversion rate.

Let’s get into it, shall we?

The Psychology of Graphics

“Ads with 10 or more visuals are 55 percent more likely to be noted than ads with few or no visuals.” – Drew Whitman. Graphics draw in the viewer. They engage, draw emotion, and educate them.  Without graphics, your site is like reading a nutrition label.  It’s informative, but doesn’t hold my attention.

But what are the best types of graphics to use on your site?  Do some graphics work just as well as others?

In my experience, there are a few categories of photos that when used, draw a huge response.

• Women
• Food
• Celebrities
• Groups of adults

The reasoning behind this can be connected to the psychology of the human mind.  Women are seen as more trustworthy, kind, and visually appealing than men are.  Food is a factor in human survival. People love to admire the lives they aspire to be in. And everybody has the desire to be accepted within a group or organization.

Here are a few other psychological graphic tips.

• Having a person in a white doctor’s coat draws immediate credibility.  Whether the person is an actual doctor or not.
• A women facing directly at you smiling is the most trustworthy image to have on your site.
• Placing a photo of your product on the main screen increases conversion by 13%.

There are a million different tricks to boosting your business web site.  These are just a few examples.  Most will come with trial and error.  These, on the other hand, have been proven time and time again and can be implemented today!

The Psychology of Copy

Welcome to part two of this three part series on the three most commonly unknown psychological tricks to increasing your conversion and interaction rates on your business web site.

In my last post, we discussed the Psychology of Color.  Where you were taught what colors were effective and what ages these people prefer them.  If you haven’t read it, check it out!

This next psychological trick to boosting your business web site is one that can greatly make or break a site.  Industries have evolved around this concept.  People spend years trying to master it.  Only few can truly say they have succeeded.

I am talking about copy.  The voice of your web site.  The idea that explains who you are, and what you can do for your customer.

Let’s explain.

The Psychology of Copy

Most people think that in order to gain a readers respect and trust and eventually make a sale, they need to write in a formal manner.  They make sure to correct all their contractions, changing words with better thesaurus replacements, and use deep and lengthy sentences.  A piece of copy that a college professor would be proud of.

The truth is the average American education level is 5^th grade.   So unless you’re selling to a sophisticated target market, most of your web site users are not looking to read sophisticated wording. They want to be told the benefits and where to buy.  Trying to be too fancy with your wording won’t impress your reader, it will confuse them.

Dr. Rudolph Flesch talks about this point further in his book, The Art of Plain Talk. Here he creates his Flesch Reading Ease Score (FRES) which, based on a 1 to 100 scale, rates the reading easiness of your copy. The higher your score, the easier your copy is to read.

The Flesch Reading Ease Score is calculated in a 5 step process as follows:

1)     Count every word, number, and symbol in your copy.

2)     Count all the syllables in the words, numbers, and symbols as you would pronounce them.

3)     Count every sentence that is separated by a period, question mark, semicolon, colon, exclamation point, or dash.

4)     Divide the total number of syllables by the total number of words.

5)     Divide the number of words by the number of sentences.

The result of your answer is your readability score.  If your score is 70 or above, your copy is in a good readability range.  In order to be truly effective as well, you should keep your sentences at around 11 words.

So when looking at your site, are you selling your product, or just telling about your product?

The Psychology of Color

In this three part series, you will be taught the three most commonly unknown psychological tricks to increasing your conversion and interaction rates on your business web site.

Web developers have found over the years that designing a website has become more of a science than anything else.  Using key features that are guaranteed to create higher user interaction. And eventually, a sale.

We are exposed to dozens of websites a day.  But why is it that some resonate deeper with us while others fall by the waste side?

Answer: Psychology.

There are proven features that build user engagement.  Features that help convert prospects into sales that go unnoticed to the untrained eye.

Let’s discover the first.

The Psychology of Color

Choosing your color scheme for your site is a longer process than throwing a dart at a color wheel.  There should be thought applied to every element of your page.

According to Drew Whitman’s bestselling book “Cashvertising,” the following colors are psychologically preferred for both men and women.

1) Blue

2) Red

3) Green

4) Violet

5) Orange

6) Yellow

Did you know that a person’s age affects color preference as well?

The preference for the color blue grows, as the person’s age grows as well.  Why is this?  While you are young, your eyes are young and clear.  Allowing only roughly 15% of blue light to enter.  While on the other hand, the older you become the more your eyes begin to haze and protect itself from strong, bright colors.  Causing closer to 75-80% of blue light to be absorbed.

Use color when trying to highlight important features to your site.  For example: The checkout button, call to action arrows, “learn more” links, etc.  By using certain colors, the user’s eyes are actually driven to these key features automatically.  Without them having to search the page for it.

What are some effective ways you have used color on your sites or ads? Leave your comments below.

Here are some of the plugins we use on this website:

• All in One SEO is a great plugin that will help people to find your blog. This plugin will automatically optimize your WordPress blog for enhanced search engine functionality. It will allow you to edit the title, meta description, and meta tags for each blog post you publish. By default, WordPress will use your blog tagline as your meta description and keywords and will not allow you to edit the information. With All in One SEO, you can edit however you like and decide what’s important and what’s not.
• Backupbuddy is an all-in-one solution for backups, restoration, and migration. Using backupbuddy is a great way to protect your WordPress blog in case of a catastrophic emergency. Backupbuddy is simple to use and will help to protect you against lost data.
• Contact Form 7 can manage multiple contact forms, plus you can customize the form and the mail contents flexibly with simple markup. The form will support CAPTCHA to prevent spammers from taking advantage of your contact form. Contact Form 7 will support a variety of different languages. It’s basically just another contact form, simple yet flexible.
• WPtouch will allow you to create stunning mobile and iPad versions of your website to share with the world. This plugin will allow you to easily set up a rich mobile theme for iPhone, iPad, Android, Blackberry, Palm OS and Samsun touch mobile visitors. The theme will be completely independent of your desktop theme and will be available solely for your mobile users. WPtouch is a great plugin to allow you to branch out and cater your WordPress blog toward mobile users while still keeping your focus on what’s important, your business.

Leaving, and probably not coming back.

1. Your site takes too long to load.
This could be due to large graphics files, too many page elements, or an overly-complicated webpage layout. It could also be due to the web host you’re using, as hosting services put various limits on the amount of bandwidth you can use.

2. Pop-ups.
Few things are more annoying to web visitors than being confronted by a cascade of pop-ups. These days many people regard pop-ups as intrusive, and as a sign that your site may be unscrupulous or low-quality. Unless they are an essential part of your site, avoid using pop-ups.

3. Flashing graphics.
If you present visitors with headache-inducing flashing banner advertisements, you can expect them to leave your site fast. Flashing graphics are not just irritating to potential customers; they may also cause visual problems for some people, and these people are unlikely to ever return to your website.

4. Animations.
You may think it’s cute to have little ants wearing top-hats dancing across the screen, but try to imagine how distracting that will be for your visitors. Remember, you want visitors to read what you have written; any distractions will only draw their attention away from your content.

5. Video and audio files.
If you must include video or audio files on your website, make sure they don’t autoplay when visitors come to your site. Not only does it slow down the loading of your webpage, it will also frustrate visitors as they search for the mute button.

Photo credit by johnnyberg.

• Unfortunately, we do judge books by their covers. Back when you were around 5 years old or so, you learned to read. And the format you followed was very simple: top-to-bottom and left-to-right. So, what do you think is the most looked at section on your website? That’s right, it’s the top left-hand corner. And we didn’t even need an expensive eye-tracking survey to prove it! What does your hot corner look like? Do I know what you do from the imagery or logo? Or are you leaving it up to me to figure it out?
• Don’t make me think. When your first visitors show up, do they have to think about what you do, or where you are or how to contact your business? If this is the case, they’re probably hitting the back-button very fast. Don’t get funky with your page navigation – do what everyone else does: buttons down either the right or left side, or across the top (or some combination of these). And keep the navigation simple – let each button expand if there are multiple pages below it.
• If you sell something, tell me what to do. It’s not only critical to include your phone number on all pages, but you’ve got to tell me what to do, and why I should do it. For example, if you’re an attorney, and you offer a consultation, telling me to “Call now for a free consultation” makes me want to call and get it.
• Above the fold first. Back in the day, advertisements were sold based not only on the page, but where they were physically on the page. The best spots were “above the fold” – those sections you’d see if the newspaper were folded in half. Today, that “fold” line is the bottom of your browser screen. Think to your website – what do I see before I have to scroll down? Place your most important information, your call-to-action and your phone number very prominently above the fold for maximum impact.
• There is a line between just enough and too much content. In today’s attention deficit society, too much content on any one page causes our minds to wander. Gone are the days when paragraph after paragraph of right and left justified text ruled. Today, content that works is like a news story – most important information first and lots of bullet points. If you have long content pages, break them up into easier to digest chunks.
• Credibility and personality. When we come to your website, we need to quickly come to a conclusion that you’re a) legitimate and b) have a personality. Logos from business associations, awards, pictures with local flair, landmarks listed on your Maps & Directions page, etc. all help us understand who you are and what’s important.
• Polished and waxed. Works just as well for websites as it does expensive sports cars. You can always tell how much the business owner cares by how well polished the website looks. Content that’s easy to read, words spelled correctly, colors and schemes that resonate with your business, images that match your clientele, etc.

No website is perfect, but if you follow these guidelines, you’ll likely see better results, more leads and happier customers.

Photo credit by elessar_x.

Questions You Should Answer First

• What are my goals? Better positioning on search engines is an “ok” goal. But it’s more valuable to you if the goals are specific (and realistic), such as “20% more inbound leads” or “50 requests for more information per month.”
• How will I measure the success of this campaign? I work almost exclusively with law firms, and it’s common for lawyers to want double or triple firm revenues as a result of an SEO campaign. But in nearly all cases, this isn’t realistic, since contested matters could take many months or even years to yield fee revenue. Instead, refine your goals a step further and look at total number of cases or files working as a good indicator of success (at least early in the campaign).

Questions Good Consultants Will Ask You
There are hundreds, if not thousands, of people selling SEO just looking to get rich quick. Most don’t have a clue about your business and very few even understand the basics of website optimization. The best, most capable consultants will ask questions like these:

• How much can you afford to pay for a lead, subscriber, download, etc.?
• What’s worked best (and least) in the past to generate the above?
• How will you measure the success of this campaign? The consultant is looking for realistic, measurable goals, which you’ll have already prepared.

Questions to Ask Your SEO Consultant
Finally, the time has come for you to examine the qualifications of the consultant. Ask some or all of these questions to help make your decision the right one:

• Do you have proof of your work? You’re looking for the consultant or vendor to have or quickly produce client testimonials, case studies, and sample rankings for firms similar in size and scope as yours.
• What results can I reasonably expect? And how long will it take? Demand to see or have prepared a detailed game plan. Get vague responses explained., and avoid any consultant or vendor promising specific placements (e.g. “We guarantee first place results for keywords on Google”).
• What is your experience in my industry? Work with a specialist. You wouldn’t go to a general practitioner for your heart condition, and neither should your law firm or other professional practice go with an all-purpose vendor.
• What techniques do you use to achieve results? What is the overall strategy? Anyone who mentions “meta-tags” as their first answer should be shown the door. You really want to hear them say things like “produce high-quality content” or “develop relevant inbound links within your industry.”
• When do I get updates? How often do you communicate to me? Who can I call with questions? At minimum, monthly reporting on progress and monthly reports on positions achieved should be the norm. And every program should have a point-person or main contact person, since most vendors use a team of specialists, strategists and analysts to fulfill your objectives.

Armed with these questions, you’re certain to catch most consultants (even the good ones) off-guard. Listen carefully to the responses, and if you get resistance, move on.

Photo credit by svilen001.

The problem? Most businesses never reach their full potential because they fail to realize that websites are employees – employees that work to gather leads 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. The sooner you realize this, the closer you’ll be to reaching a new level of success; one that comes from possessing a global presence, a constantly networking and marketing tool, and a full-service establishment that serves your customers and potential clients effectively all day, every day.

Used properly, a website will change your online destiny and heighten your understanding of what your clients expect from you as a professional company, and, scary to say, what many of your competitors could well already know: websites have an enormous amount of power, both online and offline.

Your task is to harness this power in a way that works for you, and it starts by changing your mindset on what a website is, and why you either need one, or need to proactively put the one you already have to work. Consider this: radio took 37 years to get 50 million listeners. TV took 15. The Internet did it in less than 3 years. In today’s ultra-competitive economy, a website is your way of being heard.

First, your website acts as a customer service representative. Websites can provide customer service for your company like no other employee on your payroll. What other employee do you have that works non-stop, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, every day of the year, for year after year after year? So leverage your website for what it’s great at: providing useful information about your business, such as your services and procedures. Recent news about your company or industry that may interest potential customers also can be posted to your website and updated regularly. Your website can and should provide unparalleled customer service on your behalf.

Second, your website acts as a public relations manager. Websites communicate who you are and help you connect with potential customers. Regardless of whether you’re locally famous or not, your website can make you known globally. By providing clear definitions, information and articles in simple terms everyday people understand, your website can make you more money and attract new customers. Not to mention the potential for making a more personal connection with people by including online professional biographies. A website thrives on attention, and when others reference it, link to it, and love it for providing what they’ve been desperately searching for, it shines brighter than ever, attracting yet more attention. By using your website and the knowledge you currently posses, you can become “the” expert who not only understands your own business, but how to communicate that understanding into the practical, hard-and-fast information surfers seek out.

Third, your website acts as a document provider. Websites can make the lives of your customers and staff easier. Ever faxed or mailed a form to a customer that they could easily have filled out online? Allowing your website to provide forms, general paperwork and documents with your company letterhead already in place saves everyone time and money. Your administrative staff will thank you, too, when you use your website to reduce both unnecessary office traffic and time spent needlessly explaining general documents. Do your clients and yourself a favor by providing forms, general paperwork and documents online.

Fourth, your website acts as an intelligence-gathering tool. We would all like to know what our customers are expecting from us before they say it, and there is absolutely no better way to have this knowledge in-hand than to allow your website to perform a bit of intelligence-gathering on behalf of your business. In this manner, your website is able to gather information and provide you with powerful insight that will improve all aspects of your business – both online and offline. Through feedback forms, website analytics and surveys, your website can be your company’s perpetual covert intelligence agent, working around the clock to help you get to know your clients so you can better communicate with them.

Essentially, the costs associated with creating, maintaining and distributing a website are minimal compared to the ROI your company will receive. Where else can you find a single, consistent medium to provide your company with ongoing customer service, public relations, document delivery, and intelligence gathering, which is not only accurate, but also complete?

With your website working for you fulltime, your company can level the playing field with larger competitors. A valid website will expose you and your company to global markets, while complementing the work you are already performing offline. By tapping the power of your website, you have hired an employee that never needs to be fired and that works just as hard as you do.

• Who are you?
• Who do you help, and why?
• What should you spend?

Who are you?
Every business has something that makes it unique, which becomes the basis for your unique selling proposition (“USP”). Most consultants will have you examine your business, looking for ideas, but that takes away time from earning money. Here’s a trick — instead of trying to figure it out yourself, simply survey your currents clients asking them why they bought from you. You’re bound to find some gems from which to build your USP on. Once you’ve got your USP, integrate it in all your marketing efforts. You’ve got to stand for something in today’s marketplace.

Who do you help?
Begin by crafting a service description similar to this: I help (people, business owners, etc.) who have this problem (legal issues, leaky pipes, etc.) in this location (Dallas, Orange County, Utah, etc.). Show them how you serve their needs and their needs alone. The most important element of your business is your service description — not your signs, storefronts or office space. Add demographic questions to your business survey, and find out where your clients live, work, play, eat, what kind of car they drive, musical tastes — anything and everything to help you uncover patterns, which you’ll then use to laser-focus your marketing. Why do you get up each morning to help your clients? The answer to “why” helps your clients connect to you emotionally, which is on a much deeper level than price. Get the advantage and answer why!

What should you spend?
Marketing budgets are easier to express as a percentage of sales, but take the extra time and figure exactly what you should spend to acquire a new client. Three to five percent of gross annual sales is a rough starting point. Let’s say you have a law firm in Texas, and clients bringing in uncontested matters spend an average of $700 each time they see you. This client hires you twice a year for about five years. Simply put, the lifetime value of this client is $7000. If you only take 5% of this amount and apply it to your marketing efforts, you’d need to invest $350 to attract one new client. Then multiply this number times the number of clients you want to attract to create your budget.

Plan for success by drafting and documenting this simple, yet powerful, marketing plan. Writing it down forces you to think about your business and serves as a constant reminder. Refer to your plan often, and make minor course adjustments along the way. With plan in hand, set a timeline and begin implementing. As the saying goes, “most people don’t plan to fail, they fail to plan.”

But how do you get more testimonials for your service business? Instead of shackling your best clients to a desk, locking them in a room, giving them pen and paper, and coercing them to write (and write well!), try this strategy instead.

First, come up with a short list of questions your potential clients should ask of yours or similar services (make sure the questions emphasize benefits). For example:

• Is your service exclusive my industry or company?
• How often will you call or visit my team with updates?
• What type of guarantee do I get?
• What time commitments do I need to make?

And so on. Then, present this list along with a handful of current clients for your prospect to contact.

When your current clients are contacted for information — and let’s face it, it will be via email — they’ll be compelled to write back what looks like a well-written testimonial. The glicken (*) is when your current clients copy (‘cc’) you on this message. Voila! Instant testimonial.

This approach even helps your active clients further remember why they did business with you in the first place, and may spawn more referrals.

How would this strategy work for your business?