Regardless of potential AI influences, the online channel will remain the most impersonal medium for any human with a need that needs to be fulfilled.
And in most instances, people like it that way. They want to be left alone to gather information and engage with various forms of content to satisfy whatever need he/she may have.
However, people want experiences to be architected so they can engage on their terms. Hence, Forbes coined the title “empowered consumer” a few years ago.
The “Science”
The science to planning and building intuitive journeys has been around now for decades. The clever people behind Jeff Bezos and Amazon were the early pioneers, and I had the privilege of working with them during this time.
In the early 2000s, we developed the digital sciences founded on Myer's Brigg's psychological principles, which diagnosed the science behind human behavioural motivations: what motivated people to behave in specific ways.
This science dates back to the 1920s, and dissected human motivations into four primary behavioural pillars...
- introversion or extraversion
- sensing or intuition
- thinking or feeling
- judging or perceiving
Of course, the digital behavioural sciences have evolved since then (as you will see below), but there was a great starting point from which to build.
To understand this science, one must recognise the power of the subconscious mind and its role in decision-making.
The Power of the Subconscious Mind:
Harvard School of Business Professors confirms…
90% to 95% of decision making which leads to online purchasing behaviours takes place in the subconscious
People are not as logical as one might think.
Defining the “Subconscious Mind”:
The subconscious mind is a fascinating and complex aspect of our mental processes that influences thoughts, emotions, and behaviours. Despite its importance in shaping our experiences, it remains largely unknown to our conscious awareness.
Do you remember trying to ride a bicycle for the first time?
Or how about typing on your laptop back in the early days?
The array of first attempts to synchronise a new set of complex actions is always tricky because the conscious mind is hard at work. However, once we become more skilled, these movements require less conscious awareness until everything begins to flow naturally (and subconsciously).
These movements, now automated, are guided by one of the most potent inner forces driving human behaviour….the subconscious mind.
Take this principle and apply it to a person who has a need (an intent to buy) and wants to buy online.
Suppose a business can create online journeys that sustain and empower the subconscious mind to remain in control of a person’s engagement behaviours. If this can be achieved, research proves behaviours can be nurtured to prompt actions a business wants people to take: buying online.
Mental Autopilot:
Think of the subconscious mind as a “mental autopilot”. The mind is working, but the cognitive effort is low.
This is where the term “cognitive load” comes from, describing the volume of working memory and cognitive resources needed to move from one (digital) step to another (“cognitive load” = mental effort).
Reducing Effort to Interact:
When designing online experiences that nurture online buying behaviours, two types of effort must be considered: Mental Effort (see above) and Physical Effort.
If you can reduce both, you are reducing “Interaction Cost”—the human cost of interacting with your website.
Interaction cost = Physical effort + Mental effort
Below are some examples of both physical and mental effort.
“Physical effort” is consumers….
- Scrolling up or down
- Clicking or tapping on links and functional elements
- Typing information into form fields
“Mental effort is defined as…
- Memory load – forcing people to remember information when trying to engage
- Trying to find information on a page
- Trying to read content
- Becoming lost on a site (why did I land here?)
- Waiting for pages to load (slow pageload speeds) – this pulls people out of mental autopilot
- Dealing with attention switches such as flashing banners
To create amazing online experiences, both physical and mental effort must be considered simultaneously.
One-Step Checkout example:
The one-step checkout was born from the idea of reducing physical effort. Make a checkout 1 step instead of 5. In doing so, the 1 step checkout increased mental effort because completing one long page on a mobile device increased mental effort, which is why it’s popularity is waning. The data proves it’s less effective.
Reducing interaction cost is the foundation of empowering the subconscious mind.
Applying the Science – leveraging Heuristics – psychological shortcuts:
A key method of empowering the subconscious mind is the elegant infusion of Heuristics throughout consumer journeys.
Heuristics Defined:
People always look for shortcuts to decision-making throughout the day to reduce cognitive load. Why?
The Harvard Business Review confirms that the average adult makes 33,000 to 35,000 daily decisions.
A Heuristic is a tool for applying “mental shortcuts” that people rely on to solve problems and/or make decisions. It’s a pragmatic method that is not fully optimised but is "good enough" to approximate a decision.
As a method of survival, the brain has instinctively constructed a “shortcut” system.
As the adoption of online information-gathering and online buying has grown, so has the brain’s instinctive processing of mental shortcuts to decide what to do and buy online.
Heuristics can be leveraged and embedded throughout retail and B2B journeys to promote engagement and buying behaviours.
Heuristic Example – Customer Reviews:
People will look at a product and not be sure it’s right for them. However, upon reading favourable customer reviews, the consumer will assume…
“If others love this product, I will love this product.”
This is what customer review content does to keep the subconscious mind in control.
That’s how it works!
Google has completed extensive research on the power of Heuristics and how it empowers the subconscious mind and alleviates journey friction.
We (Google researchers) found that people deal with scale and complexity by using cognitive biases encoded deep in their psychology.
Conclusion:
The planning and construction of digital journeys is no longer guesswork. There is a precise science and methodology that should be applied to give you a digital salesperson who can leverage known sciences to drive engagement and online buying behaviours of consumers you want to acquire.
And do this for you 24/7!
This article was as tagged as Best Practice , Customer Experience Design , Digital Strategy , Strategic Planning