# Design

Persuasive Design in UX: How Psychology Shapes User Behavior?

Red Rocket TeamDec 9, 20243 min read

Do you remember what most websites looked like 8-12 years ago? Looking at archived images with old websites, you can easily understand how digital technology has changed noticeably for the better. Nowadays, you can implement animations in the landing pages, add virtual reality (VR) elements to the website, as well as some other elements to interact with the users.

Actually, entrepreneurs who underestimate the possibilities of web design lose a significant part of potential customers. According to statistics, great design can increase profit margins by up to 32%. Sounds really awesome, doesn't it?

You may wonder what the design should be so that users make more purchases and increase the average bill. Undoubtedly, the design of a modern website needs to be compelling if you aim for success. This is a tactic that is often used in manipulation, so you should be able to find a clear line between bad and good persuasion. This article will answer your question of what is persuasive design and provide you with concrete examples to increase user engagement.

Definition and Core Principles of Persuasive Design

«Human mind is the most unpredictable machine in the world»

It is a famous quote from Broken Fourth Wall. Obviously, man is an unpredictable creature, and his actions are difficult to guess ahead of time. However, knowing some secrets of psychology, you can be a few steps ahead. Yeah, this trick is used today by most of the top marketers in their wor,k and it is called persuasive web design.

This is the website design that can influence a person because of behavioral factors. In simple words, professionals can create a portrait of the target customer and understand their psychology. This allows them to create a structure that will increase sales, conversions, or other targeted actions. Though it sounds like cheating a person, it is not. It's a smart use of knowledge about human psychology to help reduce the time spent searching for the things you need.

One of the main principles of persuasive design is to keep the customer's attention at any cost. That's why designers and marketers are constantly coming up with new solutions to increase customer engagement. The human mind also likes to ask questions when seeing something new. This is the reason why your website should immediately provide clear answers to your target audience.

The signs of a good web design are quite a lot and you should know each and every one of them. This will allow you to always have control over your target audience and understand how best to promote your own products or services on the vastness of the Internet.

Importance of Aligning Website Structure With User Goals

In persuasive web design, it’s important to align the website structure with users' goals to create smooth and compelling user interactions. Creating a thoughtfully designed website not only helps users quickly understand their objectives but also improves the user experience by making information and actions easy to discover.

A first user-centric structure uses the principles of persuasive architecture to prefigure the needs and behaviors of its visitors. Designers can create a subtle pathway to aid users in meeting common objectives by mapping out the user flows that correspond to either purchasing a product or subscribing to a service.

Moreover, the design in this structured method also includes psychology-based triggers to make users interested. All these are geared toward creating a persuasive space that encourages interaction without overwhelming a user in the process.

Since designers work with what a user wants to do, experiences come out to feel intuitive and responsive. Not only does this increase the likelihood of attaining business goals, such as growing sales, registrations, or maintaining loyalty from customers, but it also helps to build trust with those customers in the first place. This idea is about aesthetics. It’s also about the functional, efficient, impactful, and above all—aligned with the users’ goals and website structure.

Building Persuasive Websites: Tools of Persuasion in UX Design

As you may have already realized, persuasion is a broad concept that can encompass a variety of tactics, tools, and techniques in web design. For this reason, it is impossible to answer in one sentence how to create an optimal persuasive web design for a website. You have to recognize all the elements that make up persuasive websites.

1. Visual Hierarchy

Visually prominent points attract attention. Visual hierarchy is one of the most important principles of effective web design. It is the order in which the human eye perceives what it sees. For example, imagine you have several circles of different colors and different shapes in front of you. Which shape will you choose as your favorite? Most people will identify the largest circle as the most important position in the hierarchy because that's how our brain works.

Hierarchy is not only determined by size. It can also be manifested by color selection. Imagine that all the text in an online store has a white background and only the «Add to Cart» button is highlighted in yellow. This way designers effectively attract the attention of customers.

Also remember about the goals of your business. You need to arrange the elements on the site by importance depending on the purpose of your business. If you don't have a specific goal, you can't know what to prioritize more.

2. Social Proof

What do people do before placing an order and paying online? Surely, the opinions of other people, especially experts in the field, play a huge role in the choice of customers. That is why entrepreneurs often order advertising integrations from Influencers and celebrities to increase sales.

UX design and psychology principles guide the use of persuasive web design methodology with social proof as a powerful tool. Your user testimonials, ratings, and case studies attract trust and convince new users to use your product. Including these pieces allows users to feel trusted and secure when dealing with something digital, becoming physically separated from the product.

3. Call-to-Action

When a user is ready, a website should always contain a call to action button. Sometimes designers add a lot of stand out buttons on a single page and this is a common mistake. The user gets lost when they see a large number of highlighted and clickable elements and may choose the wrong one. The most important thing for you is that the user clicks on the call to action button, which implies the purchase of a product or service.

Persuasive Design Examples in Real-World Applications

Now it's time to look at case studies that will help you understand what web design should be for user engagement. There are actually quite a few websites and mobile apps where experts have done a good job of creating a persuasive web design. We have collected some persuasive design examples that you should know about.

Instagram

As you might have known Instagram is among the top apps in terms of the number of daily users. What's the secret behind it? According to research, users say that they like the app's design and interface. This is all thanks to the developers' ability to implement persuasive principles. There is a good visual hierarchy in this app, which allows even new users to navigate quickly. Another feature is the infinite scrolling recommendation feed, which allows users to spend more time in the app.

Steam

Steam is another program that is used by millions of people around the world. The designers managed to create an application in which newcomers can easily navigate and find the necessary page. The most important functions are highlighted with buttons of other colors and everything is divided into logical categories. Users can easily find the right game, recharge their account, add friends and much more.

Uber

Each of you has used the services of Uber mobile taxi app at least once. In Uber you can choose between several taxi fares including standard, business, preemption and so on. The ability to compare makes the user stay longer in the app and this increases the chance of a key action. It is much more effective when you use only one option available to the customer in the design.

Balancing Persuasion with Ethical UX Design

The psychology of design is a whole modern science that is studied by marketers and web designers. Sometimes web designers don't understand the line between persuasive design and manipulation, which some people may count as deception. Some websites and apps seem like they keep users literally hooked and that's not a good thing.

What do designers need to know? A balance between persuasion triggers and normal functionality is something you should strive for. Of course, designers should be able to keep the target audience engaged through visual appeal and other elements. However, this should not go overboard and contain a lot of dark patterns. These are forbidden techniques that are often used in UI/UX design for gain.

One of the popular dark patterns belongs to Microsoft. They often send users large notifications on the home screen asking them to upgrade their Windows operating system to the newest version. However, users have no response option to decline. They are offered only two choices - upgrade now and upgrade later.

Today, there is a wide variety of dark patterns and tactics through which companies increase their profits. In most cases, this is not fair to customers as they can be deceived. The section on legal tricks includes the influence of time frames. For example, you can make the inscription «Time left until the end of the discount...» so that customers want to make a purchase on a psychological level.

Final thoughts

It's important for designers to find the right balance between marketing goals and user needs. If you are able to create a truly compelling design that is in balance with the requirements of your target audience, you can achieve an increase in key metrics. In 2024, there are many UI/UX design trends that help increase user engagement. These are legitimate and honest tactics that you can use for digital projects.