Susan M. Weinschenk's Blog, page 37

4 Reasons Why Online Video Is Compelling & Persuasive

Why is online video so compelling compared to text?

I’ve been in my video studio working on my new online video course (Designing For Engagement). It’s a lot of work to create my online video courses (through Udemy.com), but it’s also fun to work on them, and it’s exciting to have people taking and enjoying the courses.

It got me thinking again, about why online video is so compelling as a medium, and so while I was in the studio I made this short video “4 Reasons Why Online Video Is Persuasive”:

Here are the 4 reasons:

#1: The Fusiform Facial area makes us pay attention to faces

#2: Voice conveys rich information

#3: Emotions are contagious

#4: Movement grabs attention

What do you think? Do you find online video more engaging than reading text? Why do you think it is (or isn’t)?

How To Get People To Do Stuff: #4 — Does Money Make You Mean?

The mention of money, or seeing money changes how people behave and interact with each other. Watch the video and find out how:

Kathleen Vohs, a Professor of Marketing at the University of Minnesota has researched the effect that money has on people. She doesn’t even use actual money. It turns out that just the concept of money changes behavior.

Dr. Vohs concludes that the concept of money leads people to behave self-sufficiently. If you want people to be self-sufficient, then prime them with the idea of, or pictures of, money. If you want people to be collaborative and help others, then avoid the mention of, or pictures of, money.

For more information check out:

Kathleen D. Vohs, et al.

The Psychological Consequences of Money

Science 314, 1154 (2006)

and my new book (when it comes out in March 2013 — available for pre-order now at Amazon) How To Get People To Do Stuff

What do you think? Is money a good incentive to get people to do things or work harder?

 

 

How To Get People To Do Stuff: #3 — A Hard-To-Read Font Will Activate Logical Thinking

I am taking a chance here, because I know that the subject of fonts is always controversial, and if I say that you should use fonts that are hard to read I’ll be blasted by many of my readers! But I have to share this fascinating research on how mental processing changes in some surprising ways when people read text that is in a hard to read font vs. an easy to read font. Below is the video.

For more information check out:

Daniel Kahneman’s book Thinking Fast And Slow

and my new book (when it comes out in March 2013 — available for pre-order now at Amazon) How To Get People To Do Stuff

In a previous video on confirmation bias I talk about Daniel Kahneman’s idea of System 1 (quick, intuitive) thinking vs. System 2 thinking (slow, logical, analytical). Kahneman’s research shows that when a font is easy to read then System 1 thinking does its usual thing — makes quick decisions, which are not always accurate. When a font is harder to read, System 1 gives up and System 2 takes over. Which means that people will think harder and more analytically when a font is hard to read. I’m NOT suggesting you intentionally make fonts hard to read in the text you have at websites and in other places, but these findings do make me pause and think about whether we are all inadvertently or purposely encouraging people not to think about what they are reading.

Ok, let’s hear it! I know you will all want to weigh in on this one!

Get FREE Advice & Help Train The Next Generation

Would you like to get FREE advice on how to create a more engaging product, website, or app? Starting this January I will be teaching a semester course at the University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point, on “Designing for Engagement” in the Web and Digital Media Development department. In the class we will be using “real life” case studies for evaluation of engagement, re-design, and design. If you have a project/product that you would like evaluated or re-designed to be more engaging submit it for consideration as one of our case studies. You will receive free advice and you will be helping to train the next generation of designers.

Here’s what you need to submit:

Your Name:

Your Contact Info:

Brief Description of the product/website/app etc:

Brief Description of your engagement challenges:

Instructions of how we can access the product:

Who the product is for/users/visitors/intended audience:

What the users/visitors/intended audience want to do with the product:

What YOU want them to do with the product:

Let me know if you have questions, and thanks in advance for submitting your product for a possible evaluation and/or re-design/design