Persuasive Design Articles & Videos

  • The Hidden Why: Behavioral Economics for UX

    Use behavioral-economics frameworks to uncover hidden friction in your experience and design UX solutions that better support user action.

  • Clean the Sludge from Decision-Making Workflows

    Help users make choices they’ll be satisfied with to boost satisfaction and retention by simplifying decision-making workflows.

  • Psychology for UX: Study Guide

    Unsure where to start? Use this collection of links to our articles and videos to learn about principles of human psychology and how they relate to UX design.

  • Two Tips for Better UX Storytelling

    Effective storytelling involves both engaging the audience and structuring stories in a concise, yet effective manner. You can improve your user stories by taking advantage of the concept of story triangle and of the story-mountain template.

  • Autonomy, Relatedness, and Competence in UX Design

    Addressing these 3 fundamental psychological needs in our products increases user motivation and well-being. Users will be more engaged and more likely to use our designs.

  • 6 Rules for Persuasive Storytelling

    Stories build empathy and make the user needs and pain points memorable to your team. Effective stories speak the language of the audience, are rooted in data, and take advantage of compelling artifacts.

  • Interface Copy Impacts Decision Making

    The language used in interfaces influences the decisions that our users will make. Manipulative copy nudges users towards making choices that are against their best interests.

  • The Anchoring Principle

    People tend to focus on a single, initial piece of information, which influences how they estimate value and make subsequent decisions.

  • The Vortex: Why Users Feel Trapped in Their Devices

    Many users report anxiety and lack of control over the amount of time they spend online. We call this feeling “the Vortex.”

  • Prominence-Interpretation Theory

    Prominence-interpretation theory helps determine what shapes users’ perceptions of a site’s credibility.

  • The Principle of Commitment and Behavioral Consistency

    Getting users to make a small commitment and follow up on it can increase engagement with content.

  • The Authority Principle

    A perceived high-authority status of the person making a request can make people more compliant with that request. Applying this principle in UX can ease users' decision-making process.

  • First Impressions Matter: How Designers Can Support Humans’ Automatic Cognitive Processing

    The first visceral reaction to a site’s design influences how users perceive relevance, credibility, and even usability.

  • Counterfeit or Credible? UX Design for Authenticity in China

    In China, websites must work harder than in other markets to gain users’ trust. Displaying the company’s local presence, past client work, and being available to answer questions via online chat are critical.

  • Five User Requirements for Online Ads

    Adhering to user expectations and usability heuristics will ensure advertising content is delivered seamlessly and that brand image holds integrity.

  • Instilling Confidence in Online Shoppers: I Bought a Sofa Online and Good UX Sealed the Deal

    A stellar user experience focused on users’ question and needs can persuade shoppers to make big-ticket purchases online.

  • The Most Hated Online Advertising Techniques

    Modal ads, ads that reorganize content, and autoplaying video ads were among the most disliked. Ads that are annoying on desktop become intolerable on mobile.

  • Stop Shaming Your Users for Micro Conversions

    Manipulinks make users feel bad about themselves in order to convince them to accept an offer or sign up for a newsletter.

  • Prospect Theory and Loss Aversion: How Users Make Decisions

    When choosing among several alternatives, people avoid losses and optimize for sure wins because the pain of losing is greater than the satisfaction of an equivalent gain. UX designs should frame decisions accordingly.

  • Trustworthiness in Web Design: 4 Credibility Factors

    The methods that people use to determine trustworthiness on the web have remained stable throughout the years, even with changing design trends.