Day: October 28, 2014

There was an interesting post recently on the Kissmetrics blog, “5 Psychological Principles of High Converting Websites,” that had some very interesting insights not just for website conversion but for overall product performance. Although I do not agree with all of these principles, understanding how your users think or play is crucial to success.

Law of pithiness

The article starts with the law of pithiness, in which people tend to order their experiences in a symmetrical, simple manner. They prefer things that are clear and orderly, and are afraid of complex, complicated ideas or designs. The law of pithiness leads to a design principle that I think is critical: The simpler your product or game, the greater its chances for success. If it is a game, every second of training or tutorial reduces the chance it succeeds. If it is a product, the easier it is to use and the simpler it makes the users life, the more powerful it will be. Uber is successful because it takes about 15 seconds to hail a taxi, set the destination and pay. Social casinos games are habitually in the top grossing because you download the game, click on a slot machine, and you are playing. The more complex or difficult the process, the less likely for success.

Law of past experience

This principle suggests people interpret current experiences by their past experiences. If you try to change the way they need to do things, they are likely to not understand or rebel. For example, in your shopping cart or buy page, you may have a clever attractive icon for people to buy, but they are more likely to make a purchase if you have a button that says buy now because they remember that is how they make a purchase. Also, if you have an existing product with a large user base, you may improve the product but lose many of your existing users because they are used to using the product in a traditional way. For many years, in the land-based slot machine business, even when the slots went digital and only needed the push of a digital button, they had to include a mechanical arm because that is how people felt they should play a slot machine. Continue reading “Psychology that can improve your metrics”