User engagement: a set of exercises to increase conversion

There are far fewer differences between the person you like and the site that interests you than you might expect.

To deal with this, let's recall how we communicate with other people in the real world.

Three tools can be identified with which we interact with others (depending on how close they are to us and how close communication we are interested in):

  • eye contact
  • verbal contact
  • physical contact.


In the same way, using the same techniques, we "develop relations" with the site.
Here we need to understand an important thing: everything with which we can communicate in one way or another (that is, receive a feedback in response to our actions) we subconsciously equate to another living being with a similar way of thinking. Hence the habit of conducting philosophical conversations with a non-working device, hence the desire of our ancestors to give a human face to natural and physical phenomena, hence even emoticons.
After all, it is much easier to find a common language with another person than with an unknown soulless contraption, right?

Eye contact



Returning to our communication tools: it all starts with evaluating external data. For the web, this is a general impression of the appearance of the page; Particular attention is paid to illustrations.

The answer to the following questions will help us to get a general impression of the site :

  1. What do we see first?
  2. What is the most important thing on the page? Attention! The answer to this question should coincide with the previous one; if it doesn’t match, it’s bad somewhere.
  3. Is there anything distracting or confusing?
  4. Where do we think we should go next?


It is desirable that a group of five to ten people answer these questions. And this should not be the developers of the project, since during the work on the site they probably managed to plunge into the depths of delirium to memorize how it works, even if it works contrary to logic.

The most common errors on the pages:
  • excess links
  • non-obvious or unusual names (“search” or “quick search” instead of “search”),
  • too much variegation (with the optimal number of anchors per screen - 3),
  • poor navigation or its complete absence.


With respect to illustrations, there are at least two opposing points of view .

The former declared war on "boring illustrations." Representatives of this direction as a visual rhyme for the concept of "business automation" may well choose pineapple. Because it is non-banal, beautiful and tasty, which means it causes positive associations. Isn't that what we need to better sell the product?

The point of view of the second side is as follows: the visual should be logically connected with all other material on the page.

Here is a quote from the web dogma of FatDUX , the usability evangelist:

Anything that is irrelevant within the context of the page must be eliminated.
Everything that is not directly related to the content of the page should be deleted.

That is, the moral right to use photos of cute puppies on the main page appears with the designer only if the site sells puppies, or if the doggie is a mascot of the company.

My position is the arithmetic mean between both approaches: there must be a connection between illustrations and everything else, and moreover, it must exist not only on the emotional plane. A good example is illustrations, where the picture is a complete, thoughtful image that evokes associations of both an emotional and logical nature.
For example: You

image

can see enough on adme.ru under the heading "Prints in bulk . "

And now - the most interesting. Let's talk about specific tools for communicating with the user through the visual.

Number 1 on the list is a human face . Photos of people (and even their stylized images) have natural magnetism, representing a seductive visual anchor. Regardless of whether the face is beautiful or not, we will catch hold of it with a look and spend some time studying. It works even on babies and monkeys!
If you are submitting a resume with a photograph, there is a greater likelihood that they will be considered. If you are selling yogurt with a happy white-toothed family on its label, this will be at least one of the factors why they buy it: people subconsciously try to buy not only the product (yogurt), but also the attributes that surround it (happiness, a strong family, health, beauty).
Moreover, having a person’s face in the zone of attention, we are more open to the perception of new information. We crave connections with other people.
That is why it is very important to carefully select the photo, because the shades of facial expressions may not cause the very result that we expected. For example, a playfully smiling secretary on a page with contact information may cause a feeling that the office is not serious enough. But the same picture on page 404 can brighten up the loneliness of a confused user, especially if it is accompanied by a simple, or even witty, instruction for further actions.

Not quite a secretary, but also nonsense - 404 on zeldman.com:
image

Further in our arsenal of type illustration was / was .
Everybody remembers from the picture “find 10 differences” from childhood? Such a visual has two advantages: a playful form of perception and a striking effect between the past, dull, and the present, improved.

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So we came to another attention management tool: an unexpected visual .

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Note to Bene: “unexpected” does not mean “illogical”. Here we are talking more about things
  • which we rarely see
  • which we did not expect to see in specific conditions,
  • which are shocking,
  • ... or very nice.


The task in this case is to evoke bright, strong emotions, or curiosity. It is on this instrument that lovers of “unconventional” visuals most often go.

Verbal contact



Jacob Nielsen says : users do not read. They are browsing.
Typical pageviews are the letters E (attentive user), G (fast user), or F (this viewer is most common).

image

Typical behavior in this case: the user looks at one or two top lines, then goes down a bit and looks at a couple more lines, this time reaching approximately to their middle. Then his gaze moves vertically, snatching words from the left side of a column of text.

How can we use this?
  • Put the most important information in the top lines.
  • Avoid long texts. The more lines, the less likely they are to be read.
  • Start paragraphs with good points, so they have a better chance of being read.
  • If the “sheets” cannot be avoided and you need to draw attention to something inside the text, make sure that the user's eyes stumble over something. For example, lists can be a good solution.


We all love specific numbers and countable expressions. Most is how much? About 60% is already better, and even better - 63%.

Try to use simple phrases, avoid participles and do not talk with unfamiliar uncles.

... And it’s not worth it with aunts either. The text on the site should be designed for your target audience . So, if you just read the Encyclopedic Dictionary-Reference of the head of the enterprise, and your target audience are young mothers, keep your great knowledge secret until a more suitable project.

I will not delve into the topic of good copywriting now, just tell you what to read for a general understanding of the issue:
David Ogilvy “On Advertising” by
Joe Vitale “Hypnotic Advertising Texts”
Alan and Barbara Pease “Language of Writing”

To create effective techniques for working with text, we focus on:
  • Attention. The user likes to be the center of attention. Or more carefully: loves when they take care of him.
  • Friendliness. People prefer to communicate with other people, rather than technology; love to see their name (or nickname).


An extremely successful example is dirty.ru with their personalized phrases.
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System messages that the user can configure for himself is also a big deal.
For example, a message about authorization on diary.ru welcomes the author in a way that is pleasant to him.
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Physical contact



Touch, a sense of space and your position in it is one of the main elephants on which our perception stands. And therefore, one of the basic needs. This is a thing that calms us down and gives us confidence: everything is in order, we know where we are and imagine where to go next.
On the Internet, we have no way to lean on the die or touch the buttons on the order form.
So what to do about it?
It’s the same as always: to create the feeling that the Internet space obeys the laws of the physical world, and introduce a certain system of guidelines by which the user can determine his position on the site.

Three principles will help us with this:
  • Interactivity All elements that can be interacted with must have states.
  • Informational content . There should not be extra elements. If you can remove an element without harming the information content of the page, then you need to remove it.
  • Intuitiveness . There should be no elements that could mean anything else.


Do not forget to endow objects on the page with attributes of objects from the real world, for example:
  • textures on buttons and dies, thanks to which it seems that the element is made of some kind of material;
  • reflexes to adjacent surfaces from an object that seems glassy;
  • the ability to change shape, size or position depending on what you do with it.


Remember, your task is to simulate reality, but not simple, but comfortable .

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