Nathalie Nahai is a Web Psychologist and best-selling author of ‘Webs of Influence: The Psychology of Online Persuasion‘ (Pearson).
With a background in psychology, web design and digital strategy, Nathalie coined the term ‘web psychology’ in 2011, defining it as ‘the empirical study of how our online environments influence our attitudes and behaviours’.
Nathalie helps businesses apply scientific rigour to their website design and content marketing, and has worked with Fortune 500 companies, design agencies and SME’s (clients include Google, eBay and Unilever).Web psychology is an umbrella term to the following fields of study:
3 secrets of online success according to Nathalie are:
- Know who you target
- Communicate persuasively
- Sell with integrity
Nathalie is a brilliant speaker. I am highly recommending you to watch the following two videos to get a taste of Web Psychology.
Web Psychology - Whiteboard Friday (12 min)
How to use psychology to make people click (46 min)
How to use psychology to make people click from The Web Psychologist on Vimeo.
Learn more about Web Psychology
My notes from the video above
To persuade online you need to talk to the following systems in human's brain.
Primal system
- The primal brain keeps us alive. Helps us figure out food and sex.
- Symmetry is attractive.
- Food pictures are persuasive.
- Motion attracts attention.
- Contrast and concrete.
- The end point of an experience will color entire experience.
Emotional system
- Responsible for decision taking, although we believe it must be rational.
- Humans attracted to faces.
- We tend to disbelieve when body language contradicts with what being said.
- Stories!12 steps hero's journey
- Scarcity and urgency
Rational system
- Helps us to plan, organize and problem solve.
- Help customers rationalize their choice.
- The social proof goes here.
- Product demos.
- People like me experiencing something I want to experience
The script to win online
- Research your audience
- Test your hypothesis
- Analyze and evolve
- (Repeat)