CXL Minidegree In Digital Psychology And Persuasion Review Part 5

Hey! This week I am back with my 5th review of CXL’s minidegree in Digital Psychology and Persuasion. You might notice from the first sentence that I am quite pumped up by this section. In fact, I am also super excited to present some of the knowledge I had learned from this week’s course: Nonconscious Motivation.

Before I jump straight into what I have learned from this course, let’s take a look at the aim of this course to teach us, marketers, on,

• present-day cognitive models contrasted against prior theories
• further analysis of Cialdini’s persuasion principles
• how to chemically incite motivation and how it applies to page design

By the end of this Medium post, you will know whether this course of the minidegree is worth your time or not.

Disclaimer: Since this course has an exhaustive list of knowledge only a few of the key areas will be covered and I will provide a review based on the entire course at the end of the post.

As usual, this course starts with the emphasis on the fact that our brain is always on default mode. Commonly referred to as System 1 throughout this course, this system is always unconscious, automatic needs low effort, and low energy. It’s quick, it doesn’t use logic and it tends not to use anything verbal or mathematic. Hence we marketers are always encouraged to be appealing to this system instead of System 2.

Why you may ask? It doesn’t help when compared to System 1, System 2 is the polar opposite which always has the conscious control, needs high effort. To be more precise, System 2 is our thought processes that use logic, verbal reasoning, and so on.

So it’s clear that it is easier to be appealing to System 1 which our brain’s common state and has a very low barrier to influence it compared to System 2.

Liking
According to Cialdini, liking is a technique that builds a mutual bond with your customer via flattery or discovering commonalities. In this section of this course, Roger introduces us marketers, the different ways to integrate ‘liking cues’ into the client’s website, along with tips on when and where they should be placed for a better conversion rate.

Before I dive into the examples Roger provides us with, let’s analyze why this principle works in the first place. This is because creating a likability will humanize the product or service itself. Humanizing your product or services will only boost your credibility and trustworthiness. Seasoned marketers knew that this deadly combo could drive up the conversion rate by roof.

So if you are a company that takes care of your client’s pet when they are busy, just use your clients @ the pets as your company front face. Slapping those cute little dogs on your homepage and about page is going to make you look much better, brings in those trust and confidence in you; even before you had earned it from those new webpage visitors.

That has been cast aside, there is another way to create likability which I am sure many of us feel awkward doing it. So what is it, that is awkward yet effective at the same time? Flattery. What happens when you and the potential client that you are reaching out to don’t have any common interest that both of you can relate to? You use flattery to impress that client. Even if the flattery was insincere they will remember you more.

Social Proof
Deep observation shows us that we humans are certainly creatures of opinion and our own opinions will always fit into the opinions of the vast majority. This course managed to educate its learners the importance of providing social proof to validate intrinsic desires or intrigue and incentivize action by eliminating doubt.

Feels like what on earth did I read shortly? Then let me explain it. In short,

Social proof=evidence that reduces fear and uncertainty among your buyers

Now let’s look at how social proof influences your buyers. Typically, a customer faces a lot of uncertainty when buying something online. Common uncertainty and fears are, is this a legit product, will I be scammed, or is the product is as good as being advertised?

Troubled potential buyers will look at other reviews to assess and make the final decision. From now on, it’s either them buying your product by being impressed by the positive review or abandoning the cart with the negative review they have read about your product or service.

So just remember, carefully curated social proof can boost your conversion rate while negative social proof can tank your sales.
However, if you have trouble in curating a good social proof, do a quick inventory using Angie Schottmuller’s CRAVENS.

According to CRAVENS, good social proof should be Credible, Relevant, Attractive, Visually stunning for the clients in an Enumerated form, Nearby your customer’s friction in buying and as Specific as possible.

In addition to that, structure your social proof as a business solution that solves your customer’s pain points that produces specific results. Generally, social proof structured using this approach is much more persuasive.
Now that I have covered a fraction of what I have learned from this course, it’s time for the verdict.

Have this course had achieved its aim in teaching the course learners on how to use present-day cognitive models that contrasted against prior theories for better conversion rate, to be critical of each of the persuasion principles by Cialdini, and to chemically incite motivation and understand how it applies to page design of a website?

Yes.

It has absolutely checked all the boxes it has provided. Let me sum up the knowledge I had gained from this particular course Nonconcious Motivation of the minidegree Digital Psychology and Persuasion in a list below.

1 .Always center your marketing efforts on appealing to the default mode of the brain, which is commonly known as System 1.
2. Creating likability can humanize your brand while securing the trust and confidence for you even before you had earned it
3. There is always a plethora of social proof available and you just need to do some quick inventory to discover it.
4. Genuine scarcity will boost the sales of your product or services.
5. Unity an extension of the principle likability is designed to rope in the customers automatically by allying them together you’re your brand to create the situation “us vs the problem”

So is this course worth your time? Absolutely yes!
Don’t forget to check out my next review next week.