Website design is not designing a product but rather, it is designing an interaction with the user.
With this in mind, a good user experience is being able to predict the behaviour of your users and through design you can positively influence their decision. Knowing basic human psychological principles allows us to do just that.
Here are the three common psychology principles you should have in your website:
1. Mirroring
Humans are good at imitating, ‘Monkey see, monkey do.’ Whether consciously or unconsciously most of the decisions humans make are an imitation of others. Hence, use human centered images in your website according to the mood you want to set. A happy person, a sad person, a person laughing etc. Your users will naturally get in the mood set by the imagery used in your website.
2. Social Validation
Making decisions can be mind tiring. The brain looks for the easiest way to make a decision about something. Hence you will find yourself doing something that everyone is doing. This is because it feels right.
Your website should have social proof. For example logos of trusted brands you’ve worked with and testimonials of people who have interacted with your brand.
In e-commerce, websites we use social proof such as ratings, reviews, and recommendations to attract other users and guide them in making their purchase decisions.
3. The psychology of color
We react emotionally to colors. It takes 90 seconds for a customer to form an opinion about a product and 90% of the time, this opinion is influenced by colors. color can have a profound impact, not only bringing a brand, product or design to life but also in a way to evoke certain feelings and potentially to even be used as a behavioral tool. Here are the basic colors and how people respond to them on your website.
Your website might be beautiful. However, if it does not influence your user to make the decision you want them to make on your website, it has failed to serve your business’ purpose.
