Psychology
Conversion psychology: Why people click, hesitate and buy
Every visitor does five things: they see, feel, decide, act and remember. Below are the principles behind each step, with real examples, how strong the evidence is, and how not to misuse them. Let’s dive right in.
PS: Short on time? Start with social proof. It shows up on almost every page you’ll ever optimize.
See
What people notice, and what they filter out.
Coming in monthly releases: Cognitive load, Progressive disclosure, Mental models, Curiosity gap, Von Restorff effect.
Feel
Emotion, trust and risk shape whether people keep going.
Coming in monthly releases: Scarcity and urgency (and their ethics), Reciprocity, Authority bias, Aesthetic-usability effect, Risk reversal and guarantees, Emotional design.
Decide
How options, defaults and reference points steer choices.
Coming in monthly releases: Anchoring, Decoy effect, Framing effect, Choice overload, Default effect, Endowment effect, Nudges and choice architecture, Psychological pricing.
Act
Effort, friction and motivation at the moment of action.
Coming in monthly releases: Hick's law, Fitts's law, Commitment and consistency, Goal-gradient effect, Decision fatigue, Fogg behavior model.
Remember
What sticks afterwards and brings people back.
Coming in monthly releases: Zeigarnik effect, Peak-end rule, IKEA effect, Serial position effect, Picture superiority effect, Storytelling and narrative, Habit-forming design and its ethics.