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Seductive interactions leverage the latest advancements in social science, psychology, and behavioral economics.

In November’s UIE Virtual Seminar, Stephen Anderson showed us specific examples of sites who’ve designed serendipity, arousal, rewards, and other seductive elements into their applications, especially during the post-sign up period, when it’s so easy to lose people.

He also demonstrated how to engage your users through a process of playful discovery, which is vital whether you make consumer applications or design for the corporate environment.

In the conversation, we tackle some of the questions we didn’t get to address in the seminar, and touch upon some other things that Stephen’s been thinking about: Gamification and Story.

Here’s an excerpt from the podcast.

“…I think that’s what you’re seeing a lot of is people taking their business app and “now with badges” or “now with points.” So, every time you comment on our website, you get points and so many points earn you a badge. Those are not the things that make a game fun.

If you talk to game designers, those things definitely are feedback on how you’re doing, but what makes the game fun is also the challenge, the autonomy, the mastery. These are the things that go inside of a game. Those points and badges are really signifiers or reinforcers of those challenges or things that let you know that you accomplished something.

In my workshop, the question I like to ask is “What makes something a game?” and “What makes something fun?” Those are kind of two paired questions I ask. When I say what makes something a game, we start by brainstorming as many different kinds of games as we can.
So, that includes everything from hopscotch to chess to tic tac toe to World of Warcraft to Tetris.

I take a very broad view of games. In fact, we even include things like investing and education. We say, OK, what are the common patterns or the common themes that make these games.
If you look at it, in all these cases there’s a challenge or a goal. There are often artificial constraints, so limited resources or limited time, things like that. There’s also feedback loops along the way to let you know how you’re doing. Those can come in the form of reports or points and badges or whatever it is that’s really that feedback on the goal.

I think with gamification, you’re seeing a lot of people giving feedback or points for no real goal, no real thing that’s important. So, anyway, we talk about what makes something a game. Then we shift and ask what makes something fun? I have a series of 10 questions I ask, why do we enjoy watching the show “Lost? Why do we enjoy scratching off lotto tickets?

All these questions like that, they’re really trying to get at the feelings that we feel and what makes something fun. Then I turn around and ask, OK, how can we create these same feelings in our applications?

When people think of fun they think of positive stuff and a lot of times what makes something fun is things like anxiety, having a little bit of anxiety about something, suspense. All these things that aren’t necessarily positive or we don’t think of right away as positive things, but they actually make something fun…”

Listen to the podcast to hear Stephen answer these questions as well:

• How much “fun” can academic websites be without losing the professional look?
• Does negative reinforcement have any role?
• What books do you recommend on social psychology, social design and neuroscience cognitive seduction?
• Do you see parallels between seductive design and seducing women, and did the ideas of the “pickup” influence you in your thinking?
• Do you have any seductive sign up form examples?

As always, if you have any thoughts or questions, please feel free to share them in our comments section.

Note: Thanks to a lousy connection, the quality of the recording varies throughout this podcast. If you find points difficult to hear or understand, we do have a full transcript available.

Today, UIEtips features two amazing speakers, Bill Scott and Stephen Anderson. Both speakers strongly fit what we think is an ideal presenter. We extracted excerpts from their Web App Masters Tour talks and created podcasts. These talks are loaded with useful information to implement when designing web applications.

Bill Scott’s podcast, Designing Interesting Moments: Live!, delves into one of the principles he covers in his talk: input where there’s output. He gives us great examples of patterns and anti-patterns and how it effects the user’s interaction with the application.

Listen and learn more about Bill’s podcast, Designing for Interesting Moments: Live!

Stephen Anderson’s podcast, Designing Seductive Business Apps: Live!, looks at incorporating behavioral psychology into your design. He discusses three concepts: scarcity, set completion and the feedback loop and how it all plays into a user’s psyche and actions.

Listen and learn more about Stephen’s podcast, Designing for Seductive Business Apps: Live!.

Bill and Stephen cover a lot more material in their talks on the Tour. You still can hear them, plus 7 other Masters, at one of the two remaining Tour stops taking place on both sides of the US, Philadelphia or Seattle. Explore the whole program at www.UIETour.com.

Until May 31, register for Philadelphia or Seattle and get $100 off when you use the promotion code TOURBLOG. Learn more about the tour at www.UIETour.com

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It’s becoming common to see behavioral cues in everyday web applications. Designers are looking to encourage certain actions, and are turning to the principles of behavioral psychology to achieve their goals. No longer solely the domain of social and gaming apps, you can leverage many of these in your daily work.

Stephen Anderson is the first person we think of when it comes to these kinds of interactions. Stephen is an independent consultant and creator of the Mental Notes, a set of reference cards with design insights from the world of psychology.

Stephen is one of the most popular speakers at the Web App Masters Tour and we want to share a sample of his talk, Designing Seductive Business Apps. In this portion of his talk, he presents three concepts: Scarcity, Set Completion and the Feedback Loop.

[ Download the complete set of this section's slides and follow along. (6MB PDF) ]

Scarcity

Scarcity is a concept we’re all familiar with. When something desirable is rare—like gold—the more valuable it is. When someone is considering the purchase of something, its availability is an important factor in the decision.

Set Completion

Set Completion is something we see all around us. When was the last time you saw a fast food ad where the restaurant was offering a give away? Collectible glasses and kids meal toys are two common ones. Usually there are several different version of the giveaway, and you’re encouraged to “Collect all five!” The closer we are to having a full set, the stronger the urge to complete the set.

The Feedback Loop

The Feedback Loop is essentially “cause and effect.” When we see our actions have an immediate effect on a situation, we are likely to become engaged. Have you ever walked in front of a TV display at a retail store and noticed you were on the TV? It probably stopped you in your tracks. In web apps, the more immediate the effects of our actions are seen, the more engaging the interaction can be.

Thanks to Luke (by the way he’s also one of the Masters) we’re republishing his blog posts on the Web App Masters Tour. Besides providing excellent summaries of our Tour, his blog has some great posts that are worth exploring. Be sure to check out his writing.

This first summary is on Stephen Anderson’s talk; Designing Seductive Business Apps. His talk was interactive, fun, engaging, and educational. You can still catch Stephen’s talk at the Web App Masters Tour in Minneapolis, Philadelphia, and Seattle. Look for a special promotion code at the end of this post for a discount. Learn more about the Tour at www.UIETour.com.

And now, here’s Luke’s summary.

Stephen Anderson’s Serious Play: Designing Seductive Business Apps talk at the Web App Masters Tour in San Diego, CA outlined how principles from psychology could be used to motivate Web application users.

• Seduction: the process of deliberately enticing a person to engage in some sort of behavior
• What motivates people to change their behaviors? Increasing motivation = psychology. Removing friction = usability
• People react to game mechanics within Web apps (badges, points, etc.) as skeptics, cynics, or enthusiasts. But why do they work?
• Motivating human behaviors through psychology is timeless. When the points system may become old and tired but core psychological motivators will still matter.
• Putting psychology principles into action… First, Second, translate problems into behaviors to change. Third, decide what things might encourage that behavior

Examples of Psychological Motivators

• Fun: can change behavior for the better (examples at thefuntheory.com)
• Scarcity: we infer value in something that has limited availability or is promoted as being scarce. When you see supplies are low, you are encouraged to take action. Examples: limited tickets left, limited amount of points to allocate, limit amount of characters, etc. The more of an incomplete picture you see, the more you want to see the rest of the image.
• Set completion: desire to compile a complete set of items.
  Ownership bias: want to ensure representations of you are accurate.
  Social proof: people tend to follow the lead of others when they don’t know what they should do.
• Recognition over recall: do not ask to recall things, let people recognize through visual presentations.
• These principles are going to be available as a card set of 50 insights that can be used as an easy reference and brainstorming tool. Each card describes one insight into human behavior and suggests ways to apply this to the design of Web sites, Web apps, and software applications. Learn more at Get Mental Notes

Examples on Web Apps

• LinkedIn profile completeness meter: gives you indicator of what you can do to get complete. Works because of levels, challenges, and our innate need for completeness –psychology drives the interaction.
• Foursquare is a location check-in service. You earn points, mayorships, and badges on Foursquare for getting out and discovering places. These game mechanics are in place on many sites like Stackflow, Foodspotting, and the 160 (for music).
• Collecting (badges), ownership bias & lose aversion (mayorships), feedback loops (immediate response for doing things –points), curiosity (when do you get badges & why), status (leaderboards are a sign of status), variable rewards (unsure when things will be given to you), and limited duration.
• In Cubeless you need to gather points to unlock ability to add photos, etc. 60-70% of Sabre employees use Social Q&A system. 60% of questions are answered within one hour, each question receives an average of 9 answers. Status, feedback loops, privileges, limited duration, and reciprocity are all in use on Cubeless.
• Game mechanics can help train people on software. Palm Pilot had a game called Giraffe –which worked like Space Invaders but with graffiti characters. Had to write correct characters as they fell. Microsoft released an app called Ribbon hero. You score points for using Word and play challenges that help you learn new skills. The system has hints to help you get points.

More on Seductive Interactions

Want to learn more on seductive interactions? Listen to an interview with Stephen that Jared Spool did back in January. You can also hear him in-person at the Web App Masters Tour in Minneapolis, Philadelphia, or Seattle. Until April 19, you can register for any of the Tour cities for $795 when you use the promotion code TOURBLOG. Learn more about the tour at www.UIETour.com

Recently, we’ve been hanging out with Stephen Anderson. Stephen makes it his business to explore how serious applications can be fun and engaging. The more we talk to him, the more examples we see of fascinating and novel approaches to entice people to use our designs.

In today’s UIEtips, we explore some of Stephen’s thinking with a fresh look at how the elements of game play can serve our business requirements. We look at examples from four businesses to see different approaches to integrating the elements of play into great user experiences. I’m sure you’ll find it interesting.

Read Stephen’s article, Designing with the Elements of Play.

Stephen’s discussion of Serious Play was one of the highlights of the recent San Diego stop on the UIE Web App Masters Tour. Today’s article is just the tip of the iceberg — he has way more insights than we can fit here. Don’t miss them (or the other great Web App Masters) in our upcoming stops in Minneapolis, Philadelphia, or Seattle. Details at UIETour.com.

Have you experimented with game play in your applications? We’d love to hear your experiences? Share them below.

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How can we design systems that encourage the behaviors we want?

One of the bleeding edge ideas we’ll be talking about at the UIE Web App Masters Tour is adding motivation to web applications. How do you encourage user behavior through the design of your web app? It may initially sound a bit far-fetched, but there’s an industry that’s been shaping its customers’ behavior since the beginning: the gaming industry.

Stephen Anderson

Stephen Anderson is a consultant and a thought leader on the idea of motivating user behavior through design. He and Jared Spool sat down sat down for a discussion as part of our series of interviews with the Web App Masters.

Stephen’s developing a deck of cards to aid designers in brainstorming their designs, with consideration to behavioral cues. He calls them Mental Notes Stephen says,

“We focus on things like visual design, usability, or the information architecture and we forget about, ‘Oh yeah, there was that thing about gifting or curiosity or the peak-end rule.’ This is really a way to apply intention, or a way to intentionally remind people to use some of these, or try to leverage these.

These are ideas about human behavior and how humans respond to different ideas or different stimulus. So my idea is why aren’t we applying these to web design? We’re applying them to marketing, to retail, to interpersonal relationships, and to dating.

A lot of these ideas are nothing new, but I think we’re just now reaching the point where we’re thinking more consciously about how can I apply something like recognition over recall to web design?”

Stephen also gets into how we can use these persuasive or seductive ideas into shaping the initial engagement a web app has with its user.

“Attention is so scarce today that people spend 30 seconds on something, and they might not see the value or see why it could be useful to them in those 30 seconds. So my focus started shifting from the product itself to that initial engagement, that initial interaction, and how do we make that first experience a lot more seductive, so people stick around long enough to see that you really do have something worthwhile here?

Going back to real world analogies, think about if you were doing those not with a system online, but with a human. The human could be very straightforward, very to-the-point, in asking the questions, or that human could be very personable, and maybe crack a joke, or ask you how you are doing, do these things to be more personable. …why can’t these systems adopt some of those similar ideas?”

Stephen mentioned an internal corporate knowledge-sharing web app that he was involved with. The company used a lot of game-type incentives to encourage employee participation, but many of the most successful attributes are some of the most counter-intuitive. For example, to add content to some pages, employees had to “pay”. And this encouraged participation. They paid with points they accumulated doing other tasks within the system, like answering co-workers’ questions. Employees would attempt to answer the questions first so they could gain points before someone else beat them to it.

“…they described, in very qualitative ways, how you earn karma (“points” in this example) and how you get better at this game or this system. But they were not explicit with what activities you do and how many points you get for each. And I think that was very smart.”

We appear to be at the very cusp of adding psychology and a touch of gaming into web apps. From the friendly copy tone on Flickr to the full-on game strategy employed in Stephen’s example, it’s clear there’s a lot of potential here. You’ll want to listen to the entire interview and of course, you’re not going to want to miss Stephen present his talk, The Art & Science of Seductive Interactions, at our UIE Web App Masters Tour. It’s going to be impressive.

Stephen Anderson is just one of the incredible speakers we’ll be hosting during the Web App Masters Tour. Learn more about our locations dates and speakers at UIETour.com.

Are you building your web apps with an eye towards motivating specific behaviors? Let us know in the comments!

Here’s the facts:

We’re going to 4 cities between March and July, 2010: San Diego, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, and Seattle. We love these cities for the vibrant tech communities.

We’ve put together a team of leading designers of today’s top web-based applications. We call them the Masters. In each city, we’ll have them unleash two days of inspiring presentations. These folks are the best in the business and we’re thrilled you’ll get the chance to learn first-hand from their experience.

Who are the Masters?

I can tell you about two of them today:

Doug Bowman

What do Google, Wired, Blogger, Capgemini, Mighty Goods, and Adaptive Path all have in common? They’ve all seen the fine work of Doug Bowman, one of the most influential designers on the web. Now, Doug is the Creative Director of Twitter, where he’s helping change the world, one hundred and forty characters at a time. Doug will be sharing his design experiences at the San Diego and Seattle tour locations.

Stephen Anderson

Stephen gave a mind-blowing presentation at the 2009 IA Summit. He discussed how the basics behind game mechanics can help users become more engaged in other types of applications. The minute I walked out of his talk, I knew we had to have him at one of our events. His writing at PoetPainter.com, his presentations, and his work for clients, such as Nokia, Frito-Lay, Sabre Travel Network, and Chesapeake Energy all demonstrate the new insights he brings to application design. We’re thrilled that he’ll be presenting his thoughts in all four cities.

By the way, I’ll be opening and closing each of the events, so you’ll have a chance to hear from me, in addition to Doug, Stephen, and the other presenters we’re lining up.

We’re putting everything about the event at www.uietour.com. Stay tuned for more news…