Nathalie Nahai - The psychology of persuasive content (The Inbounder)

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#THEINBOUNDER @NATHALIENAHAITHE WEB PSYCHOLOGIST LTD.
THE SECRET
PSYCHOLOGY
PERSUASIVE CONTENT
of

What’s the purpose of content?

TRUST
• Grab (and hold) attention from the right people

TRUST
• Provoke the desired emotional response(s)

TRUST
• Provoke the desired emotional response(s)
• Convert this into a mutually beneficial action

So how do you do it?

1
DECISION-MAKING

DECISION-MAKING
R. Carter (1999) Mapping the Mind. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Where thought conflicts with emotion,
the latter is designed by the neural
circuitry in our brains to win
“ ”

DECISION-MAKING
Park, J., Lennon, S. J., & Stoel, L. (2005). On-line product presentation: Effects on mood, perceived risk, and purchase intention. Psychology & Marketing,
22(9), 695-719.
“ ”
Positive moods lead to lower perceived
risk and increased purchase intention

To create a positive emotional state,
it helps if people trust you

TRUST
Simpson, J. A. (2007). Psychological foundations of trust. Current directions in psychological science, 16(5), 264-268.
The single most important ingredient
for the development and maintenance of
happy, well-functioning relationships
“ ”

TRUST
Lack of trust is the biggest
impediment to successful e-commerce
and interpersonal relationships

One way to establish trust is to anchor yourself
in your values & express them business-wide

VALUES
http://www.forbes.com/sites/larissafaw/2014/05/22/millennials-expect-more-than-good-products-services-to-win-their-loyalty/
More than 81% of millennials expect
companies to make a public commitment
to good corporate citizenship
“ ”

TRUST
• People need to feel safe

TRUST
• We need to feel understood

TRUST
• We need to feel understood
• We need to feel enabled and supported

One of the best ways to help people feel
these things, is to show homophily

HOMOPHILY
“Love of the same”
The tendency of individuals to associate
and bond with similar others
“ ”

HOMOPHILY
Chu, S. C., & Kim, Y. (2011). Determinants of consumer engagement in electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) in social networking sites. International journal of
Advertising, 30(1), 47-75.
“ ”
A homophilous source is
more likely to be perceived as credible,
trustworthy, and reliable…

HOMOPHILY
…The effectiveness of
communication from a homophilous
source may be greater
Chu, S. C., & Kim, Y. (2011). Determinants of consumer engagement in electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) in social networking sites. International journal of
Advertising, 30(1), 47-75.
“ ”

To leverage homophily, you have to
understand and mirror your audience

The stories we relate to the most are the
ones that reflect our own experiences

PERSUASIVE LANGUAGE
2

@NATHALIENAHAITHE WEB PSYCHOLOGIST LTD.
Our online behaviours reveal more than we think

PSYCHOGRAPHICS
Study and classification of people
according to their attitudes, aspirations,
and other psychological criteria
“ ”Oxford Dictionaries, 2015

PSYCHOGRAPHICS
Personality - Massive Facebook study
Kosinski, M., Stillwell, D., & Graepel, T. (2013). Private traits and attributes are predictable from digital records of human behavior. Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences, 110(15), 5802-5805.
Bollen, J., Mao, H., & Zeng, X. (2011). Twitter mood predicts the stock market. Journal of Computational Science, 2(1), 1-8.
Eichstaedt, J. C., Schwartz, H. A., Kern, M. L., Park, G., Labarthe, D. R., Merchant, R. M., ... & Weeg, C. (2015). Psychological language on Twitter predicts
county-level heart disease mortality. Psychological science, 26(2), 159-169.

PSYCHOGRAPHICS
Sentiment analysis - Predict stock market

PSYCHOGRAPHICS
Sentiment analysis - Predict stock market
Health - Heart disease mortality

The words we use and respond to can
expose our personality traits

PERSONALITY MATTERS
J. Hirsh, S. Kang and G. Bodenhausen (2012). Personalized Persuasion: Tailoring Persuasive Appeals to Recipients' Personality Traits. Psychological Science
published online 30 April 2012
Adapting persuasive messages to
personality traits… can be an effective
way of increasing the messages’ impact
“ ”

Personalities are complex - we all score
differently across combinations of traits

PERSONALITY TESTS
• Reliable

PERSONALITY TESTS
• Reliable
• Valid

PERSONALITY TESTS
• Reliable
• Valid
• Independent

PERSONALITY TESTS
• Reliable
• Valid
• Independent
• Comprehensive

The Big 5 
(a quick quiz)

DO YOU HAVE…
A high degree of intellectual
curiosity, creativity and a preference
for novelty and variety?
Costa, P. T. Jr., and McCrae, R. R. (1992). Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R) and NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI) Professional Manual.
Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources.
“ ”

1. Openness
THE BIG 5

OPENNESS
Innovation
Intelligence
Sophistication
Imagination
Creative

ARE YOU…
Organised, dependable and
self-disciplined? Do you prefer to plan
and aim for achievement?
“ ”

1. Openness
2. Conscientiousness
THE BIG 5

ARE YOU…
Energetic, positive, assertive & sociable?
Do you tend to seek stimulation in
the company of others?
“ ”

1. Openness
3. Extraversion
THE BIG 5

EXTRAVERSION
Strong
Outgoing
Active
Excitement
Attention

DO YOU HAVE…
The tendency to be compassionate
and cooperative rather than suspicious
and antagonistic towards others?
“ ”

1. Openness
3. Extraversion
4. Agreeableness
THE BIG 5

DO YOU HAVE…
The tendency to experience unpleasant
emotions easily, such as anger, anxiety,
depression, and vulnerability?
“ ”

1. Openness
3. Extraversion
4. Agreeableness
5. Neuroticism
THE BIG 5

NEUROTICISM
Safe
Reduce the anxiety
Uncertainty
Security
Protection

Who does this appeal to?

Specific words engage specific traits

You can research & segment your audience by
personality trait, based on linguistic patterns

If you want to design a trait-specific campaign…

TRAIT MOTIVATION

TRAIT MOTIVATION
Open

TRAIT MOTIVATION
Open Creativity & intellectual stimulation

TRAIT MOTIVATION
Conscientious

TRAIT MOTIVATION
Conscientious Efficiency & goal pursuit

TRAIT MOTIVATION
Extravert

TRAIT MOTIVATION
Extravert Excitement & social rewards

TRAIT MOTIVATION
Agreeable

TRAIT MOTIVATION
Agreeable Connection with family & community

TRAIT MOTIVATION
Neurotic

TRAIT MOTIVATION
Neurotic Safety & security

Useful tools to get started

TOOLS
1. Big 5 (IPIP-NEO): personal.psu.edu/j5j/IPIP

TOOLS
2. Various personality tests: discovermyprofile.com

TOOLS
3. From Facebook likes: applymagicsauce.com

TOOLS
4. From digital footprint: hogan-x.com

TOOLS
4. From digital footprint: hogan-x.com
5. Computerised text analysis: liwc.wpengine.com

There are also other psychological
ways to increase engagement…

OPTIMISING HEADLINES
3

What do you notice about the
words in these headlines?

They all use trigger words

TRIGGER WORDS
Weird
Surprising
Secret
Mystery
Effortless

TRIGGER WORDS
Weird
Surprising
Secret
Mystery
Effortless
Painstaking
Strange
Outrageous
Odd
Amazing

TRIGGER WORDS
Weird
Surprising
Secret
Mystery
Effortless
Painstaking
Strange
Outrageous
Odd
Amazing
Bizarre
Essential
Incredible
(It’s not what
you think)

You can use psychological principles to
get people to read, watch and share anything….

So how do you put it together?

Number / Trigger word
+

Adjective
+

Adjective
Keyword
+

Adjective
Keyword
Promise+

Adjective
Keyword
Promise
KILLER HEADLINE
+

EXAMPLE
Subject:

EXAMPLE
Subject: Frying eggs

EXAMPLE
You could write an article entitled:

EXAMPLE
-“How to fry an egg”

EXAMPLE
-“How to fry an egg”
-“Why I love frying eggs”

OR APPLY THE FORMULA:

“13 unbelievable ways you can fry a small egg with a sock”

number

number
trigger word

number
trigger word
adjective

number
trigger word
adjective
keyword

number
trigger word
adjective
keyword
promise

But isn’t this just clickbait?

ONLY IF…
You’re not offering value, or if you’re
promising more than you can deliver
“ ”

Persuasive content hooks and delivers value

Persuasive content hooks and delivers value
Clickbait hooks and doesn’t deliver value

ASK YOURSELF
What are the tangible benefits my
customers will get from this content?
“ ”

KEY TAKEAWAYS

KEY TAKEAWAYS
To create persuasive, emotionally engaging content:

KEY TAKEAWAYS
1. Establish trust through shared values & homophily

KEY TAKEAWAYS
2. Adapt your content to your customers’ personalities

KEY TAKEAWAYS
2. Adapt your content to your customers’ personalities
3. Psychologically optimise your headlines

THANK YOU!
@NathalieNahai
NathalieNahai.com

Nathalie Nahai - The psychology of persuasive content (The Inbounder)

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