Motivation is one of the most widely used strategies to ensure that consumers buy a product. Unfortunately, it is also the strategy that is often used incorrectly. People quickly think of motivation as something you can create. We like to motivate consumers by telling them something new or something cool. As a company, it is virtually impossible to talk someone into a new motivation. It is more effective to connect with the consumer's personal goals and needs. 

I want to show you that the real power of applying motivation to your website is not in creating a new motivation, but in fulfilling your visitor's underlying goals. Underlying goals ... not something you think about every day. Fortunately, you can research this and the science helps you a little too! Read how to apply this knowledge to effectively use motivation and increase your conversion rate.

Motivation research

Researching your customer's motivation is difficult. Unfortunately, there is no “what motivates my customer?” meter (yet). And if we want to guess, our subject knowledge and jargon get in the way tremendously. Scientific research by Deci & Ryan (2000) shows that humans have three core goals that determine motivated behavior. If you know how to address these, then you're in the right place, because every human being has these goals. One is social connectedness. 

In the example below, I describe how social connectedness helped us at Hallmark.

Let it be known that you are thinking of someone

Hallmark sells (online) greeting cards and gifts. On the website you can choose a card, edit your card, possibly add a gift, and send everything to the recipient. Visitors come to the website to send a card. The basic need involved, of course, is social connection. 

In the first experiment, we showed that emphasizing social connectedness at Hallmark leads to an increase in conversion. The goal of the experiment was to find out whether a practical communication or a social connection communication would have a positive effect on behavior. To find out, we set up an A/B/C test, in which we replaced usp's with our communications. In B, this was ‘In the next step, you can edit the card with your own text and images’ and in C ‘Let it be known that you are thinking of someone’. Both variants had a positive effect on behavior. But Variant C, where we emphasized social engagement was the real big winner. 

Variant B

Variant C

In the following experiment, by emphasizing social connectedness, we ensured that more people logged in. One of the benefits of having a Hallmark account is that you can keep a birthday calendar. Hallmark reminds you of upcoming birthdays and so you never forget a birthday. By making the connection between never forgetting a birthday (social connectedness) and logging in, many more people logged in during this A/B test. 

Variant A

Variant B

Want to know more?

Do you want to appeal to motivation in your visitors? Or would you like to know more about the other two basic human needs? Please contact me!

Source:

Deci & Ryan (2000). The “what” and “why” of goal pursuits: Human needs and the self-determination of behavior, Psychological Inquiry, 11(4), 227-268 (https://www.jstor.org/stable/1449618)