Neuro Web Design What Makes Them Click? [PB,2008]

by Susan M. Weinschenk

“While you’re reading Neuro Web Design, you’ll probably find yourself thinking ‘I already knew that…’ a lot. But when you’re finished, you’ll discover that your ability to create effective web sites has mysteriously improved. A brilliant idea for a book, and very nicely done.”– Steve Krug, author of Don’t Make Me Think!A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability Why do people decide to buy a product online? Register at your Web site? Trust the information you provide? Neuro Web Design applies the research on motivation, decision making, and neuroscience to the design of Web sites. You will learn the unconscious reasons for people’s actions, how emotions affect decisions, and how to apply the principles of persuasion to design Web sites that encourage users to click. Neuro Web Design employs “neuro-marketing” concepts, which are at the intersection of psychology and user experience. It’s scientific, yet you’ll find it accessible, easy to read, and easy to understand. By applying the concepts and examples in this book, you’ll be able to dramatically increase the effectiveness and conversion rates of your own Web site.

Genres: Design, Psychology, Website Design, Business, Web, Nonfiction, Technology

Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Susan Weinschenk has a Ph.D. in Psychology and over 30 years of experience as a behavioral psychologist. She applies neuroscience to predict, understand, and explain what motivates people and how to get people to take action.

Dr. Weinschenk is the author of several books, including How To Get People To Do Stuff, 100 Things Every Presenter Needs To Know About People, 100 Things Every Designer Needs To Know About People, and Neuro Web Design: What makes them click? She is the founder of the Weinschenk Institute. She teaches, speaks, mentors, and consults with Fortune 1000 companies, start-ups, non-profit agencies, and educational institutions, and writes a popular blog: www.theteamw.com/blog, and the “Brain Wise: Work better, work smarter” blog for Psychology Today.

Reviews

[Sandro · Rating 2 out of 5]

"I'm a little disappointed with this book because I've read another book by the same author, titled '100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know about People' (http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10...). The latter was written in 2011, while this one was in 2009.

I started this one because the author refers to it several times in the other book, so I thought this one was better and more expansive in information. I was wrong.

This may seem unfair, but now that I've read both, it seems that the one from 2011 is just a better version of this one since there is a lot of repeated text. It's like a second edition but with another name.

- So, if you've already read '100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know about People,' don't waste time reading this one.
- If you are in doubt about which one to buy, don't buy this one.
- If you've read this one but haven't read '100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know about People,' go ahead and read it because it's better, but be prepared to skip pages of repeated text. Only buy it if you find it at a discounted price."

[Rafael Bandeira · Rating 2 out of 5]

Though the purpose of the book is quite interesting, I find the content pretty basic and the examples not very elucidative. It is a interestig read for those tryin to get their head started on he subject of psychology applied to design, but I would take it all with a grain of salt, for the concepts and techiniques are quite sensitive and although they can help you drive a more effective design from a business standpoint, it might as well harm the user experience and the product brand by following deceptive approaches to convert users.

The book is a light reading and can be finished in just a couple of hours, but the paperback format, just all "New Riders" books , has an extremely fragile cover, which is bad for on-the-go readers.

For a better start on how the mind operates and how we can take advantage of it while still maintaining an ethic behavior, I would rather recommend "How We Decide", "Predictably Irrational" and "The Invisible Gorilla".

[Nathanael Coyne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Susan's book on psychology applied to web design is easy to read and packed with information. Having already read through Stephen P. Anderson's Mental Notes card deck which is partly based on this book I was already familiar with many of the concepts presented by Susan. There are sufficient citations to give this book credibility even though it doesn't read like an academic publication. Susan covers persuasion, social validation, the power of storytelling, reciprocity, scarcity, choice and more psychological principles. I also recommend you read BJ Fogg's Persuasive Technology and Noah Goldstein's Yes!: 50 secrets from the science of persuasion.

[Georgi Varzonovtsev · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book contains a good dozen of guidelines on how to create more effective and engaging web sites. What I liked the most from the book though were not the guidelines but the nice explanation and examples of the theory and scientific experiments behind them. The author cites previous research in psychology and behavioral studies (you may already know some of these as I did) and from this research draws conclusions on what could be done in a web site in order it to have greater influence over the users' conscious and subconscious decisions. When you know the background the recommendations themselves could sound a little bit naive, but because of the cited research you know what the end goal is and how to achieve is your choice.

So this is a really good book on design and I would recommend it strongly.

[Brom Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been doing aesthetic, utilitarian, Web, graphic, message, and print design for years, but have never really dug into the psychological nuts and bolts of the craft.

This book gave me a whole new set of lenses through which to evaluate all of my communication work, far beyond the Web. Applications are obvious in instructional design, print, etc.

In addition to its relevance to my own work, I am giving this five stars because regardless of whether it is comprehensive or 100% accurate, it delivered a heck of a lot of value and food for thought in a very compact 130 page read.

I wish more authors of technical books would write in this compact, narrative style. While I love to read and learn, at the pace I work, I just don't have time to wade through 300 page books, and in most cases, not starting from scratch, I don't need superfluous detail. That's what references and appendix are for.

Less is more. Highly recommended.

Read this online on Safari, by the way, fewer trees were killed in the creation of this review.

[Roxane Lapa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very easy reading material about the fascinating relationship between the different areas of the brain and their reactions to information presented in different ways, especially within a website environment. As both a web designer, as well as a lover of psychology, I found the parts regarding human behaviour particularly intriguing. The book is split up into manageable chunks which makes reading on-the-go, a pleasure, and much like social genius, Dale Carnegie, she thoughtfully summarises each chapter as well. The book would have scored 5 stars, except that I didn't care for the unnecessary evolution plugs. Treating theories as provable fact has a danger of casting doubt on the objectivity used with the other information presented. Regardless, I'd recommend this book for anyone that has a good product/service and an attractive website but still has sales challenges.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

More of a book about how to sell people stuff than how to design a website, but I guess that's what websites are about mostly these days. It was pretty interesting learning about how the 3 parts of the brain (pre-frontal cortex responsible for reasoning, cortex responsible for emotion and brain stem responsible for our survival) all work together to help us make decisions. The primitive brain stem is sometimes quicker and has more influence on our decision making than we think. Lots of insights here into persuasion. I love this kind of stuff.

[Dhuaine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short and very concise. It makes the point straight and without redundant wordage. For someone like me, who had no idea about psychology, it was a perfect starter. :) It gets one star short of five though, because there's next to nothing about web design in it - just explaining how people/users/would-be customers work.

[Вікторія Слінявчук · Rating 3 out of 5]

Книга Сьюзен Уэйншенк "Neuro Web Design" выходила на русском под названием "Интуитивный веб-дизайн", что, в общем-то, не вполне вполне точно передает смысл оригинального заголовка. Наверно, понятие "интуитивности" более распространенное и узнаваемое, однако эт книга - о нейромаркетинге, а не о usability в обычном понимании.
Сьюзен Уэйншенк использует триединую модель мозга (древний мозг, он же "рептильный"; средний мозг, или лимбическая система; неокортекс, или кора больших полушарий) для объяснения того, как юзеры интернета ведут себя на различных сайтах. Она предлагает конкретные приемы, позволяющие привлечь внимание, сформировать лояльность пользователей и подтолкнуть их к покупке или другим желаемым владельцами сайта действиям: пожертвованию, подписке, регистрации и т.д. Некоторые приемы выглядят довольно наивными, однако, по-видимому, они таки работают.
Часть приемов сомнительны в плане этики, например, Уэйншенк пишет и о том, что "sex sells".
Думаю, интересно будет всем, кто связан с разработкой веб-сайтов, а также и юзерам - любопытно же узнать, как нами манипулируют ;) Однако, знание о приемчиках маркетологов не всегда помогает им противостоять, т.к. многие вещи работают на подсознательном уровне.
Книга написана еще в 2009 году, но она не устарела, т.к. речь идет не о технологиях, которые быстро меняются, а о психологических принципах.

[Omar Venturi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ottimo nei contenuti, ma un po' "datato" nella forma... avevo già letto questo testo qualche anno fa e l'ho riletto ora e devo dire che ormai esistono testi con uno stile un po' più moderno e scorrevole.
Nonostante questo sia stato pubblicato prima (diversi esempi riportati su questo testo si trovano anche sui testi più recenti - basta controllare le mie recensioni per capire di cosa parlo) e per questa caratteristica va riconosciuto un primato a questo testo, non lo ritengo comunque un libro da cinque stelle (seppure il mio giudizio sia sicuramente positivo).

Non lo consiglio come primo testo sull'argomento (non per la complessità, ma appunto perchè ritengo ce ne siano di migliori), ma resta comunque un libro interessante da leggere poichè è comunque in grado di apportare informazioni sul tema.

[SMaria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book for beginners

The book is short with concise information about the basic psychological aspects about how our brain works.
Also in the book you can find short tips & tricks of how you can use that information in creating an attractive website.

[PD Storage · Rating 5 out of 5]

شركة تصميم مواقع
شركة تصميم مواقع الكترونية
تصميم مواقع الكترونية
شركة تصميم مواقع ويب

[Timur · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very shallow book. For the most part it is just a retelling of an "Influence" by Cialdini

[Denis Devčić · Rating 3 out of 5]

Malo previše basic, ali dobar uvod u temu. Prolazi kroz Cialdinijev Influence. Za svako poglavlje napravi sažetak Cialdinija i prikaže kako se može primjenjivati na webu kroz par primjera.

[Hassan Rachidi]

good

[PurposeFocusCommitment · Rating 5 out of 5]

In your opinion what makes a website good?

If you think about it… which are your favorite websites and what is so special about them that you like so much? What makes them different from their direct competitor site?

These are fun and interesting questions, and if you want to know how you, me and everyone else perceives certain elements on the websites and which of these elements are most attention-grabbing and why, then you will definitely enjoy this book. Even though this book was published in 2009 it has a lot of useful examples and study cases based on neuropsychological research which you can implement today. At first, you will get to read a little bit about how your brain is built and which part of the brain is responsible for which action. After you learn that, you get to learn how to use this knowledge in getting the attention of your potential visitors/customers. Each chapter consists of insights derived from psychology and neuroscience followed by a few examples and a short summary. This book will show you how and why you make decisions and how others influence you into making those decisions subconsciously online and in real life.

I like the book because of its simplicity. The author is short and concise and she makes her point without redundant wordage. If you are looking for advanced material then most probably you will not find it in this book. But then again every true master returns to the basics every now and then, because with new knowledge and experience you get a different perspective (then you had the first time), and with it new ideas. I recommend this book to people just learning about human behavior, psychology, neuroscience, and web design, as also to the “masters of the trade” to “resharpen their knives “. This is definitely one of those books that I am happy to have read and to say I can build on the lessons learned from it.

You can find more book reviews with notes from the books at https://purposefocuscommitment.com/ca...

[Liesbeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interessant en supervlot geschreven. Het boekje leest als een trein en Weinschenk gebruikt zelf de technieken die ze beschrijft.
De principes uit het boek zijn niet nieuw of origineel, maar Weinschenk presenteert ze op zo'n manier dat je ze niet snel terug zal vergeten en dat je zin krijgt om er meteen mee aan de slag te gaan.
Ik vind het een aanrader.

[Arnaud · Rating 4 out of 5]

Say you have made a web site and you are looking for tricks to improve its efficiency and the number of clicks on it. This is the book you are looking for, especially if you are selling something.
This is of course very web-centric but since the author bases her analysis from scientific studies on brain behaviour, this knowledge can easily be transposed to marketing and user interaction design.
It is quick and easy to read and goes straight to the point. You’ll find yourself thinking “of course, I knew that” which is always a source of satisfaction.

[Daguis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written by a psychologist, this book offers some insight about the well-known principles behind persuasive web design (scarcity, concession, social validation...)

The main focus is put on the psychological explanation of these concepts, and not that much on the examples of real web sites (with only a few examples and very briefly explained), but the insights on how the brain works and the explanation about psychological researches and behavioural studies are very enlightening. Plus, is very easy to read with almost no waffle!

[Sheena · Rating 4 out of 5]

Web sites that “speak” to all three brains (old brain, mid brain, new brain) are the most effective
1. only a few ways to engage the old brain: danger, sex, and food.
2. our unconscious, emotional brain (mid brain) is activated when we imagine getting something that we think would be nice, pleasant, and rewarding—especially if we get It right away.
3. the part of our brain that is conscious and thinking: our new brain (the cortex). Little “movies” play in your new brain as you imagine what might happen.

[Nick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Neuro Web Design take the classic principles of influence and persuasion as elucidated by Cialdini and talks about how they work on the Web. As such, it's great applied thinking. If you know Cialdini, you won't learn a lot that's new, but it's a good refresher. If you don't know Cialdini, you'll find this fast read on persuasion very enlightening.

[Fritz Desir]

Great read and a good intro guide how to use cognition and social psychology in design has some practical advice which can serve as a great proxy when primary research data is scarce. Would also recommend Stephen Anderson's, Jeff Johnson's (which I'm also reading) and BJ Fogg's books respectively on this same theme. This is not an appreciated topic IMHO, sorely needed. Kudos @thebrainlady!

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Contains some interesting pieces of advice on what makes people click on various parts of a website from a psychological point of view.

Quotes some interesting research. A relatively easy read - worth reading if you want something light to stimulate your brain about the general subject of web design and psychology.

[Dominic Bellavance · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beaucoup d'informations contenues dans ce livre sont reprises dans le livre 100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know about People qui, à mon avis, est meilleur que celui-ci.

[Josh Ferge · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book provides a great basic psychology background that every web dev could use. It also gives some great examples of techniques to improve certain aspects of websites. My only issues were due to some of the examples being scummy (dishonest or spammy). And as the web evolves, the web pages featured in the book are very quickly becoming out of date as far as design goes.

[Johny Wuijts · Rating 5 out of 5]

This feels like a summary of the book "100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know About People", by the same writer. Rather than 100 different things, this book lists a dozen core concepts, which makes it more concise. I definitely recommend the other book more, but this book is a nice summary/refresher.

[Jason Bootle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable, easy to read introduction to persuasive psychology as applied to web design. This being my first tackling of the subject it was a good primer but I felt some of the web examples were a tad weak and seemed forced. Having said that, a good read for web or business folk at any level.

[Sally Khoo · Rating 3 out of 5]

It presents "old theory" in a more attractive title: Web Design
as where this is the new platform of business war.

It directs the theory to web design concept. Reader or web site owner shall think hard enough to adapt it in order to success.

No simple formula to success

[G E R · Rating 1 out of 5]

Out of 170 pages - 10 pages preface, 20 pages index. Very low on information density, a lot of headlines, bottom lines, pictures, blank pages. The info itself - ok if you are just starting in the field, won't do if you search deeper understanding. Can not recommend.

[Nacho Bassino · Rating 3 out of 5]

Algunas ideas un tanto trilladas y algunas conclusiones tomadas a la ligera. Pero de todas formas un libro corto y de fácil lectura, que sirve para repasar algunos temas y sumar algunas ideas con costo bajo. No se si para comprar, pero si está a mano, pegarle una hojeada está ok.