The significance of UX psychology cannot be understated. By understanding the thought processes of users with products and websites, UX designers can create more engaging and effective experiences. UX psychology principles play a pivotal role such as shaping consumers’ choices when making purchases or whether they will pay attention to the messages intended by UX designers and brands.
Below are 5 psychology principles that every UX designer should know.
1. The halo effect
When users have a positive experience with a website or app, this positivity is extended towards other products or services of the brand.
For example, consider a newly launched e-commerce website. Its modern and stylish design fosters a positive association with the site. Consequently, users might extend this positive judgment to assume the website is not only visually appealing, but also trustworthy and offering high quality products. This initial favorable trait may even overshadow potential issues like poor navigation or slower loading times.
However, the halo effect can work in reverse too. A single negative encounter early on can taint the user’s overall perception, overshadowing otherwise well-designed features. UX designers must therefore consider every aspect of the user experience to counterbalance the halo effect’s sway.
2. The decoy effect
The decoy effect is used to influence a users’ choice when an option is deliberately added to make another option look better in comparison.
For example, imagine you’re picking a plan for watching movies. There’s a cheap plan and an expensive one. Users might choose the cheap one because it costs less. However, if the company adds a third choice that’s even more expensive than the expensive one, something interesting happens. Now, the expensive plan looks like a better deal because it has more stuff than the really expensive one. This might make more people choose the expensive plan, even though they weren’t going to before.
With websites and apps, the decoy effect can be used to help people pick options that the company wants them to pick. It’s like giving users a little nudge in the right direction, but they still feel like they are making their own choice.
3. The false-consensus effect
The false-consensus effect is when we assume that most people think and act the same way we do. In other words, we think our opinions and behaviors are more common than they really are.
Imagine a social media platform where users can post about their favorite hobbies. If a UX designer assumes that everyone using the platform shares their own interests, they might prioritse features and functionality related to those interests. However, in reality, users have diverse hobbies. The UX designer’s assumption creates a mismatch between what they think users want and what users actually want.
To counter the false-consensus effect in UX design, it’s crucial to gather diverse user feedback and conduct research to understand users’ actual preferences, behaviors and knowledge levels. By recognizing users vary in their opinions and experiences, UX designers can create more inclusive and effective products that cater to a wider range of users.
4. Change blindness
Change blindness is when people fail to notice significant changes in a scene, even when they are looking right at it. This happens because our brains focus on what’s important, and we often miss small changes that don’t seem relevant.
For example, imagine a website that undergoes a redesign. The navigation menu changes colour and layout, but users might not immediately notice these alterations, especially if they’re focused on finding specific information. This can lead to confusion or frustration if users can’t find what they’re looking for due to the unnoticed changes.
Change blindness can also occur with pop-up notifications or important updates. Users might dismiss or ignore these messages if they appear similar to previous ones, even if they contain critical information.
UX designers need to be aware of change blindness to ensure that important changes are noticeable to users. Using visual cues like animation, colour contrasts or clear indicators for updates can help draw users’ attention to changes and prevent them from missing crucial information or features.
5. Information foraging
Information foraging is a concept that compares how people search for information to how animals hunt for food. It’s all about finding the most valuable information while using the least amount of effort.
Think of a website or an app like a forest. Users are like animals searching for berries. They want to find the juiciest berries (information) with the least effort. If the path to the berries is clear (good navigation), and the berries are big and tasty (important information is easily accessible), users will be satisfied. But if the path is confusing, and the berries are hidden deep in the forest (information is hard to find), users might give up and leave.
UX designers can use information foraging principles to guide users effectively by organising content logically, using clear labels and headings, and providing search functions. This makes the “hunt” for information smooth and rewarding, just like finding the tastiest berries in the forest. UX Designers should aim to minimise the effort users need to spend searching and maximize the value they get from the information they find.
Last word…
You don’t have to be Carl Jung, Abraham Maslow or Sigmund Freud, but being aware of these psychological insights should be part of every UX designers toolkit, because they help UX designers to better understand how users think, feel and behave. Amen 🙂