Psychology

Persuasion & The Two Brain Systems

Quick Intro

Welcome to The Psychology of Conversion Copywriting!

Am happy you’ve decided to join me. I’m Melanie a professional copywriter for the past several years, a practitioner of Conversion Rate Optimization, and long-time hobby student of online marketing before all of that.

• Yes, I’m an online marketing nerd.

To give this course some focus, we’ll be focusing on high-ticket e-commerce product pages. But much of what you’ll learn applies to all types of copywriting across emails, home pages, ads, etc.

The Two Brain Systems

Brain System 1(The “Old Brain”)

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System 1 is:

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• 95% automatic, unconscious, irrational
• “Just knows” stuff without having to think about it (even if the stuff it “knows” is wrong a certain % of the time)
• Solves 1+1 easily because it’s seen it so many times
• Automatic processing of words and colors

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Source: Ruben de Boer, Online Psychology and Persuasion for Conversion Optimization

System 1 (The Old Brain) is also about…

Self-centeredness: The Old Brain is highly selfish. Customers don’t really care much about you, they care about themselves. Deliver your messages accordingly.

Contrast: We’re hardwired to spot differences! The old brain seeks clear contrast in order to make instant decisions and avoid confusion. Why before and after works so well.

Tangible: The old brain scans for tangible input to avoid the extra time and energy involved in thinking.

Source: CXL

Brain System 2 (The New Brain)

System 2 is:

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• The analytical part of our brain
• Rational, slower, takes more work, uses more of our energy
• Solves 17x21 with a bit of effort, more slowly than 1+1
• When information conflicts the brain’s perception can no longer be automatic. So conscious processing by The New Brain is necessary

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Source: Ruben de Boer, Online Psychology and Persuasion for Conversion Optimization

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Brain System 2 tries to protect us. ��On a sales page, it introduces skepticism to try to save you from any pain and risk involved with getting out your credit card.

The Chicken Study

Both groups chose the natural-looking chicken subconsciously, then rationalized it after the fact.

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Main takeaways:

* This is how the selling process works too

* The emotional appeal/desire has to be stronger than the skepticism of System 2.

* It’s why the visual and emotional aspects of our product pages are so important

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General Implications of all of this

• We’re not as rational as we think
• Much of our behavior and decision-making happens without us being consciously aware
• That’s why it’s so important to use emotion, visuals, and a clear UX on your product pages

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Robert Cialdini on Persuasion

6 Principles

1. Reciprocity
2. Commitment / Consistency
3. Social Proof
4. Authority
5. Liking
6. Scarcity

And he added a 7th principle in the last few years - Unity, or shared identity.

Please use all of these principles ethically, of course. 🙏

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The point is not to manipulate people into something they don’t want or need

But to clearly communicate value and resonate with the right customers for your product, making it easy as possible for them to take action and buy from you

Easy Action step:

Choose a product page to work on as you go through this course.

Ask yourself:

Does your page have old brain appeal?

Does engaging with your page feel simple and intuitive, or does it feel like work?

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For now just start thinking about it, we’ll come back to this later in the course.