Many small businesses focus exclusively on creating a web site with amazing graphics, beautiful imagery and classic typography. The visual aesthetic, though, is only one of many factors in conversion. Creating an experience designed to influence behaviour – attract registrations, increase readership, improve likes and favourites and increase sales – requires designers and developers to embrace change management theory, marketing and the psychological aspects of consumer behaviour.
In my presentation from #webDU 2012 discussed the key design and content do’s and don’t for online marketing when formulating a social media marketing campaign in order to produce the desired consumer behaviour. I demonstrated how utilising the ADKAR model, I was able to develop an approach to frame the digital strategy and identify key elements to consider to move customers along the spectrum from awareness to action and reinforcement.
This is the basics of the ADKAR model as applied to digital design:
- Awareness: How to think about the online channels of communication you will use to get to the target audience.
- Desire: Too often business send the emails they want to sent rather than the emails that customers want to receive.
- Knowledge: How to focus on providing useful and interesting information as this is more likely to be shared and referred to others.
- Action: How to relate to the client the need to be clear about what you are asking them to do, what you are offering and how they can contact you.
- Reinforcement: How to appeal to customer’s desires and wants to ensure behaviour is reinforced and repeated.
