What happens when you’ve built a great website or app, but no one seems to care? How do you get people to stick around long enough to see how your service might be of value? In Seductive Interaction Design, speaker and author Stephen P. Anderson takes a fresh approach to designing sites and interactions based on the stages of seduction. This beautifully designed book examines what motivates people to act. Topics include: AESTHETICS, BEAUTY, AND BEHAVIOR: Why do striking visuals grab our attention? And how do emotions affect judgment and behavior? PLAYFUL SEDUCTION: How do you create playful engagements during the moment? Why are serendipity, arousal, rewards, and other delights critical to a good experience? THE SUBTLE ART OF SEDUCTION: How do you put people at ease through clear and suggestive language? What are some subtle ways to influence behavior and get people to move from intent to action? THE GAME OF SEDUCTION: How do you continue motivating people long after the first encounter? Are there lessons to be gained from learning theories or game design? Principles from psychology are found throughout the book, along with dozens of examples showing how these techniques have been applied with great success. In addition, each section includes interviews with influential web and interaction designers.

Table of Contents:
Prologue .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . xi 1 Why Seductive Interactions?  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1     LinkedIn and Profile Completeness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2     Why seduction?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3     The iLike story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5     Beyond usability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10     It’s all about experiences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 SECTION ONE Aesthetics, Beauty, and Behavior 2 Why Aesthetics? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17     What’s the connection? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18     Why aesthetics?  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 3 Are You Easily Understood? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19     Gestalt Psychology and a drinking game . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 4 Are You Attractive? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25     You remind me of… . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26     Can you trust me on this?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27     Perceptions of time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29     Put it all together. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30     “Attractive things work better” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30     Stitching it all together . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 5 Who Do You Remind People Of? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35     Aesthetics, associations, and Apple . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36     Advertising and coded iconic messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37     Positive and Negative associations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38     Language and associations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38     Applications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 6 When Aesthetics Aren’t Attractive . . . . . . . . . . . . .43     Curious implication 1: The good, the bad, and the ugly. . . . . 43     Curious implication 2: When utility is beautiful. . . . . . . . . 44     Curious implication 3: Context and character . . . . . . . . . . 45     Curious implication 4: Is beauty subjective? . . . . . . . . . . . 45     Closing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 7 The Power of Faces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49     Leaving your friends. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50     Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 SECTION TWO Playful Seduction 8 Are You Fun To Be Around? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55     Use humor, when appropriate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56     A Case for Humor: MailChimp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57     Why bother making someone smile? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 9 Are You Unpredictable?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .63     Mixing surprise with rewards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64     Delighters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66     My personal annual travel report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 10 Are You Stimulating? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .75     Will the real Dopplr logo please stand up? . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 11 Are You Mysterious?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .79     Curious marketing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79     Venturing into the unknown. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80     The information gap theory. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81     Business application? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82     Specific motivation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84     Now what? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 12 Can People Express Themselves Around You?. . . . . . .87 SECTION THREE The Subtle Art of Seduction 13 Small First Steps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .93     Shaping the path . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93     Making a commitment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94     Sharing places . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94     Picking up items placed on hold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96     Completing a travel booking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97     Endowed progress effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99     Sequencing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .100     Shaping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .102 14 Coming on Too Strong (and how not to!). . . . . . . . .105     Fewer options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .105     Less text. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .107     Fun distractions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .108     Creating the illusion of less by hiding information . . . . . . .110     Hacking the visual system to make things simpler . . . . . . .111     Less to think about  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .112 15 Attracting Attention . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115     Contrast and characters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .116     Shh! We’re hoping no one notices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .117     Did you see that?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .118 16 The Path of Least Resistance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119     Default options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .119     The power of suggestion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .120     Convenience and personalized recommendations. . . . . . . .122     Afraid to Let Go . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .126 17 The Influence of Words . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131     Framing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .131     Anchoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .133     Let’s get personal. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .134     Clear language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .136 18 An Eye for Details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137     Step one: Role-play the interaction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .137     Step two: Script the narrative experience . . . . . . . . . . . .140     Step three: Break down compound requests into      simple next steps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .140     Step four: Minimize choices (at each moment in time). . . . .141     Step five: Look for micromoments  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .142     Step six: Choose clicks over characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . .142 SECTION FOUR The Game of Seduction 19 Real World Games . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149     Games are first and foremost about fun . . . . . . . . . . . . .149     The Elements of Game Design  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .153 20 A Challenge Worth Pursuing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155     Back to the classroom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .155     A Real Challenge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .161     A quick note on status. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .163     Challenges vs. goals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .165     Closing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .167 21 Making Things Difficult . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169     Playing hard to get. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .169     Using scarcity in commerce. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .170     Using scarcity to increase quality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .170     Using scarcity to encourage participation . . . . . . . . . . . .172     Why scarcity works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .173     Other forms of scarcity: Limited duration . . . . . . . . . . . .174     Limited access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .175     Other forms of scarcity: Limited choice and calculations . . .176 22 How Are We Doing? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179     Unintended side effects of hypermiling  . . . . . . . . . . . . .181     A little perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .182     Serious games. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .183     Making a game out of e-mail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .183     Closing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .187 23 What’s the Prize?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .189     Why do game mechanics work? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .190     Performance goals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .191     Are you offering your users any performance goals? . . . . . .192     The fun layer: Narrative, story, aesthetics . . . . . . . . . . . .196     Closing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .197 24 Let’s Get Serious . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .199     The Kano model. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200 25 Only the Beginning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205     The Rider and the Elephant. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .205     The Behavior Grid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .206     A sense of purpose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .211     One thing everyone is doing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .211     “Show me the money!” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .214     Who’s on your site?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .214     Final Thoughts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .215 Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .217