Innovative Ways To Motivate Website Visitors - #MondayMotivation 4

Innovation exposes the two-faces of motivation perfectly. Being innovative is always seen as a great thing by web design companies. Gimmicks, tricks, cool ideas all dominate thinking in this market sector.

However…there are two types of motivation: towards a goal or away from a threat, and people broadly fall into those categories as well. For example, there is a massive difference between wanting to be really rich (towards) and not wanting to be poor (away). The former can never really be completely achieved as there will always be someone richer – the latter is a purely personal level of when enough is enough and can be quantified.

The same thing is true of your website users when they are interacting with your page content, and those drivers determine their motivation to go further with you.

New industries and new products (or new products in old industries) can safely use toward motivation language; words such as innovation, new, unique, cutting edge, etc. and that will tap into the mentality of their visitors and will create more opportunities to go further with them.

Older, more traditional industries and products run a risk that by using toward language such as that they will alienate their key markets who look for away from triggers such as stability, reliability, tradition etc.

People buy from people who understand them: language and imagery online is key to that understanding.

However, language use notwithstanding, it does not mean that traditional businesses cannot harness innovation and cutting edge technology to improve the motivators through good web design and so drive opportunities. It is about creating what you need from what you have.

Healthy Working Lives (HWL) is a Scotland-wide programme delivered by NHS Health Scotland which supports Scottish employers to protect and improve the health and well-being of their workforce. The traditional model was based around lengthy site visits by assessors and advisors and paper based record-keeping. With a bit of innovative thought we worked with NHS staff to develop a completely new business model that dramatically improved outcomes for clients and saved money. Together, we achieved a staggering 584% ROI (Return On Investment)!

So innovation is crucial to successful website design – it just needs thought and consideration so that it fits with your users expectations.

What will you do this Monday morning to drive innovation on your website? Why not call me to talk through your ideas – advice is free!

By Chic McSherry