Progressive Disclosure Effect
Abhi
February 09, 2023
Hey there 👋 - Abhi here!
Happy Thursday to the 22,209 marketers reading today. Spent last Sunday running a 13-mile marathon, and man, my legs are dead. But don't worry, my brain's on fire...
So today we're going to cover:
- the Progressive Disclosure Effect
- why Typeform is better than Google Forms
- 1 tactic each for a SaaS, e-commerce store, and digital business
Estimated Reading Time = 4 minutes
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- Double down on Psychology of Marketing
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Now to today's piece 🤝
Progressive Disclosure Effect
I love Google Forms. Whether it's for user feedback or the sponsorship form I shared above, it's just so quick and easy to use. But then I see all these other brands and creators using Typeform. And that got me thinking, why?
Once you hit that 100 monthly response limit, though, Typeform will slap you with this:
And we're all trying to keep expenses to a minimum here.
So why pay that extra $50/mo? Turns out that Typeform's value goes beyond its aesthetic. In fact, Typeform’s average completion rate is 72% higher than those of ordinary forms.
Naturally, after looking at that statistic - as your Chief Marketing Psychologist - I had to dig deeper. And it all comes down to one psychological effect...
Progressive Disclosure: An interaction design pattern that sequences interactions across several screens to avoid overwhelming users and increase completions.
Once I learned about this progressive disclosure effect, I started to see it everywhere. And its applications started to get more and more obvious.
So how can you apply this psychological principle?
The 3 Tactics
1/ For SaaS Companies: Use Training Wheels
Researchers John Carroll and Caroline Carrithers launched a study to analyze and compare two famous design models:
- Training wheels designs: Users are initially limited to using a few features.
- Unlimited designs: Users have continuous access to all features.
And they found that, on average, while using the training wheels design:
- time on task reduced by 23.5%
- knowledge of the systems increased by 45%
- subjective satisfaction increased by 28%
And when a group of test participants from the training wheels designs was finally given access to all the features:
- time on task reduced by a total of 52%
- knowledge of the system increased by 10%
tl;dr Don't overwhelm your users by trying to showcase all your features from the get-go. Take them from initial to advanced features, and let progressive disclosure work its magic.
2/ For E-Commerce Brands: Lazy Loading
Lazy loading is a computer programming term for delaying the construction of an object until it is needed. And this has a two-fold benefit:
- it helps websites load faster as to prevent users from leaving
- adds an element of interactivity
Here's what it might look like...
3/ For Digital Businesses: Foot In The Door
I was trying to find a courier service to deliver my bags from San Francisco back to Chicago, as I head back to college. Now, I had a couple of options to pick from...
And there's a reason the choice at the bottom won. No, it's not the name Lugless - which is obviously great...
But with its simple interface and quick questions, Lugless got me to put my foot in the door. I think this connects well with Hick's Law - which I've written about before.
Well, that's enough for this Thursday! Going to leave you with 4 marketing resources I found this week and couldn't help but share.
Abhi's Picks
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That's all for this Thursday! 1 marketing breakdown & 3 tactics to get you started
If you missed it last week, we analyzed How Blinkist increased conversions by 23%
A Review From A Fellow Marketing Psychologist...
Tried something new for the 3 Tactics.What did you think? |
I look forward to reading your feedback :)
See you next Thursday,
Abhishek "It's time to switch to Typeform" Shah
My Cafe of the Week: Joe & The Juice
Sticking to water for now. Still recovering from the marathon lol.