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
New to the Psychology of Marketing? Join here for $0 🤝
Brought to you by Yours Truly :)

My Dad recently asked me, "So when are you going to start making money?"
And now that I spend 20+ hours every week working on this newsletter, I'm left with one of two options:
Quit and start recruiting for a full-time job - ehhh
Double down on Psychology of Marketing
And we're not quitters now are we?
So here goes nothing:
Want to get in front of 22,000+ marketers and founders?
I'm looking for brands or people, that want to advertise in Psychology of Marketing. Want to grab a slot in 2023?
You should fill this form out here.
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
👨💻 Work is great, but I fear burning out. With this free newsletter, though, we can learn how to build the self-work strategies we need. Sign up with one click here.
🔍 Boost conversions and improve your marketing creatives with Predict AI. With over 95% accuracy, Predict helps you optimize ads, websites, videos, and more.
✏️ Creative Insights from the world of DTC, curated to help grow your business.
🧪 1 tried and tested tactic to grow your DTC business every single day. All in under a minute. Brought to you by yours truly. And, as always, it's free :)
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.