Seduction (se·duc·tion), noun: deliberately enticing a person to engage in some sort of behavior

Stephen Anderson regaled us with his "how to" of applying seduction to web design.

The summary:

• Usability is about removing the potholes on the road. Seduction is about increasing motivation, which is far more powerful than merely removing the friction.
• Find the sweet spot where user goals meet business goals.

For instance recommendation site iLike does this by making a game out of inputting your favorite bands. (It's "I had fun!" for the user, and "I collected data about user preferences" for the site.)  

• How do you get there? Start your design process by thinking about people. Consider observations such as this simple list:

• we respond well to positive reinforcement
• we like to be the hero of the story
• we respond to our name
• we find novelty and surprise interesting

Stephen has made this easier with his Mental Notes -- playing cards that outline behavioral psychology ideas in simple, compelling formats.

• Visit getmentalnotes.com, which has 7 sampler cards and the option to order the full deck. (Complete set for sale in October.)
  
• View Stephen's presentation
• Flip through my notes below.
  

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Here are my notes on all the  "mental notes."  View with the presentation for the examples that bring it all to life.

Sequencing: Break down complex processes into simple ones.

• Karate belts

• LinkedIn profile update nudges

Feedback loop: You can see the effect of your actions. When it's clear that your actions will modify subsequent results, you're more likely to play along.

• iLike and Netflix: Rating songs gives you new recommendations on the spot

Status: Earn props / recognition for completing an action

• FourSquare badges, mayor-dom
• LinkedIn % profile complete
• Twitter follower count

Curiosity: "What will I see next?"
Remember this only works when you've already persuaded the person that there's something worthwhile to be had

• The "don't open it" California Pizza Kitchen thank you card
• The Nissan "peep show" car show booth
• The mystery hot wheel (a hooded car; must buy to know what you got)

Visual Imagery: say it in pictures

Pattern Recognition: Your brain always is searching for patterns; appealing to this interest holds people's attention

Sensory experiences: How immersive can you make it? Sight, sound, touch...taste (!)

• iLike does this by presenting pictures and text of the artists you're rating

Points: Leaderboards let you compare yourself against others
 

Levels: A tiered experience lets you feel a sense of progress while pulling you along to the next step.

• FourSquare badges
• Console games like Doom

Social proof: We want to see what other people are doing -- we want to know what everyone else seems to know

• "Outlook's broken, let's fix it." The entire wall paper behind the message displays the twitterers who are behind this movement. Get on the bandwagon

Play hard to get: keep the tasks short and sweet, in order to appear approachable, and to force the writer to be judicious in his submission

• Twitter: confined to 140 characters
• Ripple (peer reviews); 200 characters. Enough to say something cogent, but not to overwhelm the author
• Food spotting. You can only nominate a handful of dishes

Lighten up: be playful (yet clear) with your language.

• "Don't forget to flick off" the light
• "Ouch!" confirmation message when someone submits a scathing movie review
• Mail chimp: eep eep!

Taking a chance: Help the user along with complicated tasks by presenting him with (informed) defaults and allowing him to edit them. Also, providing a constant feedback loop of where you are in the process.

• Brighter planet. Calculate your carbon footprint. Takes a lot of inputs to get your score, but the site speeds you along by only presenting a few steps at a time, and providing constant feedback on your score

Surprise and delight: Serve up a bit of friskiness, random acts of kindness and surprises

• Rubby ducky in your hotel bathroom
• Lighthearted web site error messages
• Bear in mind that your tone should still be pitch perfect for the situation. Don't be light-hearted about losses incurred in a person's porfolio (duh).