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