🔗 🧠 Links for Thinks #2

This past week, I’ve been in a deep think on how to make better design decisions. We all know the absurd number of choices we’re making every day as human beings—consciously or not (thanks, modern day society 🙄 )

Since most decisions aren’t always that calculated—I started wondering: how can we better make sense of what drives them? And how might we better articulate that to folks who hold a stake in the things we’re making? You know the ones I’m talking about… the stakeholders (whispering to ward off the Sunday scaries).

Well there’s no way we’re going to cover all that in this tiny little newsletter, but here’s a list of links to help you think more critically about your design decision making process.

TODAY'S EDITION

1. Social Proof: Why People's Behaviors Affect Our Actions

2. Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO): 8 Ways To Get Started

3. Sneaking: The Deceptive UX Pattern You Never Saw Coming

4. UI Density

5. uiwtf

— Jake

WE’RE ALL FRIENDS HERE

The crux of getting people to buy your shi… jun… very well built and definitely desirable products, might all lie in the power of other people.

We as humans tend to like what other humans like, so it’s only natural that recommendations from other folks are one of the most powerful growth engines for your product.

But we’ve all seen the same tired patterns of testimonials and the scrolling banner of logos (I sure am guilty of slapping these on some designs. Like, recently 🙃 ). They might work, they might not work. Regardless, at some point you’re going to be asked to add them somewhere.

How might we come up with something more engaging? Well, that’s not for me to completely solve for you right now—though there are some neat examples in this case study if you peek your head in there.

Instead, let’s break down some psychology principles that make social proof engaging and after that, let your imagination run wild.

THE JUICE

1. CMD + F “How Should I Feel?”: Social proof is often a shortcut people are looking for to help tell them how to act about something. They’re looking for consensus around how they should feel.

2. I Heard That: One of the highest degrees of sussing out authenticity and credibility comes from what other people say. Consumers are 77% more likely to buy a product if their friends recommended it.

3. I Can See Your Halo, Halo, Halo: Positive impressions in one area rub off on everything else. If people think a brand is great at one thing, they’ll assume it’s good all around. It’s called the Halo Effect.

4. Who’s in Charge?: Authority bias is when we defer to people we see as experts or in charge. If it’s good enough for them, it’s good enough for us.

5. Influence Tactics: Social proof can also mislead. In the case study, “Amazon’s Choice” serves as an example—labels like this might feel like quality stamps but often just boost perceived value. It’s a quick way to make something seem like the best choice, even if it’s just smart marketing. But don’t do this. This is what we call bad.

CLICK HERE NOW; OR ELSE!

Conversion Rate Optimization. Often thought of as a thing only marketers need to worry about (spoiler: it’s not). Some folks might even shudder at the corporate jargon. But what if I told you that learning about a lil lingo could actually be useful. And not only can you learn about it—but maybe you should learn about it. Especially if you’re designing stuff where you want someone to take an action (e.g. almost everything).

Before you unsubscribe, maybe let’s reframe this as a superpower to unlock. Imagine a world where we always knew why people click on stuff. Where you know that all of your designs are working. Where we could perfectly articulate all of that to… stakeholders. A world where real life metrics and outcomes are abound to plop in your portfolio, oh how beautiful the stories you could tell.

That all sounds great, but for now let’s start small—let’s define CRO. A conversion rate is the percentage of visitors who complete a desired action, like completing a web form, signing up for a service, or purchasing a product. Which means CRO is the optimization of that conversation rate. Simple enough?

Great, that’s what we want. Now how can we ensure that the pursuit of that desired action isn’t an absolute nightmare.

THE JUICE

1. Know What You’re After: Figure out what you want people to do—whether it’s signing up, buying, or clicking something—and make that your goal. If you don’t know your target, well go figure that out then come back.

2. Pick A Spot, Any Spot: Well, maybe not any. High-impact areas like landing pages, well written blog pages, and pricing pages are where the magic happens. These are prime real estate for conversions, so don’t go hiding your best stuff on a random subpage.

3. Ravioli, Ravioli, Show Me the Formuoli!: Understanding conversion rates starts with some basic formulas. Know the numbers so you know what’s working (and what’s not). This is the stuff you’re gonna want to learn in order to spice up that portfolio.

   • Conversion Rate Formula: Conversions ÷ Visitors × 100 gives you a percentage that shows how well each page is converting. Start here to understand your baseline.

   • Net New Customers: If you have a revenue goal, divide it by your average sales price to know how many new customers you need. It’s a clear target to keep you on track.

   • Lead Goal: Take the number of new customers you need and divide it by your lead-to-close rate. This gives you the number of leads required to reach your customer target.

   Each formula helps you track what’s really working. Even a small bump in conversion rate, like going from 1% to 2%, can double your customer base without increasing traffic.

4. Writing Matters: CTAs may seem basic and boring, but this is an opportunity for words to work their magic. With the right mix of brand tone, UX writing, and copywriting, a CTA can go from “meh” to “take my money.” Also banner blindness exists, so people very well may ignore your big display ad CTA. Sometimes good ole fashioned text does the trick.

5. User Experience or Bust: Even the best content won’t convert if your site’s clunky. Make it easy and enjoyable, or people will bounce faster than when they realize they’ve shown up to an MLM living room party.

6. Test, Track, and Tweak: Trends change, ideas evolve, people get bored—so keep testing to stay on top. Use tools like heat maps and scroll tracking to read your users' minds—but don’t rely on guesses. Base your tweaks on real insights from experiments and feedback. Event a tiny change, like swapping “Submit” for something specific like “Get Your Free Guide,” can bring surprisingly big results.

DON’T DO NOT NOT BE SNEAKY

Get outta here you sneaky, sneaky dark patterns. As we learn all the things we should be doing to make an experience top notch, it’s always just as valuable to remind ourselves of the things we most certainly should steer away from. And one of those things is sneaking.

Sneaking is a deceptive practice that tricks customers into agreeing to something they did not intend to. So no sneaking, even if it’s “good for the business.”

THE JUICE

1. Forced Continuity: Ever sign up for a “free trial” that requires you to put your credit card in order to get access? Telling you that you’ll get charged if you don’t cancel? That’s forced continuity—a sneaky move where companies have you put in your info, sometimes without giving you a clear heads-up the trial is ending. It’s the classic “just let me see your credit card quick” trick, hitting you with a 1-2 charge for a service you never end up using.

2. Hidden Costs: Nothing like a nice additional surprise cost at checkout, amirite? Hidden costs are those extra fees—taxes, shipping, “service” charges—that don’t pop up until the last second. This sneaky lil tactic was the reason Airbnb was in some heat a few years ago and updated their pricing transparency. You think you’re paying one price, then boom—$200 in extra fees sneak right in there. Just give me the pain upfront, please.

3. Sneak into Basket: You’re buying one thing, and suddenly there’s a surprise item in your cart—like when a flight sneaks in insurance you never asked for because you’re a risk taker. This “sneak into basket” move might also include those sneaky, pre-checked marketing emails right next to “Accept Terms and Conditions.” Sneaking that product into your life right underneath your nose.

IT’S OKAY TO BE A LITTLE DENSE

UI density is an interesting concept all about packing in info onto a screen without compromising sanity. Over the history of screens, designs have been slowly stretching out. Growing up from jam packed screens of information to more spaced-out interactive interfaces. Now, the goal is to find a sweet spot—enough info to keep each moment useful, but not so much it feels overwhelming.

Visual Density brings a moment of “holy cow that’s a lot of stuff to look at” —think about Craigslist’s sea of links. Information Density is about maximizing value by keeping only the data that adds meaning—ditching anything that doesn’t add understanding. And Design Density uses smart grouping to make info intuitive, though it can be subjective—one person’s tomato is another’s tomahto. Design density also considers the user’s journey, making sure every interaction adds value without overload.

Considering the journey, we look at Density Over Time—fast load times keep things moving. Slow low times and we need to add some magic tricks to keep folks from fleeing. The final density touched on is Density in Value ensuring that every bit of info counts, packing maximum value into minimal space and time.

Maybe this blurb wasn’t dense enough. Here are some more dense takeaways.

THE JUICE

1. Choose Density Wisely: Pack it where it counts. Data-heavy screens? Dense it up. Landing pages? Maybe stop being so dense. Tailor density based on context.

2. Cut the Fluff: Keep only what matters. If it doesn’t add to the experience, let it go. Less fluff = more impact. But if it looks good, maybe keep just a litttttle bit of fluff.

3. Don’t Reinvent Psychology: Organize, don’t clutter. Proximity, similarity, etc. Brush up on your Gestalt principles to make that dense info clear and intuitive.

4. The Need for Speed: Density is great, but if it’s so dense it’s slow, fahgettaboudit. Optimize load times to keep users in flow. Some things may be out of your control. If that’s the case make sure you optimize the waiting experience or tell folks to come back when things are ready to go.

5. Make it Meaningful: All that density should serve a purpose. Help users make decisions or take action—make every bit count.

6. Balance is Everything: True density means maximum value with minimum space and time. When you nail this, your UI isn’t just dense—it’s ✨magic.✨

WTF THAT’S COOL

Last week I shared a cool resource full of motion graphic goodies that makes experiences feel magical.

uiwtf is another type of resource that doesn’t rely on splashy graphics to make that magical feeling happen—but instead elevates the functionality of common interface patterns.

THE JUICE

1. Start With the Basics: Not everything needs a complete overhaul. Begin with tried-and-true patterns, then layer in small touches to create those magical moments.

2. Be Weird: No “what if” is too wacky. Trust your instincts and experiment. See if you’ve hit on something brilliant or if it’s time to burn your idea to the ground

THANKS FOR READING—SEE YOU NEXT MONDAY

In the meantime, feel free to:

1. Forward this email or share this link with your friends if you feel they could use some links for thinks: https://www.linksforthinks.com/subscribe

2. Reach out with any suggestions or questions for the newsletter.

3. Send me some of your favorite links and takeaways.

Cheers, Jake