Neuro Web Design
A less buzzwordy title for this book would be "The Neurosociology of Effective eCommerce Design," but I suppose that's not as pithy as "Neuro Web Design." This brief, clearly written and surprisingly obvious book by Susan M. Weinschenk examines the neuroscience behind effective Web marketing and design, focusing in particular on eCommerce.
Quite a bit of the book covers how the "old, mid and new" parts of the brain affect our decisions to buy and act in the ways that we do. (I'd argue that you could interchange those three terms with "id, ego and superego," but there are physical parts of the brain which map to these concepts.) Weinschenk focuses quite a bit on socialization and how we need to be a part of a group, especially when we make decisions about buying. She focuses on the effectiveness of public reviews, reciprocity, immediacy, and threat in designing your Web commerce and marketing strategy.
It was interesting to read that psychologists are now demonstrating, though data, the effectiveness of "chunking" content — a practice that my work has put to use for over a decade now in long-form online educational content. Learners provided much anecdotal data about preferring chunked content, but Weinschenk points to studies that back this up with numbers.
A lot of what she says makes great common sense and is, honestly, pretty obvious when you think about it. She presents things in a very easy-to-read and understand style. I did find, though, that the overall book is a bit thin as the core concepts are repeated in a number of different ways over 132 pages (padded with elegant spacing, pictures, and reminder boxes throughout). It also ends rather abruptly, providing very little wrap-up, but this isn't fiction.
I haven't read the book, but from your description it seems she has ignored a very influential, yet small part of the shopper population...the leaders. Most of us do "need" to be part of a group when we purchase things, but there is generally a person at or near the top of the "food chain" that is making decisions for the groups we all fit in. I think I've heard these people called Thought Leaders. Anyway, the point is that these people are NOT influenced by other people (not as much, anyway), but rather they thoughtfully explore all the options and then pass their knowledge and experience on to others.
@Jake - You're absolutely right, she does ignore this group. She talks about affinity and following those who are like us, but I don't recall much about individual leaders in the book at all. One of her key points is that we're much more likely to follow (people or environmental factors) than to lead, and I suppose from a mass-marketing perspective, you want to get people to need to feel that they have to follow and buy, buy, buy.
