The psychology of perception: it doubles your response rates

12/06/2008 by Tony Attwood.

The psychology of perception is the scientific study of the way in which people react to what they see. It tells us such things as where the eye goes when a reader first pick up your leaflet.

The approach also tells us exactly what effects illustrations have – and surprisingly the answer is that they are not always positive. Alarmingly, the same is true about the use of colour.

Because the psychology of perception offers a scientific approach to the writing and design of advertisements the predictions that it makes are subject to rigorous tests in academic studies in universities. Thus these are not personal opinion and assertion, but testable scientific facts.

You might wonder, therefore, that if the psychology of perception is this good at telling us which mailshot and which email will work, why more advertisers don’t use it.

The answer is simple: the predictions that the psychology of perception makes are often alarmingly different from those that common sense provides. And faced with an approach that goes against all they have done for years and years, many people simply back away.

There is also the problem that some of the answers the psychology of perception give us are just a bit more complex than the answers common sense gives us. Sometimes the scientific answers say, “in situation A, do X, but in situation B, do Z.” Common sense approaches generally give us one answer for all circumstances.

However there is a big benefit from using this approach. Not only do you get the advantage that the scientific approach gives (much higher response rates), you also have the benefit of producing advertisements that look different from those of the majority of companies. And that in itself can be a real benefit.

Tony Attwood

PS: If you would like to know what the psychology of perception has to say about your current leaflet, just email me a copy, with your phone number, and I’ll call you back with the details. Tony@hamilton-house.com works most of the time.

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