User Psychology for Affiliates: Attention-Grabbers and How to Make Them Convert

In the game of affiliate marketing, we need to grab user attention to bring them to our end goal — the target action. At the informational age we currently live in, people do not have time to read every text they stumble across. Consequently, we have to take the campaigns to a completely different level, beyond simple consciousness.

This article will explain how the users read your website content (spoiler — they don’t). It will also deliver the key features that make the text more impactful and memorable. Not only that, we will also explain some pitfalls to avoid, because more is not always better. Of course, we will include the practical examples from iGaming, nutra, utilities, and other verticals that the affiliates can use right away. Buckle up and let’s roll!

Visitor’s psychology

Human beings are imperfectly rational, which means they can make suboptimal choices, due to their bounded knowledge. Where rationality gives in, instincts prevail. Knowing how to influence and orchestrate the irrational behavior of people is a powerful tool for your campaigns.

The attention span of any human is very limited, in fact, the short-term memory of most people is said to be capped at around 7 items at any time. 

Nowadays, when information overwhelms at every step, people tend not to read website content at all. Instead, they scan the page for individual words and sentences. According to Nielsen Norman Group’s study, the text becomes easy to scan and thus easier to comprehend, once it incorporates some of the following features:

• Highlighted keywords (Bold font, Hyperlinks, Typeface alterations, Colored words)
• Meaningful subheadings (no puns, wordplay, or jokes)
• Bullet lists (like the one you’re reading)
• One paragraph = one idea (the rest will be simply ignored)
• Inverted pyramid structure (conclusion → interesting facts → background)
• Half the length of conventional writing (remember that the user has to read hundreds of texts, not only yours)

Affiliates should also remember about the modifiers that can affect the text, either positively or negatively. For example, credibility is a great boon to your endeavors of conveying the message. Credibility of the lander is improved by using high-quality graphics, writing good texts, and including links to compelling sources. 

On the other hand, over-exaggeration, highly subjective sentences, and boastful claims can be really repulsive, e.g., “the hottest offer of 2023” or “miraculous results”.

All these features are aimed at grabbing the attention of a user. An interested user spends more time on the landing page, increasing the chances of conversion and improving your website statistics.

Value proposition

Generally, people do not care about the product the affiliate promotes if it does not solve their problems, especially if there are more available alternatives. For the product to bring true value to its potential buyer, you need to highlight its bonuses and benefits with your creatives and landers directly, even bluntly.

This tip is relatively simple to implement, because you just input the information about the advantages of using the product:

• Nutra: Here’s how to get a 25% discount on the body lotion you just viewed
• Utilities: Grab the new edition of VPN and surf anonymously on the internet
• iGaming: Now you can purchase spins and earn a premium for that

However, it might be difficult to get your hands on the bonuses, since not every advertiser provides such promotions. Affiliates cannot invent them by themselves, because this would be misleading and detrimental for your campaigns.

Remember also about the product’s unique selling points and bring them upfront. People do not have time or desire to scroll down each website they visit. Therefore, implement the aforementioned inverted pyramid while composing the text. The list of good selling points can include the following examples:

• Our VPN is effective, which is proven by overwhelmingly positive global reviews (social proof)
• According to a study, people pay for the bills 40% more than a decade ago, making our energy saver essential in every house; today you have a chance to win one for free (appeal to authority)
• Not only can you play blackjack, baccarat, poker, or slots for the sake of the game; but you can make new acquaintances, chat on-line, earn money stably, and much more (all-in-one solution)

Visual elements

No matter how valuable the product might be, without the right presentation it will never make an impact. Various visual elements on your lander can be very compelling, because people learn more than 80% of all the information visually. This in tandem with the psychological tricks mentioned above can make your campaigns a true powerhouse. Think about the following:

• Create a sense of urgency. Adding a timer to your nutra offer, reminding of the limited stock, highlighting the economy, or displaying the status of being the most popular product among the users. In a nutshell, the product must look exclusive and have a fixed deadline.
• Any vertical can benefit from entertaining the user with pop-ups, and animation on pre-landers to make them stand out, because users have already shown their interest in the product you are promoting. Consider using the spinning wheel, even if you are not promoting iGaming.
• Remember that any text serves not only informative purposes but decorative as well, especially if the headlines are involved. The length and even letter selection matters a lot. A good headline must be concise, clear, and compelling. For the headlines to be overkill, they have to solve a crucial problem or grant a hefty bonus, but never go overboard and keep your headlines honest and fair.
• Use bright imagery, which does not have to be necessarily aggressive but dynamic, engaging, and vivid. Get to know your audience first, grab the attention in the first 3 seconds, and optimize your ads for all the devices you target. 
• Mind the platform you are advertising on and keep the ad native, this is especially crucial for dynamic verticals where the sums the visitor pays are relatively small.
• Always keep your visitors on the hook, so they demand more information, until the Call-to-Action button comes into view which has to be very precise, exact, and clear.

Vanquishing any doubts left

Let’s not pretend, you want to make profit on the product you are promoting, and your visitor knows that perfectly. In order to break the ice, try to apply the good cop/bad cop tactic. After promoting the product using all the aforementioned tips, add anything that looks unassuming, unrelated, and entertaining. 

This way, you will make the user spend more time on the page so that they wouldn’t want to leave and finally decide to look around. Basically, you need some sort of lead magnet:

1. Useful information (guides, infographics, webinars, templates)
2. Entertainment (quizzes, tests, horoscopes)
3. Special offers (discounts, promo codes, certificates)
4. Freebies (trials, printables, calculators)

Surely you can combine several lead magnets on a single webpage but don’t overdo it. Remember, the attention span is very limited and if the information becomes overwhelming, people tend to get out of the tense situation quickly. Once again, the spinning wheel can be used to provide some kind of freebies – it is not limited to the iGaming vertical only. This way you provide both free content and entertain the user, easing the tension and sense of mistrust.

Other cool ideas are adding some presentation or whitesheet about the product. Also, mini-games and interactive elements do improve the conversion rate of your campaigns. The most basic examples of the games you can incorporate to your landers are: 

• Games of chance
• Knowledge games
• Platformers
• Tapping games
• Puzzles
• Hidden object games
• Strategy games

As for the interactive elements, this can be practically anything, from the car builder before purchasing to flat floor planner. Remember, any interactive tool is your chance to stand out and make the wanna-be lead engage with your content that would most likely have been ignored otherwise.

Conclusion

There are many ways to grab the users’ attention that can be implemented at all stages of the flow. Use any of them or several of them to achieve the best results for your offers and campaigns. There is no universal formula, it’s all trial and error; but practice makes perfect.

Best of luck,
Yep Ads