In 2018, Jigsaw - a research unit inside of Google - wanted to learn how conspiracy theories spread online. But instead of relying on assumptions and second-hand information, they decided to meet 40+ American and British conspiracy theorists face-to-face. The Jigsaw executives were shocked by what they learned. Especially when they saw where the conspiracy theorists got their information. The websites that they trusted were a lot of things... but above all, they were poorly designed. ❌ In a word, they were ugly. ✅ But they were also clearly persuasive. So what was going on? A bit of marketing psychology and behavioral science (as you might’ve guessed) were behind this strange behavior, and it can teach us some valuable things about what makes people tick. Join me today as we unpack the psychology behind the persuasive power of ugly design, and how the research teams’ discoveries can help us create better customer experiences and marketing that gets customers to engage on their terms, not ours.
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