Would you rather be reading this on paper? You're Not Alone.
Would you rather be reading this on paper? You're Not Alone.
We're programmed to prefer paper products over digital. Here's how you can overcome that subconscious preference and make your digital product a hit.
This is Instant Appeal, a newsletter about Science-based hacks to optimize your business, career, life, and relationships. Based on concepts in my book, Instant Appeal:The 8 Primal Factors That Create Blockbuster Success. (HarperCollins)
You Really Don’t Want to Be Reading This
Here we are. On Substack. A crazy-popular digital newsletter platform.
And yet, subconsciously, you really don’t want to be reading this. At least not here. You’d rather be reading it on paper. Physical books outsell digital books four to one.
Granted, this isn’t a book. But it is a digital product that you read, and the science applies to newsletters and magazines as much as books. (Response rates for paper newsletters delivered via snail mail are three times higher than email newsletters.)
That’s right. Even in the digital age, a Pew Research study shows readers still prefer to hold something in their hands when they read it. And that “something” isn’t an iPad or e-reader. It’s a paper-based publication.
Dead Tree Shifters: Three Psychological Powers of Physical Products
Like a Titan shifter in a novel, when a tree dies its power 'leaves' it and is passed on to the next inheritor—printed books, newsletters, and magazines.
Just what is this seemingly mystical power of pulp-to-paper that we feel? Psychological and behavioral economics research says it comes down to three things:
1. The perceived power of physical control
Turning the page of a book, or holding a newsletter in our hand, makes us feel as if we can manipulate the thing we are holding. We can turn the page, dog-ear it, scribble on it, put in on a shelf, or loan it to someone. That feeling of control doesn’t exist in digital products.
2. The power of ownership.
With physical products, we feel more of a sense of ownership, because of the psychological link between person and object. Research has shown that our physical possessions contribute to our sense of identity; digital products, not so much. We see our physical belongings as an extension of ourselves. I have a friend who always lugs at least two physical books with him on her travels—even though he has an e-reader. One day I asked him why he didn’t just pack the e-reader, since it would take up much less space in his luggage. His response backed up the research: “I want people in an airport or an a plane to see what I am reading, to see that I read intellectual books and not some fiction fluff. (I heartily disagree with his characterization of fiction as “fluff.” To me, fiction is far more challenging to write than non-fiction. But that’s a topic for another time.)
Environmental engineer Rachit Agarwal loves to read, and on a Quora post echoed the psychological ownership that physical books offer:
…Opening a new book touching the crisp yellow pages, the sweet smell that fills you up and the actual physical connection with the words. A book develops a real connection with you. Holding it, keeping it in perfect shape, building your own personal collection, using bookmarks (funny or inspiring) to mark your favorite passages, its all the part of the journey you take with it.
This endowment effect is why we place a higher value on physical products than we do on digital products.
3. The power of ritual.
Rituals play a powerful role not only in how we feel, but how we evaluate a certain product or activity.
We’ve been reading physical scribblings since the Stone Age. We’re anthropologically programmed to want to hold something physical in our hands when we read it. This culturally-based ritual lights up the basal ganglia and cortically-based circuits that influence the social, emotional, and action functions of the brain. In other words, the ritual of reading a physical book or physical newsletter triggers our happy emotions and also activates the neural pathways that enhance executive function and learning.
Tricking the Brain: How to Increase the Sense of Control, Ownership, and Ritual with Digital Products
Although physical magazines, books, and newsletters are perceived as having higher value (because people pay more for those physical products than they do for their digital counterparts), that doesn’t mean you have to ditch the digital and go old school. Until enhanced touch screens that mimic the feel of real objects become mainstream, you can still engage your audience and light up all those feel-good brain circuits with a few tweaks to your digital product. Here are three ways:
1. Use skeuomorphism to make digital products resemble their physical counterparts.
Although skeuomorphic design can’t replace the tactile feeling of, say, holding a book or newsletter, it can, through visual triggers, activate the parts of the brain that respond to familiar physical objects. There are many great examples of how to apply this design concept to digital apps, books, tickets, stamps, and interactions.
The Test: “Old School” newsletter layout performed better with readers.
I don’t like to just go on what research says; I like to test things for myself, which is exactly what I did with the newsletter that promotes my online course.
We did an email split test to see which newsletters would receive a higher response rate: One had a layout much like most online newsletters; the other was designed to have the look of a physical newsletter. We used ConvertKit to send each newsletter version to half of our email list. Both versions contained the exact same content; only the layout and UI were different. Navigation for the more traditional newsletter layout involved “turning” the page by swiping the page-turn icon in the lower right corner of the first screen. Navigation for the “new school” version involved only scrolling and clicking on links.
We measured shares, click rate, and conversion rate (we had a link to our paid course on how to land a six-figure, 100% remote job.)
The metrics surprised us. The “traditional” newsletter layout (on the right in the image above) performed substantially better than the standard digital version. Specifically, the version resembling a physical newsletter had:
17% more shares.
a 23% higher click rate to our course landing page.
a whopping 44% increase in conversion rates to purchase our online course!
Given that the “modern” version has a much cleaner look with more white space (generally found to increase read-through rates), I was almost positive that the “old school” version would feel too heavy and “clunky.” But apparently there is some comfort in that old clunkiness.
2. Offer co-create options.
When you get people involved in the production of your digital product, users feel more of a sense of not only control, but also ownership. This is why so many digital startup entrepreneurs build in public. When people review, give their opinions, and then seek their suggestions implemented into a design, they feel connected to the product.
3. Add touch controls that mimic physical product interactions.
Adding touch controls, such as swiping to turn a digital book page or also gives us a feeling of control over the digital product. One of the most powerful touch controls is semantic zoom, which lets you grab an object and immediately pinch or stretch it. Examples include iPad’s photo app and Zappos shopping app for Windows.
A few quick and simple tweaks could improve your digital product metrics. If you aren’t getting the results you want from your existing books, newsletters, apps, or ecommerce sites, you might want to try playing around with the user interface.
On the other hand, if your digital products are performing well, don’t mess with a good thing. ;-)