Marketing has a reputation for being able to influence people to change their minds and take action. This isn’t always true.

The reality is that persuasion occurs when the receiver of your messages thinks in their mind, not through absorbing your content. People are essentially persuading themselves. We can only design for persuasion, but we can’t persuade others.

There are two types of viewers who actually read your message on the website or other communications. 

Viewers can either be high involvement or low involvement.

Highly involved have knowledge about a subject.

Those who are highly involved, meaning they are actively seeking information, would engage more with your content and what you have to say. 

People who are highly involved will use the rational side of their brain and read more of the content. They want to dissect the information deeper and compare it with what they already know. Facts and arguments are important to them.

Low involvement isn’t engaged with the facts.

When someone’s involvement is lower, they don’t care much about the message because they don’t have the same mastery of the subject as someone who is highly involved.

They are interested in your credibility (who the content is from) and look for visual content. They also look for emotional connection, for example, through humour or relatable stories.

Because the subject isn’t as familiar to this individual, they would rather use other means to quickly make a decision.

Your content should reflect the two viewers.

The goal is to understand that there are two types of people engaging in your copy. One may be an individual with many years of experience with hearing aids, and another may be a late-deafened adult with little knowledge about hearing aids.

They both still seek to end at the same destination: hearing aids or hearing care.

The late-deafened adult isn’t going to engage with all the facts and arguments you provide on your website, for example. They will be interested in some form of credibility (celebrity endorsements) or award recognition. They are looking for visual cues and copy that is personable to their own experience with hearing loss through imagery and headlines.

While someone who has had hearing loss since childhood. They will know all the ins and outs of hearing care. They will be seeking information on your website to validate your claims against what they know. They will be interested in knowing about your process for care, how you service, what type of hearing aids you provide, and other detailed information.

People who search online do not always demonstrate high involvement.

You might think that if someone is doing a Google search, they are highly involved. It could possibly not be. It depends on what they are searching for. People who are searching broadly have lower involvement than those who search for specific terms.  

For example, if someone searches for low-cost hearing aids, this is someone who is not as involved as someone who is searching for waterproof Phonak hearing aids. 

A person with many years of experience would know all the brands of hearing aids. They have a desired outcome and a checklist of needs to be met on their hearing aids. They may already have formed an opinion on certain brands; they know the facts, and now they are checking your information against what they know.

Tips for matching the two types of viewers to your content.

• Provide in-depth content on various brands in the form of a case study.
• Structure content that provides in-depth details so people can get more information away from the main pages, or that can be clicked or hidden from the initial view.
• Avoid putting pop-ups on the detail pages. Pop-up boxes will not appeal to the highly informed. They are on a mission and won’t be easily distracted.
• Highlight credibility at the front: Be it celebrity endorsement or award recognition.
• Show images that appeal to the emotions and are relatable to people with hearing loss.