Alex’s Guide to Conversion Psychology (for clients and friends)

Why this guide exists

After years of working as a CRO specialist and web developer – with clients ranging from early-stage eComm brands to TripAdvisor – I noticed something weird:

The people making decisions about websites (designers, devs, founders, product managers) often didn’t share a mental model for how conversion works.

People say they want a “high-converting site”. But what makes that happen? What makes people act?

It usually comes down to psychology. Not trends. Not vibes. Not design awards. Psychology.

And because conversion psychology comes up in projects all the time, I wanted a place to house the key ideas I rely on (namely from the books below!)

So instead of re-explaining why a certain headline sucks, or why that "subtle" CTA needs to punch harder, I can just link people here.

This is that place.

It's not exhaustive. It's not academic. It's just the stuff that works.

What you probably care about

If you're reading this, chances are you want more.

More sales. More leads. More booked calls. Whatever your version of "conversion" is, it's the moment someone goes from interested to taking action.

And yes, conversion rate isn't a perfect metric.

But either way, improving conversion rates means getting more out of the traffic you already have. It's leverage.

That makes it a smart focus. Here's the catch: most people approach CRO with a surface-level toolkit.

• They'll test button colors.

• They'll copy a competitor's layout.

• They'll add urgency without context.

And when those things don't move the needle, they assume CRO doesn't work.

Yada… yada… yada… all stuff you’ve heard from Hubspot articles before, I’m sure.

But the real issue? They're skipping the psychology. They're designing pages without really thinking about the human on the other side of the screen.

This guide fixes that. It gives you the mental models I use to figure out what's actually missing from a page, a funnel, or a flow—so you can make smarter decisions that lead to better results.

The Life Force 8: What people really want

Let’s start with messaging. If you only learn one framework for messaging, make it this one.

Drew Eric Whitman's "Life Force 8" is a list of the primal human desires that drive most decisions – especially where money is involved.

In order:

1. Survival, enjoyment of life, or life extension

2. Enjoyment of food and beverages

3. Freedom from fear, pain, or danger

4. Sexual companionship

5. Comfortable living conditions

6. To be superior, winning, or keeping up with the Joneses

7. Care and protection of loved ones

8. Social approval

Nearly every product taps into one or more of these – even if it's indirect. The best landing pages, PDPs, and campaigns make that connection explicit.

When I'm reviewing copy or critiquing a headline, this is often my first question:

Which of these 8 forces are we tapping into?

If the answer is "none," we either have a weak product, or we're not selling it properly.

Use this framework when:

• Writing or critiquing messaging

• Choosing which benefit to lead with

• Designing value props and hero sections

💡 Life Force 8 in Action

Scenario: You’re optimizing a landing page for a high-protein breakfast bar. Current headline reads:

“Start Your Day Right with Our Clean Energy Bar”

It's vague. Doesn’t tap into any core human desire…

You ask: Which of the Life Force 8 are we hitting here?

Right now: maybe survival/life extension, loosely. But not powerfully.

You rewrite it using the desire for superiority and social approval:

“Join 22,000 Athletes Fueling Their Mornings with 20g of Clean Protein”

Now you're:

• Signaling social proof ("22,000 athletes")

• Tapping into the desire to be better than others (strong, disciplined, part of the elite)

• Adding specificity with “20g of clean protein”

📌 Lesson: Don’t just describe what it is. Describe how it satisfies something deep. Life Force 8 is a messaging filter, not a to-do list — use it to pressure-test copy.

The 5 Stages of Awareness: Matching message to mindset

Eugene Schwartz's "Breakthrough Advertising" is an ancient, dense book – but it has one idea that's pure gold: people are at different stages of awareness, and your message has to meet them where they are.

The 5 stages:

1. Most Aware — Knows your product and wants it

2. Product Aware — Knows what you sell, but not sure it's right for them

3. Solution Aware — Knows the result they want, but not how to get it

4. Problem Aware — Feels the pain, but doesn’t know there’s a fix

5. Unaware — Doesn’t know they have a problem

Where most pages go wrong is talking to the wrong stage. If your audience is already solution-aware, but your page starts by defining the problem, it feels boring. If they’re problem-aware and you hit them with product specs, it feels confusing or irrelevant.

Use this framework when:

• Planning a landing page flow

• Writing campaign copy or headlines

• Evaluating whether a redesign actually solves a user problem

💡 Stages of Awareness in Action

Scenario: You’re building a landing page for a new brand of blue-light-blocking glasses. The founder wants to lead with a detailed description of the product’s materials and design.

But your target audience is problem-aware — they’re tired, unfocused, and getting headaches from screens, but they haven’t tried any solutions yet.

If you go straight to product specs, they’ll bounce.

Instead, you structure the page like this:

1. Lead with the problem:
   “Struggling to sleep after staring at screens all day?”
   
   

2. Introduce the cause:
   “Blue light disrupts your natural sleep rhythm.”
   
   

3. Offer your product as the solution:
   “Our blue-light glasses help your brain wind down—naturally.”
   
   

4. Then start listing product details.

📌 Lesson: Match message to mindset. If your user doesn’t know the solution exists, don’t start by selling it. Start by naming the pain.

Cialdini's 7 Principles: What makes people act now

Where the Life Force 8 explains deep human desires, Cialdini's 7 Principles of Influence show us how to nudge people toward action.

1. Reciprocity — People give back when you've given first

2. Commitment & Consistency — Small yeses lead to big yeses

3. Social Proof — We follow the crowd

4. Authority — We trust experts

5. Liking — We say yes to people we like

6. Scarcity — We want what might disappear

7. Unity — We act in alignment with our group identity

This framework is gold for audits and teardowns. If something feels "off" on a page, chances are one or more of these principles is missing. When I'm reviewing a site, I literally run down this list in my head.

Examples:

• No reviews or testimonials? Weak on social proof.

• Generic stock imagery? Fails the unity + liking test.

• Long form with no upfront benefit? Violates reciprocity.

Use this framework when:

• Auditing an existing website

• Writing CRO hypotheses

• Identifying subtle UX problems that hurt conversions

💡 Cialdini’s Principles in Action

Scenario: You’re auditing a Shopify PDP for a bestselling facial serum. Traffic is good. Product is solid. But conversion is lagging. You start running Cialdini’s 7 Principles through the page:

Reciprocity:
No free sample offer or guarantee = missed opportunity.
✅ Suggest: “Try it for 30 days—risk free.”

Commitment & Consistency:
No starter size or mini bundle.
✅ Suggest: “Start with our Mini Glow Kit for £9.”

Social Proof:
No review count in header.
✅ Suggest: “Over 4,000 glowing reviews (literally).”

Authority:
No mention of formulation experts.
✅ Suggest: “Dermatologist-approved and featured in Elle.”

Liking:
Brand tone is clinical, not warm.
✅ Suggest: Add founder story or mission for emotional connection.

Scarcity:
Nothing!
✅ Suggest: “Restocks every 2 weeks—last batch sold out in 3 days.”

Unity:
Could lean into cultural identity or shared skin struggles.
✅ Suggest: “Made for melanin-rich skin, tested by real women in London.”

📌 Lesson: Cialdini isn’t just theory. It’s a page review checklist. When nothing’s obviously broken, these principles help you find hidden friction—or untapped persuasion levers.

Modern CRO = Classic Sales Principles + UX Execution

There’s a tendency in tech and eCommerce to treat CRO as some modern, data-driven discipline that's all about button color tests and Google Analytics dashboards.

But real CRO is older than the web. It’s just sales psychology applied to interactive media.

The best-performing sites aren’t necessarily the prettiest or most "on-trend." They’re the ones that:

• Speak to a clear human desire (Life Force 8)

• Match the message to the user mindset (Stages of Awareness)

• Layer on behavioral triggers (Cialdini)

• Remove friction and add clarity (basic UX hygiene)

That’s it. That’s the formula. Everything else is nuance.

And sometimes... it’s just the damn photo

Here’s the part no one wants to admit:

In eComm, your biggest conversion lever is often just a better product image.

You can rework your UX. Rewrite your copy. Redesign your entire PDP. But if your hero shot looks like it came from a dropshipping template in 2017? You’re toast.

Great visuals can do what 500 words of copy can’t. They instantly:

• Show quality

• Convey value

• Build desire

So if nothing else, test your images.

Final thought: Build with the brain in mind

Good CRO isn't about being clever. It's about understanding how people work:

• What they want

• What makes them hesitate

• What gets them over the line

This guide is meant to be a shared mental model for how we think about users, behavior, and persuasion.

So next time we’re planning a new flow, debating a hero section, or wondering why a test failed—refer back here.

Because we’re not just designing pages. We’re designing decisions.