Reverse Psychology and Baits: why Bad Designers will ignore this article

If you are reading this article there’s a huge chance it will disappoint you. Not because of the lack of interesting content. But if you were expecting a ready-made formula, oh boy…

Even so, there are a few good reasons to continue:

1. The subject will prove really important (especially for you who clicked on an article you have no idea what it is about);
2. You will discover what makes you equal or different from a fish;
3. And last but not least, I hope you have some fun.

Gif from Giphy.

Sorry, I used you!

This article is about baits and I’ve used one to bring you up to this point. First, I went deep down into your ego when I wrote “Bad Designers”. Even if you weren’t aware your brain must have thought:

OMG! I am NOT a bad designer! I need to click.

This is what we call Reverse Psychology.

Image created by the author.

Reverse Psychology

DON’T read this!

Please, DO NOT continue!

I bet you are still reading, right? The fact I told you not to do so makes you even more curious and induces you to continue reading.

According to the Cambridge Dictionary

[reverse psychology is] a method of trying to make someone do what you want by asking them to do the opposite and expecting them to disagree with you.

Our minds are like crazy insane rebels. We don’t want someone to tell us what we can or can’t do. And people are using you because they know you won’t resist. Actually, a lot of these designer gurus use it, also companies who are focused on marketing and even your credit card company if you dare to try to cancel it (good luck with that…).

Image created by the author.

Digital Baits

Just to make sure we are on the same page, I will tell a super short story about a fish.

This is Bob, the Barbie Fish. Sorry for using Barbie here, but since this is an appellative piece of writing I must use trendy content.

Image created by the author.

Bob was a happy fish, he loved to wear pink dresses and to drive his pink car underwater, but one day Bob saw this magical piece of food floating right in front of him.

At this moment his whole body was dominated by a crazy desire. He NEEDED to eat the food. It was as if he was possessed by the Ragatanga rhythm.*

Ragatanga: is a music that became really famous in Brazil 20 years ago and the word Ragatanga means exactly nothing to Brazilians, but the music mentions that a boy was “possessed by the Ragatanga rhythm”, and we still use this sentence sometimes to refer to someone who is really happy, crazy, whatever…

And then POOR Bob, he took the bait. And now he is an ex-Bob, because we all know what happens when a fish takes a bait without questioning why there was such a pretty and free food there for him. :(

Image created by the author.

Now you know what a bait is, exactly what got our poor Bob killed.

And now the crazy part:

Most of the time we are Bob’s in the digital world.

I bet you’ve already clicked on a title that looked like one of these:

How I did 7-figures in one week without wasting any money.

If you are using [random thing here] you are doing it wrong.

10 secrets that will save you [random number] of hours.

Only 2%[completely random number] of the designers are doing [something] right.

And you know why we click on those links?

Because like the food was really enticing to Bob these titles are enticing to us. Of course, we don’t want to waste money or do things wrong. We also want to know the secrets, because who doesn’t like secrets?

This is called: Click Bait. Sometimes also known as Link Bait or Engagement Bait, depending on its purpose.

How to use Reverse Psychology and Digital Baits for Good

Just because Reverse Psychology and Digital Baits are frequently used when gurus want to steal our souls and sell us crazy stuff it doesn’t mean they are always evil. For instance, parents use it all the time: if you say to a kid “Eat the food” they will probably ignore you, but with a small tweak it becomes way more convincing “I bet you CAN’T finish the food”.

In design is no different. We can use it for good.

For instance, maybe you really have created good content with good intentions and the reason no one is clicking on it is because the title is not appealing. There’s no problem in using those techniques to attract people as long as you deliver what people are expecting.

For me, the rule of thumb is, I can use appellative techniques as long as:

1. I don’t lie (like these stupid random percentages);
2. I don’t make false promises; and
3. I really have good content to deliver.

But you can go further. For instance, Juan Mora used a very smart approach in his portfolio. By telling us to Don’t Scroll Down he makes us have this intense desire to keep scrolling.

You can also use those techniques in software and other products. For instance, the way you talk to your user can determine whether they will finish or not the onboarding process.

Image created by the author.

The true potential of Reverse Psychology and Baits is yet to be explored by people with good intentions. But first, you need to be aware that they exist, and this is the good purpose of this article.

[Don’t] Learn more

📗 Reverse Psychology, by Misbah Sheik

📗 What is a Clickbait, by Wikipedia ****

📗 David Shekleton & Affiliate Marketing for Good, by Adam Morris

📗 Another Click Bait…, by Dare Danielewski (sorry for that… 🙊)

💡 Don’t Scroll Down, by Juan Mora

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