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Path scenarios

Determining path scenarios

How to influence visitor behaviour by providing paths of information.

If you could find a way to anticipate, respond to, and influence your visitor behaviour, it seems reasonable to assume that the levels of success you are currently experiencing from your website would be greatly improved. 

In order to successfully influence your visitors, the following concepts require consideration: 

  • Know the purpose of your website: Put measures in place to track its success. 
  • First time visitors are special: You must have processes in place to encourage your first time visitors to want to return. 
  • Nurture your visitors: Visitors will only turn into customers once they are comfortable with the relationship. This means that they will more than likely have visited your website several times before a commitment is made.
Zone path analysis diagram

Zone Path Analysis

The first section, labelled ZONE PATH ANALYSIS, shows five overlapping ovals.

Each oval represents the set of articles that responds to the style of questions for each zone.

The principle of information architecture is to present information appropriate to the visitor, satisfy their current anxieties and help to build trust. The objective is therefore to guide the first time visitor through each of the zones, becoming returning visitors, until they are ready to commit to your call to action.

The second section, labelled POSSIBLE PATH SCENARIOS, shows five overlapping ovals with a series of coloured lines.

As the previous diagram, each oval represents the set of articles that responds to the style of questions for each zone. Each coloured line represents the path a visitor takes when reading the articles on your website.

The third section, labelled TRUST / ANXIETY LEVEL ANALYSIS, shows the change in trust and anxiety levels as the visitor moves through the zones.

Anxiety is represented by the green line, trust is represented by the blue line. The zones are represented as red vertical lines on the x-axis of the graph and are in line with the ovals above. Although the level of trust will slowly improve with increasing number of visits, their anxieties will rise and fall.

Customer journey

The customer journey

The visitor anxiety levels will initially be high in zone 1 as they know very little about you and not know whether you can solve their problems. 

As the visitor learns more about you and your products and services, their anxieties will lessen. But they will rise again when the visitor searches for assurance that you can actually deliver. 

By analysing the trust and anxiety levels of your visitor at any given point, you can support and influence their decision making process by providing information written in an appropriate style. 

The fourth diagram, labelled SUGGESTED WRITING STYLES, shows two coloured bars that represents the two writing styles. 

The green bar represent articles written in an impartial style. The orange bar represent articles written in a persuasive style. 

While the visitor remains within a given zone, trust can be improved and anxiety levels reduced by presenting impartial information to the visitor. 

During the transition between zones (the unmarked zones between the red lines), the visitor can be motivated to move to the next zone by presenting persuasive arguments that outline benefits and delivery of results. 

As the visitor anxiety levels fall, more persuasive articles can be presented to help influence the visitor to move to the next zone. As the visitor anxietly levels rise, more impartial articles can be presented to help build trust. 

Marketing Workshops

Try our marketing workshops for FREE

The first FREE introductory workshop will cover the Business Posture section of the Strategy Builder training programme. 

This 45 minute call will cover the following areas: 

  • Splitting your marketing activities into customer acquisition and customer nurturing marketing strategies 
  • Add clarity to your objectives by asserting a well defined USP 
  • Generate a business posture by presenting value and results combined with your passion to deliver 

The complete workshop programme includes Marketing Analysis, Content Marketing, Information Architecture, Improving Communication and Measuring Success. These workshops can be arranged as 45 minute telephone / Zoom calls to be held once a week (a time and day that fits). Those companies who wish to take this further can arrange one-2-one training or join an existing workshop group held on Wednesdays or Thursdays.

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