Persuasion Techniques for Tourism Website Design

Previous studies argue that visual elements possess the power of persuasion and contribute in persuading the end users. However, not much attention has been given in assessing the implementation of persuasive techniques in website's visual design. Based on Cialdini's six persuasion techniques, this paper reviews the current state of utilising the techniques in tourism website design. Issues related to the lacking of persuasive design are highlighted. This paper also discusses, in the context of tourism, the possible visual cues representing the techniques of reciprocation, commitment and consistency, social proof, liking, authority and scarcity. A comparison is made between information-driven and profit-driven websites. The outcome of the review confirms that the design of tourism websites is mostly focusing on facilitating communication with the web users and emphasis more in providing favourable imagery and information to attract their attention. However, it is discovered that even though most persuasion principles are present, they are still under-utilised. Moreover, credibility remains as a major issue as less evidence of visual elements that emphasis trust can be found in the design. In addition to the reviews and discussion, this paper also presents a conceptual framework of persuasive visual web design.