There are many documents online that talk about the psychology of the searcher and how understanding this psychology can further the effectiveness of your online marketing efforts. Few cover the subject of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and of those less than a handful impart any real understanding of the subject.

Human motivation falls in two categories, intrinsic and extrinsic, intrinsic motivation comes from within and extrinsic from without. Intrinsic motivation manifests itself when you are motivated by inner things like purpose, passion and mission. People who are motivated intrinsically do not quit easily and are most likely to succeed. Albert Einstein talked about intrinsic motivation as 'the enjoyment of seeing and searching.'

Extrinsic motivation is an attempt to motivate through external rewards like money, grades and recognition. Rewards associated to an activity can undermine intrinsic motivation because of the negative feelings that extrinsic rewards can cause such as performance anxiety.

Searchers are intrinsically motivated

When someone arrives at your website they are intrinsically motivated to find information or a solution to a problem they may be experiencing, not primarily to make a purchase. Although the long term goal may be to make a purchase the greatest part of a searchers time is taken up by research and comparison shopping prior to any transaction taking place.

It has been understood for some time that motivation and achievement are synonymous so are ability and achievement. It therefore makes sense to concentrate on the primary goals of your site visitors, offering objective information that feeds intrinsic motivation and brings sense of achievement to the visitor, i.e. enable the visitor to make an informed decision. By starting out with an offer based on price (extrinsic motivation) or using sales hype in an attempt to coerce the visitor into purchasing from you defeats the primary purpose of the searcher. Price is a factor, however price becomes meaningless unless the consumer fully understands what the price includes, what benefits will be derived, what support is offered and for how long and what guarantees are offered ...

Intrinsic satisfaction (pride) comes from enjoying an activity and doing it well or by making the correct decision. By answering questions and addressing concerns promotes trust, one of the greatest hurdles to overcome online. If this can be backed up by impartial third party evidence i.e. official reports, reviews from recognised sources or government statistics you can create an even greater level of trust and credibility. All of this builds a sense of intrinsic satisfaction in the consumer because he feels that he has discovered an organisation that puts his interests first.

The internet becomes more powerful every day; conventional advertising media like TV, radio and print are experiencing massive reduction in advertising revenue while mobile technology and the internet are enjoying a massive increase in advertising revenue. There are many reasons for this, primarily the internet offers the consumer a channel that only shows products or information he is interested in, hence intrinsic motivation. From the retailers point of view the internet draws consumers to their online property that are already showing interest in their product and services, hence the requirement to provide intrinsic satisfaction.

Addressing intrinsic motivation correctly by writing objective, usable content that scans well builds trust and fosters intrinsic satisfaction. Ensuring that your call to action is intrinsically beneficial and meaningful to the visitor will bring you much closer to your commercial goals. Furthermore people who buy under these circumstances are more likely to buy from you again and again. The internets ability to touch and communicate with consumers in this way cant be matched by any other advertising channel. This will further the demise of conventional advertising and some TV channels are already talking about product placement and brand altered content as a means to increase their diminishing returns.

Over the next few years the actual spend on internet purchases is set to soar to unprecedented levels. Some retailers are preparing for this by creating websites that work on every level, some are just creating websites. What camp are you in?