|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Top line. Images don’t decorate your message—they direct it. The brain relies more on visuals than any other sense to frame meaning and trigger decisions. A simple image swap on a diet website lifted conversions by 52%. Read on to learn why visuals steer the subconscious—and how to use them strategically.
Why visuals help the subconscious to see more
The website of Dutch diet company Arono first featured a predictable slender model in its header. Like many brands, Arono assumed that a rational portrayal of its solution—what success looks like—would persuade visitors to sign up. Results were pedestrian.
But when a behavioural science strategy replaced the model with a photo of a crisp green salad, Arono’s online conversions jumped by 52%. Why?
The subconscious is the brain’s mastermind.
The 22-watt brain doesn’t have the battery power to process 11 million bits of data per second consciously. So, it routes all incoming information through its automatic subconscious system first. The brain’s highly evolved subconscious production line makes millions of rapid decisions by reducing inputs to their most basic frame—and snapping reflexive reaction patterns to them instantly. Ninety-five percent of decisions and behaviours are triggered this way, using almost no energy at all. The subconscious is the brain’s real mastermind.
The subconscious builds meaning visually
The subconscious relies heavily on visuals to frame information. Roughly 30% of the brain’s neurons are dedicated to interpreting visual data. The optical nerve connects directly to the primary brain, delivering input faster than any other sense. In fact, the brain responds to images 13 milliseconds faster than it does to words. That makes visuals—whether pictures, icons, shapes, colours, or layouts—the brain’s primary data source.
Visual elements help the subconscious form what behavioural scientists call mental frames. These are cognitive shortcuts that focus attention, limit distraction, and activate relevant memories and emotions. Each frame narrows the brain’s reference point, allowing it to intuitively interpret what it sees and decide how to feel or act—instantly.
In Arono’s case, their initial image of the model triggered harder-to-access memories and associations for most people battling with weight—frustration, failure, even shame. That made the subconscious mind resist.
The salad, on the other hand, was easier to process. It exploited a primal, universally relatable behaviour: eating. The brains of overweight people had more accessible memories and more positive associations to work with. The image felt familiar, achievable, and immediately rewarding.
Visual are powerful triggers of bias
The salad didn’t just look easier—it felt easier to act on right now. That triggered a powerful subconscious bias known as hyperbolic discounting—our instinctive tendency to prefer immediate rewards over future gains.
An image of a model implied long-term effort and delayed gratification. The salad offered a small win now. That subtle shift in framing created a dramatic shift in behaviour.
Arono’s sales data told the story.
How to apply behavioural science to your visual element selection
Visuals aren’t just decoration. They’re mental direction. And they go beyond photography. Every shape, colour, icon, and design element plays a role in how the subconscious interprets your message. To influence behaviour more intentionally, apply these principles:
- Don’t choose visuals because they show what you do. Choose them because they talk about the problem you solve. Activate the internal message you want the brain to receive.
- Don’t select visuals for style alone. Choose elements the brain can process quickly and effortlessly.
- Make rewards feel immediate. Use visuals that imply something positive can happen now, not just later.
- Lever memory and emotion. Favour elements that stir familiar, positive associations in your audience.
- Test what sticks. If it sparks an instant, instinctive reaction, it’s working. If it needs explanation, it’s not.
- Frame the action. Use layout, shapes, colours, and images that make the desired behaviour feel obvious, doable, and rewarding.
The bottom line. Visuals don’t just support your message—they steer it. From images and icons to colours and layouts, every visual element speaks to the subconscious first. Choose them not for what they show, but for how they make people feel—and what they make people do.
About
Jonathan Hall is the CEO of ThinkWorks, a behavioural science consultancy that helps organisations move more minds with influence science. ThinkWorks blends the disciplines of strategy, behavioural science, and communication art to produce messaging tactics that persuade effectively.
Jonathan is a graduate of Wits Business School, has trained in strategic modelling at Aix-Marseille University in France, and is certified in behavioural economics, brand, and narrative science.
He is the author of the e-books The Power of Brand Story and BrainSell. His work has earned several accolades, including the IMM Marketing Company of the Year award, a Deloitte Best Company to Work For award, and a PSA Innovator of the Year award.
To find out if ThinkWorks can help your organisation to motivate minds to move, contact ThinkWorks soon.
