How designers can influence client behaviour (without being manipulative)
Designers are in the influence business. We influence users through our interfaces, audiences through our communications, and customers through our packaging.
Yet many of us struggle to influence our own clients.
The difference between manipulation and ethical influence lies in intention. Manipulation seeks to benefit only yourself, while ethical influence aims for mutual benefit.
Here’s five evidence-based approaches to ethically influence client behaviour.
1. Shape the environment, not just the argument
Behavioural science shows that our environment shapes our decisions more than we realise. Smart designers apply this insight to client interactions.
One studio we visit regularly transformed their presentation space after noticing clients became quieter and more conservative in formal boardroom settings. They created a workshop environment with whiteboard walls they could draw on during presentations. They said clients naturally became more collaborative and open to new ideas. Similarly, when we ran a studio we often noted the client’s suggestions directly onto the presentation boards to show they were not precious ‘works of art’.
Consider how you can shape the environment:
- hold workshops in creative spaces rather than corporate meeting rooms
- present options side-by-side rather than sequentially
- create physical prototypes clients can touch and interact with.
The environment you create for decision-making is as important as the options you present.
2. Make the ‘right’ path the easy path
Clients, like all humans, tend to follow the path of least resistance. Use this by making the desired behaviour easier than the undesired one.
We’ve seen studios restructure their approval process because they thought it was too easy for clients to request endless revisions. They no longer provide three options, just one recommendation.
Other examples include:
- creating decision templates to guide clients through complex choices
- providing pre-written content for client approvals and feedback (and testimonials)
- offering implementation services alongside design deliverables.
By reducing friction for preferred paths, you guide clients without restricting their choices.
3. Use social proof
We’re heavily influenced by what others do, especially those similar to us. Strategic use of social proof can help clients feel confident about unfamiliar approaches.
A Brisbane agency struggled to convince clients to invest in user research so they changed their approach. Instead of arguing for research, they now share specific examples of how similar organisations benefited from research insights. The conversation shifted from ‘is this necessary?’ to ‘how can we get these benefits too? That directly aligns with our research around skeptic clients.
Effective social proof includes:
- case studies featuring organisations your client identifies with
- testimonials addressing specific concerns your client might share
- industry benchmarks showing what competitors are doing.
4. Frame choices around gains, not losses
How you frame options dramatically affects decisions. Research shows that people respond differently to the same information depending on whether it emphasises gains, or losses.
An example is telling clients they are ‘falling behind competitors’ by not updating their digital experience as opposed to a positive option focusing on the opportunities they might capture by evolving. Same message but often a completely different response.
Reframe your communications to emphasise:
- Opportunities gained rather than problems avoided
- Positive outcomes rather than negative consequences
- Aspirational goals rather than minimum standards.
5. Build commitment through small actions
Behavioural science shows that taking small actions creates commitment that leads to larger actions. Smart designers create “commitment ladders” for clients.
A Melbourne branding agency we work with transformed their process because they found clients who participated in early workshops were more likely to approve bold concepts. They now always begin a project with a small paid discovery phase. It creates investment in the process and builds trust before big decisions.
Other commitment steps include:
- beginning with smaller, lower-risk projects
- involving clients in co-creation sessions
- celebrating small wins before tackling larger challenges.
So what?
Influencing client behaviour ethically isn’t about manipulation—it’s about creating conditions where better decisions become more likely.
By applying these behavioural insights, you can guide clients toward choices that benefit both their organisations and your working relationship, while still respecting their agency and intelligence (mutual benefit).
The most successful designers understand their job isn’t just about creating great design — it’s creating the conditions where great design gets approved and implemented.
Let’s keep the conversation going. Email Greg for a chat.
Want more insights like this? Subscribe below. (And tell your friends 🙂)
Greg Branson
Design Business Council – business advice for creatives
Want more information like this delivered to your inbox every Wednesday?
The Design Business Review is Australia’s only online design management archive. It’s professional development information written specifically for Australian designers by Australian designers. Best of all, it’s free.
Related articles
Why clients resist change (and how to help them embrace it)
About Greg Branson
Greg’s passion is the research and development of methods that improve design management and the role of design in business.
His longevity is in his ability to change and adapt. Greg’s career as a traditionally-trained photographer; became an academic, teaching photography to design students; co-founded and ran Mackay Branson design (for over 25 years) until, recognising an area that he loved – design management – was not an area traditionally covered in design education, he founded Design Business Council. Since then he has worked alongside hundreds and Australian creatives helping them manage their business better.
Greg has sat on the AGDA Victoria and National councils, on a number of University and TAFE Advisory Boards and helped rewrite the VCE Visual Communication curriculum.
Outside of DBC, he is a passionate analogue photographer who spends an inordinate amount of time in his darkroom. You can follow his work on instagram @gregurbanfilm
Always happy to chat, he can be contacted here.
