By using limited-time offers or showing consumers what their friends are purchasing, you can create a sense of urgency to buy. Amazon’s Deal of the Day is a perfect example. It hits on both scarcity (only so many deals are available) and FOMO (you only have so much time).
Scarcity and FOMO
Social proof comes in a lot of forms—customer case studies, testimonials, reviews, and social engagement, to name a few. For example, MarketingProfs applies this principle on its new membership page by pointing out that more than 600,000 marketers have signed up, motivating the reader to become part of that group as well.
Social Proof and Acceptance
Reciprocity
Whether it’s giving customers an unexpected discount or a free gift, the idea is to go above and beyond without requesting anything in return. Some B2B software companies do this by automatically extending free trials or giving customers exclusive access to new product features. For example, Freshbooks has been known to send an automated free trial extension email to users who haven’t purchased after their initial trials.
If your company’s products or services require customers to venture out of their comfort zone, explore risk-free mechanisms that allow customers to experience them. Meal box companies like Blue Apron, Plated, and HelloFresh do this by offering free meals to new customers. This tactic is appealing to all new customers, but especially those who are reluctant to try a new dinner routine.
Status Quo Bias
Pain Avoidance
One classic example of marketing around pain avoidance is offering special financing for bigger purchases. When you can remove the pain of spending money—at least in the short term—you remove a critical barrier to purchase. Think Volkswagen’s Sign Then Drive event, which eliminates the down payment, so leasees can drive their car off the lot while avoiding a large upfront cost.
Scarcity and
FOMO
See Example
First introduced by Dr. Robert Cialdini in his bestseller, Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, this principle is fairly simple:
This is an incredibly powerful psychological principle that marketers have used for years to drive action.
When we fear that something is scarce, we feel compelled to act—buying, stockpiling, or experiencing that thing before it’s gone.
Social Proof and Acceptance
See Example
Tapping into this desire for like-mindedness and social acceptance is key to creating marketing messages that feel authentic and trustworthy.
We generally value the opinions and ideas of people like us more than those who aren’t, and we feel greater compulsion to act when we see others like us taking action.
Humans love being part of a herd
Reciprocity
See Example
This is another principle from Dr. Cialdini’s book, and one of the most powerful
Simply put, the more you give to your customers, the more they’ll be willing to give back to you.
People generally feel indebted to those who do something for them without asking for anything in return.
Status Quo Bias
See Example
First introduced by Dr. Robert Cialdini in his bestseller, Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, this principle is fairly simple:
Understanding whether your products play into or push against consumer inertia is critical to developing effective messaging.
People generally prefer status quo—
even if they say (or their actions suggest) they’re open to new ideas or ways of doing things.
Pain Avoidance
Improving
Something
Losing Something
Put another way, if someone anticipates that taking action or making a change could disrupt them,
they won’t do anything.
The psychological fear of losing something or experiencing pain is twice as strong as the potential to gain or improve something.
See Example
First introduced by Dr. Robert Cialdini in his bestseller, Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, this principle is fairly simple:
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Explore Ceros
Scarcity and
FOMO
Social Proof and Acceptance
Reciprocity
Status Quo Bias
Pain Avoidance
Enter Social Psychology, Behavioral Economics, and Neuromarketing
While human behavior is inherently harder to forecast than our annual numbers, there are certain psychological principles that can help marketers better understand how, where, when, and why customers take—
or choose not to take—action.
Factors Impacting Decision-Making
Customer decision making isn’t as predictable as we’d expect.
In fact, researchers have found that consumer action is often influenced by “irrational” social and psychological triggers.
And these triggers often don’t jive with the logical computer systems we use to analyze them.
So, where does that leave us?
Marketers today rely on data and analytics to evaluate virtually every step a customer takes on his or her journey. But does hard, quantitative data really tell the full story about why a specific person took a specific action? Or is there more at play?
5 Psychological Principles that Explain Why Consumers Do What They Do
The Psychology of Action