Using Marketing Psychology To Influence Consumer Behavior

The point is that consumers think about gains and losses in relative terms, not absolute terms. A discount of $11.50 for the tripod is a larger percentage than a discount of $11.50 for the jacket. You know those stamp cards that some restaurants and coffee shops give you that allow you to get a free drink on the 10th time you come? Actually, although those cards can be effective, they’re not the most effective way of incentivizing customers to come back. Instead of having a fixed ratio reinforcement schedule, where customers get rewarded every 10th time they come, you should have variable reinforcement, where customers get rewarded randomly. To attract customers, marketers prevent out-of-stock situations, sponsor regular advertising, and provide reduced pricing, discounts, offers, coupons, and free samples.

👉🏼 Some customers respond to deals, and others react to quality or other factors. Pantene partnered up with The Weather Channel to offer hair forecasting services for its audience. You can tap into emotions through color, placement, and even how much white space is on a page. Consider what emotions will evoke when you use warm colors versus softer colors. They are fearful they won’t know in time if a fire breaks out, and people will die.

Proven-Effective Psychological Marketing Tactics

In this article, we outline why psychological factors are important to marketing and seven consumer psychological factors to consider when marketing products or services. This information teaches consumers about products and services through the experiences of others. Many consumers purposefully seek these non-experiential learning opportunities and use the insight they gain to inform their purchasing decisions and level of engagement with brands. Consumers’ psychological factors like their emotions, desires, and motivations are important to consider when creating marketing campaigns because such factors drive consumer behavior. This means that psychological factors may cause consumers to make or forgo purchases, connect with your brand or choose competitor products over your company’s.

If you’ve ever wondered, why on Earth, do companies offer free-trials then you have Nobel-winning psychologist and behavioral economist Daniel Kahneman and his colleagues, to thank. Their research back in 1990 showed that groups of people are more likely to take action when they have something to LOSE rather than to GAIN. These are awesome guest posts contributed by our users and technology enthusiasts. While psychological marketing examples these 6 principles have worked wonders on some popular brands like Apple and McDonald’s, it doesn’t guarantee total success to all. Sales are amazing because most of the time it gets people running out of their homes and work for an instant shopping spree. In application, this principle happens when you place the original price of an item at one side, and then crash it out to favor its new ‘low price’ offer.

Tactic #8: Use Exclusivity to Lure Customers

On the flip side, if you share your stance on a topic with conviction, people can get behind you. They know where you stand, and they can agree or disagree. What you’re realizing now is that you probably answered a higher amount for the second question than the first, even though it doesn’t really make sense rationally.

A startup consultant, digital marketer, traveller, and philomath. Aashish has worked with over 20 startups and successfully helped them ideate, raise money, and succeed. When not working, he can be found hiking, camping, and stargazing. Tell us what you think about our article on psychological tricks businesses use to sell more in the comments section.

Psychological factors that influence consumer behavior

Keep products up on your website even when they go out of stock. It’s an economic concept that applies to marketing beautifully. We all basically understand this concept; the less of something there is, the more people want it. That should be enough to get you started, but don’t stop with this list. You probably know this as a marketer or small business owner. Hold your team to high standards and show your customers that they are capable of achieving their goals, and success will flow from there.

People may display different levels of motivation in different aspects of their lives. For example, a high school junior may be flunking trigonometry (low motivation) while achieving champion performance levels at the video game Guitar Hero (high motivation). This cognitive bias explains why you believe that a certain brand is everywhere when in fact, it’s not.

Tactic #1: Understand the Buyer Decision Process

Psychologically, consumers enjoy being the first to try something new and will overlook a product’s shortcomings if its innovative features are emphasized. As we’ve already discussed, the product badge «Limited Edition» will appeal to our Scarcity impulses (see 5. Urgency Scarcity). Giving out free samples, trial periods, or free advice (e.g., blogs with extensive lists of information hint hint) will instill a sense of Reciprocity in your customers. When making a decision, consumers will be more inclined to “give-back” to appease this innate reciprocal instinct.