13 Ways to Make Marketing Psychology Work for You   

Marketing psychology, human behavior's fundamental principles, and ways to deal with it are vital in examining buyer behavior. Marketing psychology examines how clients think, sense, reason, and decide and gives us clues about running our marketing strategy. 

Marketing psychology aims to persuade and influence consumer behavior based on psychological principles. A purposeful, emotional appeal can be just what you require to gain social proof and attract clients.  

We're ready to dive into Marketing Psychology now that we've covered some important first steps.

Essential Principles of Human Behavior in Marketing Psychology   

Studying individuals' fundamental needs and ideals mean that it is a way to understand how and why our target audience behaves the way they do. For this reason, as a first step, we have to do some keyword examination, design buyer personas and track when consumers are most probably to visit our website.  

The study does not stop here. What about the psychology behind a customer? How valuable would it be to predict the behavior and then base our digital marketing campaign on that data? This section will dive into some theories of marketing psychology that can apply to marketing strategies to support us contact our niche market more effectively.  

Marketing psychology & Consumer Psychology 

1) Priming  

Priming means that you, through a combination of techniques and tools, come to consumers' minds into a specific variety of words, phrases, colors, and designs around the brand. To support your website visitors, emphasize your brand's key information, influencing their buying behavior.   

2) Reciprocity  

Reciprocity is the process when a person receives a free gift and experiences warm feelings towards the gift-giver and wants to offer something back. 

When it comes to marketing, you can benefit from reciprocity. How about giving a gift like an e-book, a demo, free trials, exclusive material, etc.? In this way, your customers feel like you offer them some privileges, and you will gain some positive reviews. 

Something as simple as a hand-written note can bring the customers closer to the brand, making it more direct and personalized. These marketing efforts create a more customer-centric and humane profile for all brands that most people search for. Not only will customers be more pleased to follow you, but you'll prove brand loyalty and build a community.  

3) Social Proof  

Social proof is a natural need of the individual to feel that they are doing something right because others do the same or adopt the beliefs or actions of a group of people they like or trust. 

People often start doing a new activity simply because they have seen it from someone else. This is called vicarious learning. It is ideal for building your fanbase since all your fans belong to the "me too" effect.   

The most effortless, fast, and positive way to build this sense of unity is your blog and primarily through social sharing and follow buttons. Your blog is the perfect place to offer free content and improve your image to customers in the broader ways marketers prefer. 

To achieve marketing psychology, you must show your potential customers the number of followers your accounts have or how many shares your content has. If those numbers are shared, people will also likely share your post, and more people will reach you.   

Respectively, all brands can use this to their emails and landing pages by displaying the number of people with the same profession who have downloaded an e-book. Doing that may boost both the downloading of the offer and social media sharing.  

Tactics regarding consumer behavior and marketing strategies 

4) Decoy Effect  

The decoy effect mainly concerns prices that your products will have. Specifically, one price point is intentionally included to entice the customer to choose the most expensive option based on psychological factors.  

For example:  

• Online subscription: $ 40  

• Print subscription: $ 110  

• Online and print subscription: $ 110  

So great marketing psychology suggestion is to boost conversions on a landing page with two alternatives, and do not forget to put a third option with the same price as the second option. It could support increasing the conversion rate of the option you'd like people to buy and drive sales.  

5) Scarcity Marketing 

You read the phrase to a page: "Only three items remaining at this price."  

That's scarcity marketing and puts more pressure on consumers to buy. Theory suggests that this tactic causes an emotional response to supply and demand. So the rare an opportunity, content, or product is, the more priceless the idea of achieving it is to a consumer.  

 In addition, scarcity is especially powerful for event marketing. Posting on social media or sending an email to those who have not registered, for example, in the webinar you are organizing. Tell them that only a few tickets left for the webinar may drive them to report immediately. This idea stresses consumers and pushes them to make a purchase. On the other hand, you gain customer loyalty and limited supply. 

6) Anchoring   

Anchoring for marketers is essential for sales. Specifically, you clearly state the product's initial price and then demonstrate the sale price next to it. You might even define how much discount your new customers will receive with the sale. It's a vital way to create trust and run your sales strategy. The second price is critical information while it offers higher value to the purchase behavior. 

7) Clustering  

The human brain tends to remember up to seven pieces of information. This is why marketers must apply clustering tactics while creating content. How can this happen? How can you keep the information in the consumer's mind? By grouping similar topics under numbered bullet points or with different headlines sizes.   

In this way, it is easy for customers to scan your writing at a glance, which quickly remembers and recalls, especially if you are creating long lists of content.  

8) The Frequency Illusion  

 Let's discuss a little story. You first hear about a product, and you start thinking about it. Then you begin to see it wherever you go.   

Congratulations, you are experiencing the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon (or the Frequency Illusion). It begins to operate as soon as you hear or see something for the first time, and then you commence witnessing daily. 

For example, you start seeing ads everywhere of a new mobile (on mobile devices, social media pages, TV, etc.), your friends buy this product, and it becomes the talk of the town. We believe that this phenomenon is the definition of marketing psychology. 

The hypothesis behind this exposure/outcome is that you can often have pleasant emotions regarding something you're exposed to.  

How can you take advantage of this? 

Once someone starts noticing your brand, clicking around on your website, engaging with you on social platforms, or reading your blog, you’ve completed the first steps towards the illusion.   

For instance, you can transmit targeted promoting emails and retargeting ads to your clients based on their behavior. In this way, you raise the chances of ranking well in searches.  

 Don't forget to learn your buyer personas as if they were your best friends; the more exposure to your brand's content, the more probably they will feel positively towards your brand.  

 9) Loss Aversion  

 Loss aversion is valuable for Fanocracy (create a fanbase for your business) improvements. It is when someone owns something and does not want to lose it. You can achieve this when someone buys your product, uses a free version (which expires), enjoys a discount code, or uses a demo mode. In this way, your products/services are necessary for your customers. For example, loss aversion occurs when a customer's 30-day free trial of your product expires, and they no longer have access to it; to not face this situation, they will buy your product. 

10) Foot-in-the-Door Technique   

A customer will likely agree to do something, having first agreed to do something else, and is pleased. Usually, the first request is minor, while the second is larger.  

 In this way, you build a link between the requester and the requestees during the first stage, making them more likely to comply with a more extensive one. Also, people tend to function consistently based on how they performed in response to the first demand.  

 For example, if you want to sell full-version software, use it as a second request. As the first, use something more accessible and immediate, like using a free coupon.  

 11) Environmental Effect  

Environmental effect is the tendency of people to be influenced by the environment in which they are to make a choice. For instance, if you are vending a product/service related to their work, prefer to call or email them or set up your ads in nine-to-five. This way, they will be affected by the space and are more likely to buy. 

Similarly, if you are selling a product used mainly at home, choose hours that prospects are likely to be at home, such as afternoons or weekends.  

12) Expected vs. Surprise Rewards  

Studies have shown that surprise rewards are more efficient and valuable than the expected rewards. Why is this happening?  

 Expected rewards tend to decrease in value since customers already expect them, and in the end, they ignore future moves since their motivation has decreased over time.  

On the other hand, surprise rewards increase motivation, offer more value to the reward, boost their psychology, and significantly improve their relationship with the business.  

What should you do? Offer surprise coupons or deals unexpectedly rather than a weekly or monthly promotion.  

13) Verbatim Effect  

 Due to the vast amount of free content, social media, and information today, people tend to read less every time. For example, they are often on a blog post and read the headlines of the text. Therefore, you can make your site share-friendly by paying close attention to the titles, which should accurately describe what's in your article.  

When people search for more details on a given topic, they'll remember the practical text they read a while ago and search for the subject to find it again. The same strategy should be followed on your social media page to increase conversions. This tactic is a competitive edge as you will be preferred for the quality information you provide to your audience. 

Using all the parameters of marketing psychology cannot be done in the blink of an eye. Understanding all the tactics and the steps is your first action. Then, you have to create a detailed marketing strategy to put all of the elements above into action. Then, start immediately and change the process of your business based on marketing psychology. 

Do not hesitate to contact us if you want to boost your business performance and learn all the secrets of the marketing world. Our approved team is here to assist you with anything you require!