Have you ever wondered how psychology can make an effect on your company’s marketing strategies? If marketing could be more simple and a no-brainer, it would be great for small business owners. Unfortunately, marketing takes a little bit of extra thought, research into consumers’ wants and needs, and work to stand out from competitors and consumers’ mindset to avoid spending the money on new products or services.
Decision-making is done through personal preferences and emotions which means marketers have to find a way to tap into what consumers’ prefer and have an emotional reaction towards. When a marketer has found a way to get consumers to go against their better judgement and to react through emotions and preferences, there is a better chance at gaining a consumer. Here is a look at how your competitors might be tapping strongly into your customers’ emotions that is causing them to overlook logic and make the purchase.
Use of the Anchoring effect
Some marketers are using the Anchoring Effect in their campaigns. This strategy is using the psychology where sometimes people will rely on just one piece of information for their decision-making. This means that people want to compare a product rather than to judge it based on the information presented solely on what this product can offer.
For those that have a more expensive product to sell, if you can put it next to a similar product costing more or next to a product at a similar price but offering less features, you are more likely to make the sale as people will use the comparisons to determine yours makes the most sense. They will be mesmerized by how much more value yours offers or how the competitor’s is so much more expensive rather than to look at your product’s value alone.
Using the Halo effect
Another route where psychology can affect marketing strategies is through the Halo Effect. The Halo Effect focuses on what looks good by showing consumers that if something or someone looks good, it must be good. For example, more attractive people tend to make more money and get more opportunities compared to ordinary-looking people.
Marketers use this concept to show off a product in the most attractive way possible so that people will trust that it’s a good product. They will also make their marketing materials attractive, build a beautiful website, and put the most attractive products in the spotlight.
Hyperbolic Discounting method
Since people love instant gratification, many people will try the “buy now, pay later” strategy to make a sale. People want that product now but they don’t always have the money for it now. You can make the sale and they can get what they want right now, which will cause you to lock in a customer for a monthly or yearly payment plan.
Bandwagon Bias
You could also try the bandwagon bias effect for an easy marketing technique. This means that people can see that everybody wants this product or service which means they will want it even more. You may notice that if many people “like” something on Facebook, you are more tempted to “like” it too.
People are more likely to make the purchase if there are hundreds of great reviews, if a brand has a huge fan base, and if there is enough proof from other people that it’s a great product. Brands should make sure every customer leaves a review after they’ve made a purchase to build that fan base.
Picture Superiority
Lastly, check out the picture superiority concept. Marketers use this to score customers knowing that people are more likely to remember something based on an image compared to text. Adding images to marketing material is a simple way to boost sales. Images are much more powerful than text, so be sure to have images in your marketing campaigns, advertisements, and social media updates.
Use these tools to market best considering the simple psychological impact that works well with consumers.
