The human brain is constantly working, managing every single process in your body. With such a demanding job, it relies on shortcuts to handle daily tasks like remembering, solving problems, and making decisions.

Understanding these cognitive shortcuts can be incredibly valuable in a marketing context. By recognizing these patterns, you can better understand, anticipate, and gently guide consumer behavior to your advantage. It’s not about manipulating your audience but rather subtly influencing their decisions in a way that benefits both parties. This article will delve into seven psychological principles that, when applied thoughtfully, can enhance your marketing efforts and positively influence your prospects’ buying decisions.

Contents

• What is marketing psychology?
• How to use marketing psychology ethically
• The commitment and consistency bias
• The anchoring bias
• The paradox of choice
• Social proof
• The reciprocity effect
• The mere exposure effect
• The Pygmalion effect

What is marketing psychology?

Marketing psychology involves strategically aligning your content, messaging, and overall approach with predictable, and often unconscious, human behavioral patterns. These patterns, uncovered through research and experimentation, stem from heuristics—mental shortcuts the brain employs to efficiently manage the constant influx of information, decisions, and problem-solving it encounters daily. There are numerous applications of marketing psychology, including:

• Using emotionally charged words to resonate with your target audience.
• Crafting persuasive copywriting by leveraging psychological principles.
• Selecting website colors based on their psychological impact (explore color psychology further here).

Image source The aim is not to fundamentally change how people think, as these patterns are deeply ingrained. Instead, the goal is to adapt your content and strategies to harmonize with these existing thought processes.

How to use marketing psychology ethically

It’s essential to acknowledge that these mental shortcuts, also known as cognitive biases or thinking traps, can be misused. Therefore, ethical marketing psychology never seeks to exploit, manipulate, or deceive. When incorporating consumer psychology to attract customers, prioritize these principles:

• DO ensure their decision to choose you genuinely benefits them. Attracting ill-fitting customers ultimately harms both sides.
• DON’T employ these tactics to make unrealistic promises or exaggerate your capabilities.
• DO align your business objectives with your prospects’ needs to create a mutually beneficial situation. Utilize data to measure the efficacy of your strategies.
• DON’T forget that you, too, are a consumer susceptible to these tactics. Be discerning of manipulative marketing techniques employed by others.

7 marketing psychology strategies & examples to influence purchasing decisions

This section will explore seven tactics, each accompanied by a definition, simple illustrations, and practical applications within your marketing strategies, be it for your website, product pages, landing pages, or other platforms.

1. The commitment & consistency bias

The commitment and consistency bias suggests we are naturally inclined to align our actions with our past behaviors and statements.

This principle manifests in several ways that, when understood, can be advantageous in marketing:

Create a lead nurture funnel

We are more disposed to comply with subsequent, similar requests once we’ve agreed to an initial small request. This is the essence of the marketing funnel! It begins with minor requests at the top, gradually escalating as prospects move down towards the bottom.

For instance, encourage readers to engage with your content, then offer a free guide in exchange for their email address. Later, invite them to an event or webinar, culminating in an offer for a free trial or consultation. This gradual approach leverages your audience’s subconscious desire for consistent behavior, making them more likely to continue engaging with your brand’s content and offers. Compared to their initial action of reading a blog post, a free trial might seem like a significant leap. However, it’s a smaller step compared to their previous action, such as attending a webinar.

Have progress markers for tasks

The sunk cost fallacy, another manifestation of the commitment bias, underscores our need to see something through once we’ve invested time or money. Yelp exemplifies this by allowing users to draft reviews before creating an account. As users write, Yelp uses playful prompts like “Don’t leave us hanging – what else you got?” to encourage completion.

Upon finishing, users are prompted to create an account—a prerequisite for posting their review.

While creating an account is optional, the effort invested in writing the review often outweighs abandoning the process.

Break your content up into digestible tidbits

Utilize the commitment and consistency bias to increase engagement with your content—especially with long-form content exceeding 5,000 words. Instead of demanding commitment to an article of unknown value, present it in bite-snack-meal segments:

• Bite: A concise piece of information devoid of detail.
• Snack: A collection of bites offering additional information without overwhelming detail.
• Meal: An extensive, detailed, and comprehensive explanation of the topic. A prime example is Elite Content Marketer’s comprehensive Grammarly review. Instead of presenting the entire piece upfront, it strategically begins with a bite and a snack. The bite? The overall verdict. The snack? A visual representation of the product’s pros and cons. Finally, the meal is served as the detailed review. Readers who engage with these smaller, more manageable pieces of information at the outset are statistically more likely to commit to reading the entire piece. Even if they choose not to, they still gain valuable takeaways from the initial sections.

Speak to your audience’s self-perception

While likely unintentional, the call-to-action button below exemplifies the C&C bias in copywriting. Visitors on this website demonstrate care for their pets simply by being there. This pop-up subtly suggests that not signing up contradicts this self-perception.

2. The anchoring bias

The anchoring bias illustrates our tendency to rely heavily on the first piece of information presented (the anchor) when making subsequent judgments. This principle is particularly potent in pricing strategies.

Let’s explore various types and examples of anchoring:

Indicate mark-downs

Presenting a marked-down price not only makes the offer appear more attractive but also implies a higher inherent value due to the initial higher price. However, remember that every business caters to a unique audience with distinct perceptions on price. Understanding how price adjustments impact the perceived quality of your products in your customer’s eyes is crucial.

Show the amount saved

Many SaaS and subscription-based companies offer discounted annual plans compared to monthly subscriptions, as demonstrated by Zoom in the example below. An alternative presentation would be showcasing the monthly cost for both plans, highlighting the reduced rate for the annual option. However, if the difference is negligible, emphasizing the total annual savings might be more impactful.

3. The paradox of choice

Imagine browsing the tea aisle at the supermarket, overwhelmed by the sheer variety: black, green, white, red, regular, decaf, herbal, fruit, and more. This abundance of choice can lead to stress, decision paralysis, and ultimately, abandoning the purchase altogether. That’s the paradox of choice in action!

This paradox states that an increase in options correlates with increased stress and a higher likelihood of indecision or even buyer’s remorse. Here’s how to alleviate this decision fatigue for your audience:

Keep varieties and options to a minimum

Sheena Iyengar’s experiment demonstrated this perfectly. Offering six jam varieties attracted 40% of shoppers, with 30% making a purchase. Increasing the options to 24 attracted 60% but resulted in only a 3% purchase rate. Streamlining choices can significantly impact your conversion rates. Consider offering a sale on a curated selection or condensing pricing packages from five to three.

Limit the number of items in your main navigation menu

While challenging conventions can help you stand out, some areas benefit from simplicity. Your website’s navigation bar is one such area. While a competitor’s five-item menu might tempt you to showcase a wider range with ten, the truth is, websites should ideally have 3-6 items in their navigation bar. Overloading visitors with options breeds confusion and hampers their decision-making process. By streamlining menu options and minimizing clickable elements on the homepage, you conserve their mental energy for more critical decisions deeper within your site.

This particular site could benefit from a consolidated website header menu utilizing drop-down options.

Have only one CTA per landing page

This might seem obvious, but it bears repeating: each product or offering deserves a dedicated landing page with a single, clear call to action. Multiple options create distractions, muddle the user experience, and ultimately decrease conversions. This is especially critical with paid advertising, where wasted ad spend is detrimental.

Remove navigation, social buttons, and footers too

Even with a singular call to action, distractions can lurk. Links within the page, a link-heavy footer, or social media icons can divert attention. In a case study by VWO, simply removing the navigation menu increased conversions by an impressive 100%.

4. Social proof

Popularized by Robert Cialdini in his book Influence, social proof highlights our tendency to emulate others in unfamiliar situations to gauge appropriate behavior, seeking safety, acceptance, and a sense of belonging.

In marketing, this translates to the power of testimonials, reviews, and more. Here’s how to leverage social proof effectively:

Have an organized testimonials page

A dedicated testimonial page provides potential customers with relatable examples of individuals benefiting from your solutions. Take, for instance, the testimonial page on the LOCALiQ website below. The ability to filter by industry or service provided enhances its effectiveness.

Adorn your website with testimonials…

Don’t relegate testimonials solely to a dedicated page. Integrate them strategically into landing pages and your homepage, ideally accompanied by headshots for enhanced credibility.

…and your ads

Testimonials and reviews can also form compelling ad copy. In the example below, the copy itself becomes the ad’s creative element.

Drawing inspiration from testimonial advertising examples can spark creative ideas.

Highlight endorsements from popular brands

Displaying logos (or even faces, as in the example below) of recognizable brands associated with your product (with their consent, of course) adds weight to your brand.

Listing media outlets that have featured your product can achieve a similar effect. These familiar names and faces foster trust and confidence in your brand’s ability to deliver results.

Include stamps of approval

Showcase partnerships, awards, or other trust signals that bolster your credibility.

Use the numbers to get more subscribers

Building trust doesn’t always require big names. The “wisdom of the crowd” approach can be just as effective. Highlight the large number of users who trust and benefit from your products or resources.

5. The reciprocity effect

While two wrongs don’t make a right, there’s an undeniable human tendency to respond to gestures in kind, particularly positive ones. This is the essence of reciprocity.

Here’s how positive reciprocity plays out in marketing:

Offer exceptional customer service

While actively soliciting reviews is important, exceeding customer expectations through outstanding service often yields organic positive feedback. Going above and beyond for your customers inspires them to reciprocate with positive reviews or even increased spending.

Provide free (valuable) information and education

This lies at the heart of content marketing and SEO. While readers won’t reciprocate with free education directly, they will remember your generosity. When choosing between your company and a competitor with similar reviews, the one offering valuable resources consistently will likely win their business.

LOCALiQ’s Marketing Lab is a free resource hub designed for local business owners and marketers. Furthermore, Google rewards high-quality content with higher rankings, creating a positive cycle.

Offer free tools and trials

In the B2B SaaS world, offering free trials or tools is a powerful form of reciprocity. nexus-security’s Free Google Ads Performance Grader exemplifies this by providing the equivalent of 40 hours of audit work in minutes. Again, when facing a decision, buyers are more likely to choose the company that has consistently provided value upfront. Related: 26 Brilliant Ways to Use Psychology in Your Copywriting

6. The mere exposure effect

Social psychologist Robert Zajonc demonstrated through various experiments in the 1960s that repeated exposure to a stimulus inherently enhances our attitude towards it. In simpler terms, familiarity breeds preference, even subconsciously.

Despite their low click-through rates, display ads are a powerful tool for increasing exposure and, consequently, familiarity. The more exposure your brand receives, the more recognizable and trustworthy it becomes, leading to increased engagement and preference over competitors. Combine this with the commitment and consistency principle, and you’ve got a recipe for loyal customers. This underscores the importance of brand awareness. Display ads can indirectly boost click-through and conversion rates for all your campaigns, as reflected in the view-through conversion metric.

Use retargeting ads to increase CTR

Retargeting ads are an exception to the low click-through rates often associated with display ads. These can achieve 2-3 times higher click-through rates. However, it’s crucial to manage ad frequency carefully to avoid

becoming intrusive. An appropriate delay between exposures allows for optimal repetition effectiveness.

Send the same message across all channels

Consistency across all brand touchpoints—website, blog, newsletters, ads, etc.—reinforces your messaging and unique value proposition (USP), making it increasingly appealing with each encounter. This highlights the significance of a multi-channel content marketing strategy.

Ahrefs CMO Tim Soulo recently highlighted how their blog, boasting nearly 400,000 monthly visitors (based on their own data), effectively utilizes the mere exposure effect.

Promote your content

Promoting your content, especially guides and blog posts, on social media is crucial for maximizing exposure. Don’t shy away from sharing the same content multiple times, ensuring sufficient intervals between postings.

Have a brand style

While brand awareness reflects how many people recognize your brand, brand recognition measures the speed at which they associate your content with your brand.
A visually appealing logo and a well-defined brand style guide are essential for building recognition. Consistently using a limited color palette and font selection creates strong visual associations with your brand.

7. The Pygmalion effect

Our final psychological tactic can be applied to both your customers and your team.
The Pygmalion effect, also known as the Rosenthal effect, suggests that internalized beliefs, whether held by oneself or others, have a powerful influence on our reality. For instance, students held to high standards by a teacher who genuinely believes in their potential are statistically more likely to excel. Similarly, fostering high expectations and enthusiasm within your team can yield remarkable results.

Unify your team and improve the customer experience

This underscores the importance of clearly defining and reinforcing your brand’s core values within your team. These values provide a framework for behavior, fostering a unified team culture and, consequently, a consistent and exceptional customer experience. Expectations, when nurtured correctly, can shape reality.

Create a positive feedback loop with your customers

Applying this principle directly to your audience can be incredibly effective. By instilling a belief in their ability to achieve higher levels of performance, self-improvement, or even dominance in their field, you empower them to align their actions with these beliefs. These actions might begin with downloading your content or following you on social media. As their confidence in their ability to achieve goals with your help grows, so does their likelihood of becoming a customer and, eventually, a loyal advocate for your brand. Maintaining high standards for your team and empowering customers to reach their full potential creates a fertile ground for success.

Psychology and marketing: use them together!

Psychology and marketing are inherently intertwined. However, consciously incorporating psychological principles into your strategies can significantly elevate your results. Remember, prioritizing exceptional products and building trust through ethical marketing practices paves the path to sustainable, long-term success. As a reminder, here are the key marketing psychology strategies discussed:

1. Create a funnel
2. Indicate progress
3. Break your content up into digestible tidbits
4. Speak to your audience’s self-perception
5. Indicate mark-downs
6. Show the amount saved
7. Keep varieties and options to a minimum
8. Limit the number of items in your main navigation menu
9. Have only one CTA per landing page
10. Remove navigation, social buttons, and footers too
11. Have an organized testimonials page
12. Adorn your website with testimonials…
13. …and your ads
14. Highlight endorsements from popular brands
15. Include stamps of approval
16. Use the numbers to get more subscribers
17. Offer exceptional customer service
18. Provide free (valuable) information and education
19. Offer free tools and trials
20. Run display ads for brand awareness
21. Use retargeting ads to increase CTR
22. Send the same message across all channels
23. Have a brand style
24. Promote your content
25. Unify your team and improve the customer experience
26. Create a positive feedback loop with your customers