Marketing Psychology: How Marketers Influence Your Behaviour

Which cup is a customer more likely to purchase? Here, the decoy variable is the medium-sized cup tempting customers to go for the large portion for a seemingly more decent price.

Therefore, if you offer products in similar tiers, try this method to increase your sales and experiment with different prices to find the perfect fit.

Marketing Psychology #2 – The paradox of choice 

This is a psychological behavior of the consumer that when we have more than one option or multiple options, we find it difficult to choose. The Paradox of Choice is a concept introduced by psychologist Barry Schwartz in his 2004 book, “The Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less. 

This phenomenon occurs due to several factors, including:

• Fear of making the wrong decision
• Heightened expectations
• The cognitive effort is required to evaluate numerous options

Just as too many jam jar options can lead to lower purchases, too many products in your e-commerce store or too many services as part of your agency offering will ultimately lead to a lower conversion rate. 

Marketing Psychology #3 Cognitive Dissonance 

In marketing, cognitive dissonance relates to consumers’ expectations, feelings about brands, and internal logic when deciding to buy something. Marketers should be aware of potential conflicts or expectations that might affect buying decisions. 

One example is when a customer purchases a high-end luxury product but experiences cognitive dissonance because of the high price. To reduce the discomfort, the customer may convince themselves that the product is worth the investment or seek validation from others who share similar beliefs.  

Strategies to Handle and Leverage Cognitive Dissonance

• Providing Additional Information
• Using Social Proof
• Offer Guarantees
• Giving Comparative Information
• Creating Consistent Messaging 

Marketing Psychology #4 – The Endowment Effect

Another interesting marketing psychology tactic that businesses use is the Endowment Effect. The endowment effect is the bias where individuals consider high-value items they own compared to identical items in the market. 

For example, Mr. X is selling a car for $40,000. But, the same car is available in the market for $20,000. In this case, the person perceives the car as more valuable since they own it.

Businesses leverage this marketing psychology by giving free trials and samples. This gives consumers a sense of temporary ownership. 

Marketing Psychology #5 – The Anchoring Effect 

The anchoring effect is a cognitive bias describing the common human tendency to rely too heavily on the first piece of information (the “anchor”) when making decisions.

For Example, If you see a t-shirt worth $800 and then see a second one worth $400, you tend to consider the second one as cheaper. 

Businesses leverage this marketing psychology by discounting the products. The businesses showcase a product with a higher price and then a discounted price. This influences the customers and they consider the second one as cost-effective, even though the product is similar. Only the price is inflated. 

Marketing Psychology #6 – Priming 

Priming is another marketing psychology used by marketers and brands. What is priming? 

Have you ever played any game where one person says one word and another person has to immediately respond with the first thing that comes to their mind?

For example, If I say ‘Yellow’, most likely you are gonna say ‘Banana’. This is how priming works. Marketers use this marketing psychology to influence consumer behavior. 

A nice example is television advertisements or online advertisements such as Facebook, Instagram, and other social media platforms. By watching an ad, different mental pathways activate. Usually, these pathways only link to positive memories. Next time when you go to the supermarket and you see the product from the ad, something happens in your brain. These positive memories are triggered, and that leaves you with a positive attitude towards the product. If the client needs to choose one of the hundred different yogurt brands, most likely he will decide on the one that gives positive feelings.

Marketing Psychology #7 – Scarcity

This is a very common marketing psychology technique. It’s creating the urgency to buy a product by saying the common terms – ‘Limited’ or ‘Only’. This psychology principle goes back to the simple formula of supply and demand: The more rare the opportunity, content, or product is, the more valuable it is. 

Marketers and businesses use this method by doing the following things- 

• Flash sales are announced at the last minute and are available for a short time. They get customers excited and ready to buy now and can be a great way to create urgency.
• Adding a countdown timer to the product page instead of just showing the end date of the sale. 
• Another scarcity marketing tactic is sharing the number of items left in stock with customers.

Marketing Psychology #8 – The Verbatim Effect

The verbatim effect is when an individual is more likely to remember the gist of something rather than remember the small details. It suggests that consumers are likely to remember the overall message or feel of an ad rather than specific words or scenes. For example, when people read a long text, they’re more likely to remember its core message, than they are to remember how exactly it was phrased. 

Marketing Psychology #9 – The Reciprocity 

This psychological marketing theory is based on the concept of an item or company doing something good for the consumer and, in return, the consumer doing something good for the company. Customers would buy your products without even marketing and recommend them to their relatives. For instance, you may provide customers with discounts other benefits, and gifts. The customer would want to give your company back by being your regular customer and spreading word of mouth. 

Marketing Psychology #10 – The Pygmalion Effect

This theory works best for customers and employees. This Pygmalion effect refers to the state that if you believe something about yourself, it will become true. A great way to approach this strategy is to identify the core values of your brand. You want to ensure that your team of employees knows these core values and always has them at the forefront of their minds. In addition, you want to communicate those values to your consumers to help drive decisions based on purchasing. 

I have discussed the top 10 marketing psychologies that marketers commonly use. Now you can relate whenever any brand want to try influence your behaviour with this techniques. 

References: 

• Anchoring Effect: What Is It?
• Cognitive Dissonance in Marketing: Definition and Examples
• Priming In Marketing – 5 Great Examples To Increase Conversion Rate 
• Verbatim Effect | Definition Minute