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Marketing Psychology: Why Your Customers Choose to Buy From You

Wednesday 12 July 2017

11 minute read

By Sarah Burns

To be a successful marketer, you need to understand why people think - and then act - the way they do.

Don't look at your promotions and content from a marketer's point of view. Look at them from your customer's perspective.

By reviewing your marketing activities as a customer, you can focus on building a H2H relationship.

When you adopt a human-to-human focus, your messaging is centred on the notion that you're a person talking to another person.

(Source: Thrive Marketing Limited)

Understanding the fundamentals of human psychology will help you to connect with customers/visitors and influence their behaviour.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

Designed to highlight American psychologist, Abraham Maslow's theory of the five vital human needs (1943), this structure highlights the importance of physical and emotional needs that all humans seek. 

We can use this table to begin our understanding of marketing psychology and how they work to fulfil humans' desires for happiness.

Image Source: Vision 2020

(Image source: Vision 2020)
 

Seven Human Behaviours That Contribute to Marketing Psychology

Reciprocity 

If someone does something nice for you, we're often obliged to feel the urge to do something in return. This concept of reciprocity (Dr Robert Cialdini) works well with permission-based marketing. It also works great for freebies.

Giving away an exclusive ebook in return for the person's details or by sending out a mail campaign, people naturally feel more obliged to engage with you.

The UK Behavioural Insights Team found that 11% of people were willing to donate an amount worth one day’s salary when they were given a small gift of candy while being asked for a donation, compared to 5% of those that were just asked for the donation (source).

The Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon

Ever seen a TV advert then feel like the product is just everywhere? Or have you ever heard a new song on the radio and then suddenly it was on TV, in the pub, being talked about wherever you went?

This is known as the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon and is based on you unconsciously keeping an eye (or ear) out for this newfangled thing. This is followed by 'confirmation bias' - reassuring you that with each sight or hearing is proof that your impression of the said song/advert has gained overnight popularity.

Simply put, you're more likely to have a good feeling towards something you're exposed often too. That's why popular new songs get stuck in your head and you end up singing them, even though you don't like them!

In marketing, apply this theory with retargeting emails, promoted advertising on social media and mail campaigns. Be there!

Decoy Effect

Pricing models 'do' the decoy effect well. 

A prime example of this in action is in Dan Airley's TED talk, 'Are we in control of our own decisions?' (source). In it he discusses the pricing options for subscriptions to The Economist.

  • Online subscription: $59
  • Print subscription: $125
  • Online and print subscription: $125

He tried to find answers from The Economist about their odd pricing, but failed to get a clear answer. So he tested the effect of the pricing on 100 MIT students. 

The result? When all three options were there, students chose the combo subscription - it was the best deal, right? But when he removed the 'useless' option (print subscription for $125), the students preferred the cheapest option.

That middle option gave a reference for how good the combination deal was - enticing them to pay for more than what they actually wanted. Who doesn't love a bargain?

Peer Comparison & Social Proof

Otherwise known as the "me too" effect.

Social proof follows the belief that people will adopt the beliefs or action of a group of people they like or trust - think the 'It' crowd at school. Or the 'Rachel' haircut. Or David Beckham's many haircuts. Or the need to have an iPhone (some might say).

Use social sharing and following buttons on your blog to build social proof.  

Scarcity

"There's only three hotel rooms - quick, book it now!"

We've ALL been there! Whether it's holidays, concerts or supermarket deals.

Scarcity (Dr Robert Cialdini) follows the principle that the more rare the opportunity, content or product, the more valuable it is.

It works best for marketing in event marketing, webinar sign ups or anything that involves limited places.

inbound-2017-scarcity.png

This is a perfect example from Inbound 2017 by HubSpot - anyone else feel like they're missing out, if they don't get the discounted prices? 

Foot-in-the-Door Technique

You're more likely to get a big "yes" from someone if you've already got a small "yes".

This was proved in Freedman and Fraser's experiment in 1966. They sent someone around to ask if they could place a small card in a window of their home supporting safe driving. Two weeks later the same people were asked by another person to put a large sign in their front yard for the same cause.

76% of people who agreed to the first request now complied with the more intrusive request, compared to only 20% of people who were never asked to put a sign in their windows and were just asked to put up a large sign in their yards.

Loss Aversion

Once someone has had something they don't want to lose it.

Daniel Kahneman studied this with participants who were given either mugs, chocolate or nothing (source). They were then asked to make a choice:

If they were given an object, they could trade their objects, or if they were given nothing, they could choose one of the two items.

The result? Around half of the participants who started with no items chose mugs, but 86% of those given mugs to begin with stuck with that item. 

In marketing, you can apply this logic with free trials and encouragement to sign up to the paid version before the trial expires.

Find more posts like this via Marketing Strategy.

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