5 ways to use marketing psychology to improve your bottom line

Improve your bottom line with marketing psychology

In business, as in life, sometimes it’s the little things that make the most meaningful impact. And applying marketing psychology to your business is one such example. Using psychological principles can help you boost sales and generate leads. After all, marketers want to understand their customers. And by understanding their psychology, they can know what makes them buy and why they don’t. This isn’t just one of those marketing trends which seems popular for five minutes and you never hear about it again. These are legitimate tools that marketers use. Here are some examples.

Keep your friends close

And your enemies closer … We all like to feel like we belong. In marketing psychology, this is called social identity theory and explains why most people identify with a particular group or belief. But it is, of course, unrealistic to expect everyone to like you. Look at the ongoing arguments about Mac versus PC, Apple versus Android. No matter how much one group feels they’re right, the opposing side feels equally correct. This means that you need to market to your people, your loyal customers. There’s no point in trying to appeal to everyone.

Be generous

People like free stuff. And when people receive something for free, they feel indebted to you and want to do something in return. As a business person, it’s up to you to create something which you can give to your customers. Think valuable blog content, interesting social media shares, and a downloadable ebook. Marketing psychology dictates that your customers will respond by signing up for your newsletter, giving you that all-important like or even buying a product.

Confirm

Remember the last time you were in a social situation and you didn't know what the appropriate behavior was for that situation? This could have been when you were wondering what to wear for a new job or whether you should be the first to grab a drink at a party. Whatever the situation, we all react the same in these situations. We look to see what those around us are doing. We look at what our new colleagues are wearing and we wait for someone else to take a beverage. Because we see others behaving in certain ways, we feel like we’ve been given permission to do the same. In marketing psychology, this is known as social proof, a form of conforming. There are ways you can convince your customers of this. You could create media buzz, share testimonials or add social sharing buttons to your website content. All of these encourage others to participate and engage with your business.

Avoid loss

People don’t like to lose what they’ve already gained. This is why people who sign up for a free month to test a product will rarely cancel their subscription once the month has come to an end. Think about Netflix’s “join free for a month” and Audible’s similar offering. You’re not going to want to give up access to all that free content after experiencing it for a month.

The marketing psychology of scarcity

“Last day to buy” and “Only three tickets left” are the types of messages that strike fear into consumers’ hearts. These messages make them want to act immediately, whipping out their credit card before they’ve had time to really think about what they’re doing. This is one of those moments when SMS marketing is so effective. Your urgent message is delivered directly into the palm of your customer’s hand. SMSes are opened almost 100% of the time and within just a few minutes.

If you’re tired of marketing trends that deliver little to no ROI, then SMS is for you. Read our recent article which explores why bulk SMS will deepen your customer relationships. It looks at its convenience, exclusivity, and ability to smartly reach customers. In short, SMS is one of the most practical, effective, and affordable channels for talking to customers.