Four Marketing Psychology Principles to Drive Sales

Knowing your target audience is one of the most critical aspects of implementing a successful marketing strategy. Learning their behaviour, habits and pain points empowers businesses to promote their products and services the right way.

Many of the purchasing decisions consumers make are unconsciously driven. Identifying and implementing these drivers in marketing efforts can help attain customers’ trust, and make a business stand out among its competitors.

Marketing psychology is a branch of study that attempts to identify and explain how humans operate as consumers. Understanding some of these critical principles can take your marketing efforts from good to excellent.

What is Marketing Psychology?

Marketing psychology refers to the study and application of essential psychological principles in various marketing methods, such as design, email campaigns and content marketing. It is often referred to as consumer psychology interchangeably, and is backed by research on neuromarketing.

It is important to note that the end goal of marketing psychology is to influence behaviour but not manipulate it, as the latter would come across as misleading and unethical.

Four Ways to Influence Consumer Behaviour 

Now that you understand the purpose of marketing psychology, let’s take a deep dive into the psychological principles you can apply to boost sales and conversions.

Colour Psychology 

While words play a significant role in affecting behaviours and moods, so do colours. Researchers say that colours trigger different emotions in people, which can be used to influence consumer behaviour. Because of this reason, designers pay special attention to colours while creating logos for brands.

It’s important to find colours that represent the brand correctly and differentiates the business from others over time. It must be a trademark that sticks into the psyche of the target audience. The chosen colour pallet will display the brand name and personality, and they should complement each other.

Therefore, the next time you buy corporate gifts in Australia, be sure to select the right colours.

Reciprocity 

It is not uncommon for people to feel compelled to return the favour when someone has done something special for them. According to the reciprocity principle, people are wired to give back upon receiving something.

The theory of reciprocity can be applied to marketing in several ways. Therefore, if you want customers to do something for you, then first do something for them. Let’s take a look at how businesses apply this principle in their strategy –

• Lead Magnets –Brands choose to write and share free guides, checklists, and blog posts in exchange for email addresses.
• Consultation/Demo –A demo or consultation allows brands to showcase their services to prospective clients.
• Free Product Samples –Many brands use product samples as promotional merchandise in Australia to provide mini versions of their products to consumers.
• Discounts/Offers –Brands give exciting offers and discounts to customers most likely to convert.

By being generous with prospects and customers, brands get rewards with loyalty. Though quality goes beyond everything, this principle can be significantly influential when applied the right way.

Scarcity 

Scarcity marketing uses people’s unconscious tendency to consider rare items as valuable. It stems from the economic principle, where demand increases when supply decreases.

Such a phenomenon is known to trigger fear of missing out (FOMO), which creates a sense of urgency in customers to buy an item before it gets too late. How can brands and marketers leverage this principle? Let’s take a closer look at some of the tactics used –

• Limited Items in Stock– Brands specify the number of items that are left in stock to encourage customers to act fast.
• Limited Time Offers– Brands create campaigns that define a particular offer’s expiry time and date.
• Countdown Timers– Brands add times to campaigns to remind visitors/subscribers of a limited timeframe.

Paradox of Choice 

According to the theory of Paradox Of Choice, when people are given more options than their brains can process, they end up aborting the mission. Therefore, brands that think they should provide more and more options to their customers, might think twice.

It’s easy to help prospects and customers deal with analysis paralysis by giving fewer options of great quality products, enabling them to make a decision faster. This hack is applied by several eCommerce and physical stores at the time of creating product categories.

Too many options do indeed attract more customers, but the dropout rate is much higher. Therefore, it is best to keep this principle in mind while displaying products.

Wrapping Up 

You can apply several scientifically studied principles to enhance a commercial marketing strategy and influence consumer behaviour. So, pick and choose those that best suit the needs of the business and work best around your target audience.

When applied ethically and effectively, psychological principles can end up being powerful tools to drive purchasing decisions in consumers and encourage more sales.

Contact the team at Coastal Direct Promotional Products to experience how our premium quality products can be used to maximise your brand awareness and customer loyalty programmes.