One egg.

I read about a psychological marketing tactic that dates back to the 50s, which can be useful for business and in life.

During the 1950s, as the food industry evolved in the US, new mass-produced products were created to help women save cooking time. One of them was the ‘cake mix’ - powder which simply required to be mixed with water before baking to have a perfect cake!

Sounded like a dream innovation in terms of convenience yet housewives across the nation had one problem… it was too easy! By removing every step of the preparation, buyers felt too far removed from the process of making a cake.

The solution was simple yet ground-breaking.

The new version of the mix required customers to add one egg, water, and mix all the ingredients together before baking the cake.

Sales sky-rocketed.

By involving customers in the process to the extent in which they feel they’re having a significant input to create the final product, you will be able to win over your customers, clients or colleagues.

Let them feel like talented accomplished chefs by letting them add the icing on their cake - whether it is an image inside a business presentation or choosing the color of the lace before gift-wrapping a new purchase.

Human psyche wants us to be challenged and get a sense of accomplishment with little effort, rather than no effort at all - making us feel worthy.

I interviewed an entrepreneur who sold his company for eighty million dollars to Walmart.

Here’s what happened:

Me: “When you found out Walmart didn’t want to acquire you, what did you do next?”

Fraser: “We continued working on the company, and eventually Amazon approached us.”

Me: “Oh wow. Amazon.”

Fraser: “As soon as Walmart found out about Amazon, they offered to acquire us.”

When people know you’re in high demand, then they’ll chase after you.

I’ve used this tactic by interviewing with two companies that are direct competitors. From experience, this moves the interview process faster.

I’ve also used this tactic when a hiring manager asks me what my timeline looks like to start the job.

“It can be in a week or two months. I have a few industry people who want to do projects with me. I’d probably work with them or travel. Let me know what works best for you.”

If you said you had nothing happening and could start immediately, then that shows a low demand for you. I like to mention “travel” because it implies you’ve saved enough money to afford the free time.

The lesson is to encourage people to compete for your time. If you do so, people will give you better opportunities faster.

One of my favorite psychological marketing tricks is: Give people something for free, so that they’ll return to you to get more and no matter how much it costs.

Gillette's "Congratulations on becoming a man" campaign is a great example of such trick.

Gillette sends "Congratulations on becoming a man" package to all men on their 18th birthday. It includes the Gillette razor (different ones in different years), a couple of blades, some shaving cream and a detailed guide on how to shave for the first time.

Why is it a great tactic?

Young guys are happy to receive some unsolicited birthday gift, they are sharing this news on social media as Gillette created a special hashtag #firstreal and placed it on the front side of the package. It's a great way to increase brand's visibility and create buzz around it. You may think, that's a great loss as they send razors to everyone. Yes, they take a loss on the razors but profit on the blades.

As the razors Gillette sends are of high quality, people are using them for lots of years after. Thus due to this promo Gillette makes men buying replacement blades for years. This campaign hasn't changed the marketing standards, but it's well thought-out and smart, that's why it deserves being on this list.

My husband and I recently visited Bangalore, our friends took us to a restaurant for lunch. This restaurant had beautiful interiors, music, and dim lighting, the arrangement of furniture and ambiance was giving a feel of luxury dining. The staff was polite, professional and friendly.

We ordered food, the food was not just good, it was awesome! Every single dish and drink were made to delight the taste buds, and the critic inside me was flabbergasted by the delicious taste.

We finished our lunch and the bill arrived, I expected to receive an extravagant bill, but to my surprise, the bill was hardly close to what I expected, there was no luxury tax and no overpriced dishes. Before even seeing the price I was sold to pay more for their offering.

I associated dim light, soft music, polite people, wood finish to an expensive place. This is what brands want, they want consumers to get influenced by their marketing.

We all live by many such mental anchors, we associate special meanings to words, people and places before we even speak to someone we derive meaning from their looks, language, and accent, these meanings further makes us trust, attract or ripple people and places.

And marketers use these anchors really well.

Anchors evoke thoughts and emotions, a curvy bottle reminds us of a Coca-Cola bottle. An answer from an influencer on Quora will always get high upvotes irrespective of the quality because we all have anchors, these anchors stimulate emotions, an influencer has written it, it has to be good.

There is a reason why brands invest an unfathomable amount of money in marketing. Through marketing, brands create these anchors.

Coca-Cola, for example, is designed to sell happiness.

Image source: Canadian packaging dot com
Coca-Cola features a series of life moments in its advertisements, a guest visiting home, a first date, hanging out with friends, having a break up and patch up over a drink, having a cold drink after a hot tiring day, these ads do not blabber about 10 reasons to buy coke, instead they make you high on emotions.

All of these advertisements make us feel happy, Coca-Cola has very beautifully hooked our anchors to their leverage. These brands know that we act through our anchors, coke has established an anchor of happiness.

Over a period of time, when "Coca-Cola= happiness" communication runs through, again and again, and our mind establishes an anchor, next time when you encounter the smell or the sight of the Coca-Cola bottle, your mind may activate this anchor, this will take you to a resourceful state where you would want to experience happiness and the means of achieving this happiness would be through a bottle of Coca-Cola.

This is how our mind interprets thing by associating one thing with another like, in the beginning, I expressed, how I associated stated restaurant's ambiance with an expensive place and that is how we associate coca-cola with happiness.

Coca-Cola’s ability to successfully use human psychology to its benefit is what makes it a successful brand.

You would never admit that you bought it because of advertisement, the reality is we all just do.

More on Marketing:

My product is shelved next to many larger brands, how do I make it stand out?

How did Nike become such a powerful company?

What brands brought a paradigm shift in advertising?

How can marketing take place through the sense of smell?

Why do people buy? What makes them click on your Facebook ad? What sort of stimuli do most people respond to?

I’ve been interested in consumer psychology for quite a while. It started innocently enough. I was curious. What makes customers interested in a product, service, person, or brand? Why do people click on headlines? What makes 100%-refund-guarantees so assuring? How will this influence conversion rates or customer loyalty?

Asking these kinds of questions helped me develop a deeper understanding of my customers.

And then I figured out something more. Consumer psychology applies to just about everything in business.

Even social media.

What did I do? I started using my knowledge of psychology to improve my Facebook strategy.

And guess what?

It worked.

It wasn’t just my personal brand that started growing by leaps and bounds. My clients got the benefits too!

I’m not going to keep these techniques a secret.

I wanted to share with you the psychological insights I learned so you can dramatically improve your game.

Kick rational advertising out the window

Most people are emotional creatures, not rational.

Many of us analytical types tend to think that everyone else sees the world in terms of ones and zeros like we do. But this is simply not the case.

Most people act emotionally, and there’s nothing wrong with that. It just is.

One of the most effective things you can do to improve your Facebook strategy is to quit relying on rational thinking as your main driver and start relying on customer’s emotions to take the wheel.

Great…But how do you do this?

One of the most effective methods is to convey emotion through facial expression. Try using ads that have someone’s face on them, whether it’s a real photograph or a drawing.

I do this often, simply by adding an image of a face to my posts. It’s simple. It’s quick. It’s effective.

Seeing a face is way more appealing than seeing some inanimate object.

It works not only on posts, like the ones above, but on sidebar ads too.

People are already browsing through Facebook, looking at pictures of friends and family. Using headshots or other shots that include facial expression is a natural way to enter into your customer’s newsfeed unobtrusively.

Facial expression is the only universally understood language, and the human brain is wired to process facial cues far more easily than written word.

In fact, according to a study from Caltech, people may have specific neurons in their brains that respond to individual people!

This means that when you see my face, Tony Robbin’s face, Donald Trump’s face, or Brad Pitt’s face, you have a neuron in your brain dedicated to only them!

Pretty cool, huh?

Take a look at some of the ads below.

Notice how the headshot of Noah Kagan smiling instantly changes your mood and instills trust.

This ad from AdEspresso offers almost no rational reason for clicking on it, but the positive emotion instilled by the cartoon and the eye-catching red (more on that later) makes me want to click on it.

Notice how Tim’s confident (or smug?) facial expression communicates confidence about the method he is teaching without any extra information.

The face is enough to build my trust and encourage me to interact with the Facebook ad.

Do you see how powerful conveying emotion through facial expression is? Use it in all your Facebook ads, regardless of the topic.

Use color to catch attention and convey your message

Something that many marketers are aware of but rarely utilize is the power of color.

The human brain evolved to see red colors more vividly. This was a huge advantage to hunter-gatherers who could now spot ripe red fruits out of green leafy trees as well as potential dangers like venomous snakes and fish.

(That snake could kill you.)

This is a huge advantage to marketers.

Red in your ads will catch users’ attention much more effectively than any other color.

However, the combination of red and blue is even more powerful as blue is more calming and relaxing.

For example, let’s reexamine the AdEspresso ad.

Notice how the ad uses red to grab your attention and direct you to the “Try it now” button but combines it with some blue text to give the ad a more calming and friendly tone.

This is an easy psychological trick you can use to your advantage in your next campaign.

Colors are powerful. They’re a language unto themselves.

It’s time to start speaking this language with your customers. Why? Because it’s a language that is neurologically innate. We’ve learned the language of color through nature and through the complex development of our species.

Color has a way of communicating that doesn’t depend on effective ad copy or even a smiling picture of a model. Choosing the right color can drive up your engagement and improve your Facebook marketing.

Slash the price (by just one cent!)

Have you ever noticed how hard it is to find something in a supermarket that costs exactly $1 or exactly $5?

That’s because, once again, the human brain has evolved to discern the difference between prices based on the left-most digit.

That’s the power of pricing.

For example, the reduction of one cent—from $100.00 to $99.99—is perceived as more significant than the reduction of 40 cents—from $99.99 to $99.59.

While the brain may suck at math, this is an incredibly easy-to-implement tactic that can increase your Facebook ad conversions almost instantly.

This doesn’t work every time or in every situation. However, I have learned that odd styles of pricing are far more effective at luring customers in than flat, round numbers.

Give it a try. Run a split test with differing price points, and see which one wins.

Use odd numbers for opt-ins

Why? Because odd numbers are, for whatever reason, more psychologically appealing. Odd numbers improve engagement, increase click-throughs, and attract more eyeballs.

The simple takeaway?

• If you are running a Facebook ad with a giveaway to increase email opt-ins, use an odd number to help increase conversions.
• If you are posting an update about a listicle, use an odd-numbered headline.
• If you are using a number in any place in your Facebook updates, use an odd number.

For example, the giveaway “9 Powerful Hacks to Massively Increase Facebook Ad Conversions” would convert much better than “10 Amazing Ways to Improve Your Conversion Rate” (according to science).

Conductor’s research showed that odd-numbered headlines have 36% more clicks and a 20% higher CTR than non-numbered or even-numbered headlines.

The same principle holds true for Facebook ads, Facebook articles, and Facebook opt-ins.

Odd numbers just work.

Researchers have discovered that the mind considers odd numbers to be more natural. A list-driven article has a more trustworthy neurological connection due to its odd-numbered status.

Create scarcity

We’ve established that the brain is wired for impulse decisions and fight or flight. Thus, ads featuring products with (perceived) scarcity instill a sense of urgency, influencing a customer’s desire to purchase.

Notice how the “Only 24 Hours Left” warning creates a sense of urgency to buy.

You want it more because it’s scarcer.

It’s called the scarcity principle, and it will work wonders for your social media strategy!

Focus on the images, not the words

According to most modern studies, the brain processes images much faster than text.

This means that when you are designing your Facebook or other social media campaigns, you should focus more of your time and energy on the images you are using than the text you include.

Social media today is a visually driven world. The more visual content you have and the better it is, the more successful your social media campaigns will be.

Use now as a trigger word

Our brains are not wired for our modern technological era.

It sounds odd, I know. After all, most of us run around virtually tethered to some electronic device—wearing it, talking to it, and interacting with it.

But the brain is still trying to adapt to these devices, no matter how marvelous they are.

Our brains are still way back in the day when we were living on plains, hunting and gathering for survival. This means our brains are still wired for one of two basic responses: fight or flight.

You’ve heard of fight or flight, haven’t you? The idea is simple: fight or flight is “the instinctive physiological response to a threatening situation, which readies one either to resist forcibly or to run away.”

The fight or flight response takes its toll on the entire body in various ways. Some of these effects are obvious—like sweating. Other effects are subtle—like digestion slowing down.

Either way, our bodies respond.

Here’s how one science website describes it:

In response to acute stress, the body’s sympathetic nervous system is activated due to the sudden release of hormones. The sympathetic nervous systems stimulate the adrenal glands triggering the release of catecholamines, which include adrenaline and noradrenaline. This results in an increase in heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing rate. After the threat is gone, it takes between 20 to 60 minutes for the body to return to its pre-arousal http://levels….In (http://levels….In) the face of something frightening, your heart beat quickened, you begin breathing faster, and your entire body become tense and ready to take action. This response can happen in the face of an imminent physical danger (such as encountering a growling dog during your morning jog) or as a result of a more psychological threat (such as preparing to give a big presentation at school or work).

In other words, our brains are wired to make impulse decisions.

Using the word now is a great way to capitalize on the brain’s propensity for impulsivity and get your customers to click on your Facebook ad.

Here’s how one Inc. writer describes the word now:

Immediacy is what everyone wants: Get what you want now. Make a change now. You can start now. Tomorrow is too late, yesterday is over, and now is exactly the right moment to start.

Humans are wired to want now. It’s just the way we are.

Cater to that desire in your ads or social campaigns, and you’re sure to improve your scores, conversions, and engagement.

1. Focus On Emotions

A study conducted by Antonio Damasio, a neuroscientist & professor at USC, found that individuals with damage to the part of the brain that triggers emotion had an excruciatingly difficult time making simple decisions.

This is because our brain is wired to make decisions instinctively based on our emotions.

What this means for you as a marketer is that if you are not evoking emotion out of your audience, you are in literally making it more difficult for someone to buy from you.

Additionally, a study of B2B companies conducted by Google in 2011 found that companies branded with an emotional aesthetic have double the impact than a similar company branded with little emotion.

2. Win With Images & Design

As Tom shared, we see with our brains. It was reported by 3M that our brain processes visuals 60,000x faster than what we do with reading.

To further validate the power of our eyes, in the popular book, Brain Rules by John Medina he outlines a study that may shock some. A study conducted in the wine capital of the world, Bordeaux, France, 54 accomplished sommeliers were sat down and given a glass of red wine.

As you can imagine, the big trick is that it was a particular white wine, dyed with odorless red dye.

Shockingly enough, all 54 of the sommeliers mistook the wine to be red.

Try that at your next dinner party.

This, of course, is to take nothing away from the value in text or verbal, but as a marketer, when pushing advertisements we factor in airtime. The more airtime, the more expensive our ads become. With these facts in mind, we must choose brevity.

3. Smart Pricing

It's well known the delicate care that goes into pricing. So consider this. Findings published by the University of Richmond and Clark University found that the smaller the number, the more likely someone is to buy it.

No duh, right? Interestingly, they don't reference small as numerically, but literally the size of the dollar amount.

For example: $1,000.00 vs $1,000 vs. $1000

As you guessed, the number value on the far right is what was most often perceived to be the cheapest.

When Tom spoke, he was even able to share a personal story on pricing. When he worked at Panasonic, he spoke of how they would intentionally release a television at say, $400 and intentionally, make another television, just slightly better, priced at $700.

This is known as price anchoring and perceptively makes the $400 television seem like a much greater deal.

4. Know Your Networking

According to Harvard Business School, 65% to 85% of jobs are found through networking. And that's ALL jobs. Not pre-seed startup jobs which are given so much attention. Your first few hires are likely going to be someone you met via networking. And I don't think we need a study to know nearly 100% of investments start through a friend of a friend.

Entrepreneurship certainly is fun bringing conversations into our personal lives, telling family, girlfriends or whomever we meet at the bar is bad form. It's no way to actually get the series A you need.

According to VeryWell, body language is thought to account for between 50 to 70 percent of all communication.

Here are some tips from the experts:

• Stand 4 to 6 feet away in social settings - this distance is the social norm for events and will make your partner comfortable.
• Rapid eye blinking - this is a signal of discomfort or distress.
• Tapping fingers or fidgeting - this can be a sign of boredom, time to stop talking about your metrics.
• Crossed arms - this tends to be a defensive stance, this person could feel threatened by you or someone else.
• Pursed lips - this can be an indicator of distaste or distrust.
• When two people are getting along, they tend to mirror postures and movements.

Be mindful this is just a peek into the basics of body language. There are entire books and professions made out of this, of which I highly recommend checking out.

Just as with all things in this piece, neuroscience is a complex field that is ever evolving. There are voluminous amounts of research out there of which I urge marketers and founders to engage within your available time.

We know we must be ever learning in this fast paced environment and adopting science-based techniques early on can prove to be the winning edge when it matters most.

—

This comes from an article I originally published on Startup Grind

My best psychological marketing tactic is: Be honest and respect your customers as well as put your heart and mind into your products/services. That way, you’ll secure a ton of customers in the long run.

There are a lot of psychological marketing tactics like those mentioned in this video

However, all cognitive and psychological triggers only work in the short run. At the end of the day, it’s your products/service quality that wins the customers’ hearts.

Being honest with your customers is important. If your products fail or have some defects, just admit it. Then apologize, refund, correct your mistake, and make sure you will not make the same mistake again.

Like in this story, the salesman does a great job selling stuff; he’s just being honest with his client. This story is one of my favorite jokes that I found on Reddit.

The Salesman story

A young guy from North Dakota moves to Florida and goes to a big "everything under one roof" department store looking for a job.

The Manager says, "Do you have any sales experience?"

The kid says "Yeah. I was a vacuum salesman back in North Dakota ."

Well, the boss was unsure, but he liked the kid and figured he'd give him a shot, so he gave him the job. "You start tomorrow. I'll come down after we close and see how you did."

His first day on the job was rough, but he got through it. After the store was locked up, the boss came down to the sales floor. "How many customers bought something from you today?"

The kid frowns and looks at the floor and mutters, "One".

The boss says "Just one?!!? Our sales people average sales to 20 to 30 customers a day. That will have to change, and soon, if you'd like to continue your employment here. We have very strict standards for our sales force here in Florida . One sale a day might have been acceptable in North Dakota , but you're not on the farm anymore, son."

The kid took his beating, but continued to look at his shoes, so the boss felt kinda bad for chewing him out on his first day. He asked (semi-sarcastically), "So, how much was your one sale for?"

The kid looks up at his boss and says "$101,237.65".

The boss, astonished, says $101,237.65?!? What the heck did you sell?"

The kid says, "Well, first, I sold him some new fish hooks. Then I sold him a new fishing rod to go with his new hooks. Then I asked him where he was going fishing and he said down the coast, so I told him he was going to need a boat, so we went down to the boat department and I sold him a twin engine Chris Craft. Then he said he didn't think his Honda Civic would pull it, so I took him down to the automotive department and sold him that 4x4 Expedition."

The boss said "A guy came in here to buy a fish hook and you sold him a boat and a TRUCK!?"

The kid said "No, the guy came in here to buy tampons for his wife, and I said, 'Dude, your weekend's shot, you should go fishing.’

Welcome the reptilian brain — the oldest part of your brain that is responsible for breathing, eating, drinking, mating and basically surviving!

The term is derived from the longstanding belief that the forebrains of reptiles and other small animals, were dominated by this area.

This part of the brain doesn't learn from mistakes. It cannot understand language but can take in sensory information. It's rigid and compulsive!

At the very top lies the neocortex, the newest part of the brain. It enables complex thinking, helps to make decisions and handles language.

Marketeers use devices aimed at getting decisions out of us before we take that long, complex route of thinking.

How do they do this?

They aim directly for the reptilian brain!

• Using messages encoded in visual images, rather than language (because the reptilian brain can't read)
• Using a story (because the reptilian brain can't tell the difference between reality and a story)
• Using colours to grab our attention
• Appealing to our innate selfishness of gaining pleasure

Using these techniques, we make impulsive buys.

The reptilian brain, all it knows is “I need, I want, I need, I want.” There's no room for disagreement. What it wants, is what it'll get!

Few days back, I went to a nearby Starbucks.

All I wanted to order was plain and simple Cappuccino.

As I was waiting in the queue, I heard orders like

…Upside down Macchiato…

…A Java Chip Frappuccino with no chips…

…A skinny vanilla latte steamed to exactly 137°…

Of course, every order was made exactly as it was told. Starbucks really shines in that area.

My turn finally came and I asked for a Cappuccino.

“Vanilla milk or normal milk?”, the counter guy asked.

“Umm, just normal please.”

“Coconut or Hazelnuss?”

“No nuts for me, thank you.”

“With or without foam?”

What the hell? A cappuccino is just espresso, milk and foam! What do you mean ‘without foam’?

“With foam, yeah.”

“Whipped cream sir?”

“Sure”

“Lite water or sparkling water?”

What the fuck is Lite water?

“Normal water please.”

I paid and was asked to wait for sometime.

While waiting, I heard several other people ordering unnecessarily annoying and obnoxious drinks. I mean, its just a coffee!

People fail to see the masterstroke Starbucks plays here. By giving so many custom tailored-to-taste options instead of just offering a “stock” coffee menu, like CCD or Barista, they make their customers feel special about even the most mundane thing like ordering a coffee.

Tell me if I am wrong, but haven’t you felt a strange sense of achievement and upheaval in self-dignity every time your name is called in Starbucks and you are served with a drink that is brewed with 99% accuracy of however the hell you demanded it to be made?

Next time you think of coffee, you think about that same sense of achievement and dignity.

You think of Starbucks.

In January 2009, the Hyundai USA did something brilliant.

2009 was going to be a bad year. The Great Recession was in a full swing. The US government was rescuing financial institutions. And while the unemployment rate reached 8%, car sales dropped 20%.

The reduction in car sales was more drastic than the situation warranted. After all, 90% of people still had a job. They were commuting to work, could qualify for a loan, and needed a car.

So why did the car sales decline so much?

The reason was (of course) fear. People were scared. Fear originates in the part of the brain responsible for survival. The emotion is so powerful, its response can override higher mental processes. So when we are scared we act quickly and often irrationally.

And when it comes to buying cars, quick and irrational is a bad combination.

Hyundai execs understood how car buyers felt. They knew that fear—the fear of economic insecurity—was driving buyers' decisions. If the company wanted to survive, it needed to address the fear. So, in January 2009, the company launched Hyundai Assurance.

The message was simple. If you buy a Hyundai and lose your job within a year, you can return the car. Don't have to pay for anything. Free and clear.

The genius of the program was not in the buyback offer. There were financial instruments offering similar benefits already. By addressing the fear upfront, Hyundai turned customers' anxiety into an effective marketing tactic.

The program was a huge success. It brought Hyundai a lot of free publicity. A small-volume nameplate with mediocre products (at the time) now was an industry darling. Hyundai competitors rushed to emulate the program.

The program lasted 3 years. How many people took advantage of the offer and returned their cars? 350. Hyundai sold over half-million cars during the period. That's less than 0.07%.

Hyundai Assurance was an ingenious psychological/marketing tactic.

For more on psychology read my blog Calm Science

If you like my answers follow me.

Shopping Scenario:

You need a black trouser for yourself and you are about to buy it at one of the nearby stores.

Before going to the store you search for the product on amazon , therefore you know the price.

It costs around 1300 INR when you buy it from amazon and it’s free delivery and free shipping.

Now you go to the store and check for it’s price and you find this:

It’s almost the same right?

MRPs were quoted by both the stores.

But the former didn’t want to tell us that it was the MRP.

While the latter, quoted a lower price than the MRP and also displayed the MRP with a cross in it.

Now which store is smarter?

Needless to say, that both the stores are smart. One is hiding the MRP and the other one is showing off.

However the smarter one is the latter one.

Studies have shown that such price tags create a good impression on the buyer and the buyer develops a higher interest towards the product.

Even if the product lags in quality, it is the price which plays an important role.

Some of us know about this trick and still we fall for this trick as it’s a pure psychological trick. It’s difficult to avoid it.

There aren’t many people who check the online price.

At the end of the day, buyer’s psychology is what that matters and the sellers are creative enough to blend the buyer’s psychology to get more profit.

Clever psychological marketing tactics !

Ain’t it?

Edit 1: If this wasn’t a psychological trick then why display the cross? Why can’t they just quote the price which is 1169 INR. Think about it.

Its a very interesting question and I can write a lot on this, but to keep it as crisp as possible:-

The answer covers:-

1. How the buyers rationalize a purchase (i.e. what they think, feel, reason out before they select your product).
2. How the buyer is affected by his/her environment while making a purchase (for example how do multiplexes manage to sell overpriced pop corns when every body knows that its a rip off).
3. How are consumers motivated to make a particular purchase and how can a marketing company impress a potential buyer.

Rationalizing a purchase:-

Often the buyers run the three point test for all products. The time spent on the three point test may differ depending on the size of purchase they are making.

The three point test:-

Point 1: Technical feasibility: Does the product meet a specific need, that I have?

Point 2: Financial Feasibility: If the product meets a specific need of mine, do I have enough money to buy the product?

Point 3: Economic feasibility: The product address my need, I have enough money but does it make economical sense to buy it? (i.e, should I make this purchase or save their money for something else?)

So here are some psychological tactics that will ensure that the customers rate us best on the three point scale?

Loss Aversion: We tend to have a greater negative effect of a loss as compared to a positive effect of an equal gain.

The research: Chicago Heights teachers received bonus payments as part of a loss aversion research study. One group of teachers stood to receive bonuses based on the performance of their students on standardized testing. Another group received their bonus at the beginning of the year and stood to either keep it or lose it based on the results of their students’ tests. Per the results of the study, the prepaid bonuses—the ones that could have been lost—had a bigger impact on teachers.

Risk-free trials and money-back guarantees are some ways to deal with loss aversion. To win a new customers eliminate the factor of fear from your marketing proposition.

Conformity and Social Influence or Bandwagon effect: We tend to change our opinions and activities to behave more like others.

For example: The advertisements that claim 9 out of 10 people prefer brand X over others, or a particular car has 1 million happy customers actually try to capitalize on this customer psyche.

The Exposure theory: The more we are exposed to some information or product the more we tend to like it.

For example: Remember there are songs and jingles that are repeated so many times through all channels of communication that we tend to form positive opinion about the same. MTV has come up with a special P.U.S.H Artist category, where they keep playing particular songs from the artists till they get registered in our heads and we keep humming them ourselves.

The Decoy effect: We tend to change our preferences between the two when a third less attractive option is presented.

For example: Decoy pricing is a very common technique used by many companies to sell a particular product more than others. Mobile phone manufacturers have been taking an advantage of this more than any others, they intentionally price one of their products at a price point which makes people want another product more.

Image below shows decoy pricing by Apple, one would be inclined to purchase the 32GB variant.

Framing effect: Our reaction to a same situation differs depending on how we perceive the situation to be a loss or a gain.

For example: A research was conducted and the people were asked to chose one of the two options that they like more than the other:-

a. 200 people will be saved by our rescue mission.

b. The rescue mission can save only 1/3rd of the total 600 people.

More people chose the first option, though the two options essentially mean the same thing.

The FUD effect: Often known as Fear Uncertainty and Doubt. Some products tend to sell themselves more by instilling FUD in the minds of the customers.

For example: Insurance policies, Water and Air purifiers, some medicines etc. FUD is also commonly used in the field of software where the companies claim that improper or illegitimate use of software can lead to data loss or theft.

The Adrenaline effect: Ever seen people going crazy over 2 hours sales, or flat x% discounts for 1 day. The companies make use of adrenaline rush that people get on seeing something that is available for very limited period of time.

Creating urgency in sale is a very important aspect, a theory suggest that people would not buy a product unless they perceive its urgency. It argues that safety stock is a type of urgency to ensure adequate contingency planning. Also, the perceived urgency may vary from individual to individual.

The Anchoring effect: We tend to anchor our decisions around the previous or best known information that we have about the situation or product.

eCommerce companies exploit this idea way too much, ever seen the initial price and final price for products.

For example: A jeans for Rs 1500 will not create even half the excitement for you than a jeans that was originally priced at 4500 and now being sold at 66% discount for 1500 will.

The Frequency Illusion: If we intend to purchase a particular product we tend to spot it more often than ever before.

Say if you plan to buy a particular model car in near future, you will start seeing the same model car running on streets more frequently than others. This phenomenon is of great importance for marketer. They should make their brand and product as ubiquitous as possible for the potential buyer to re-confirm his/her faith on procuring the product.

The Clustering effect: This is perhaps the most useful yet the most difficult psychological phenomenon. Ever wondered why the tooth brushes are kept next to tooth pastes in a super market? Or why laundry bags are kept close to detergents?

Proper clustering is still a huge subject in itself in understanding and predicting consumer behavior, like some results show that keeping beer-cans next to children's diapers have boosted the sales of beers.

This is just a small list that I could compile, there are many more such psychological marketing tactics, which I'll add later.

Thanks!

Additional Reads:

Marketing Psychology: 10 Revealing Principles of Human Behavior

The Psychology of Marketing

15 Psychological Studies That Will Boost Your Marketing

MTV P.U.S.H. Artist Of The Week: B.o.B.

Fear, uncertainty and doubt

Decoy effect

Bandwagon effect

DECOY PRICING

Have you ever bought a medium-sized bucket of popcorn at the cinemas? Probably never. Let me explain why.

National Geographic ran an experiment to test how the consumers are influenced to buy a large popcorn rather than a small or medium one.

To begin with, they offered the first group of consumers a small bucket of popcorn for $3 or a large one for $7. The result revealed that most of the consumers chose to buy the small bucket, due to their personal needs at that time.

As for the second group, they decided to offer three options: a small bucket for $3, a medium bucket (the decoy) for $6.5 and a large one for $7. This time, most of the consumers chose the large bucket because they saw value in more popcorn for only $0.5. This is called ‘The Decoy effect’. It is the phenomenon when people tend to have a change in preference between two options when presented with a third option that is asymmetrically dominated. This type of pricing strategy is called Decoy pricing strategy.

This strategy relies on the assumption that consumers’ purchasing decisions are perfectly “rational” and take into account all the “right information”. In truth, the consumer does not often possess the “perfect” level of information about a product. As a result, consumers’ purchasing decisions are often made without taking into account all the information about any given item. This incites companies to wisely choose their marketing and pricing strategies, ensuring that imperfect information is sometimes deliberately provided to consumers in order to maximize both sales and margins.

Two Dosa Stalls, Side by Side.

I used to frequently visit one only because his dosa was tastier. But, of course, I have my own “princess-level” requirements: extra plates beneath (because I can’t hold hot ones), lots of tissues, I'm not having in their steel or plastic plates I want disposables, extra spicy but no MSG, less oil etc. etc.

Yet, no matter how often I went—twice a week, mind you—he treated me like a first-time customer every single time. I had to repeat my instructions over and over. Forget tissues—he’d serve me in steel plates, and I’d have to argue just to get it transferred to disposables. Daily drama. But since I loved his dosa, especially the dip, I tolerated the hassle.

One day, his stall was too crowded, so I went to the other one. Despite my minimal instructions, he remembered me from months ago! He automatically gave me extra plates, tissues, made it spicier, and added more of my favorite chutney—without me even asking! I was amazed. It was rush hour, so all I told him was to serve it in disposables—he remembered the rest.

Even though his dosa is slightly less tasty, now I always eat at his stall only. Why? Because he makes me feel valued. I just need to place my order, and he exactly knows what I need!

Psychological marketing takeaway:

Know your customer. Repeat customers bring more profit than occasional flashy deals or attractive ponzi offers that grabs people's interest for a few days but ultimately don’t contribute much in the long run. Businesses thrive on word of mouth, especially local ones. Build rapport, remember preferences, and offer a personalized touch.

In a world where everyone is selling the same products, making customers feel valued is what sets you apart. Sure, advertising gets attention, but customer loyalty keeps businesses running. In today’s globalized market, there are very few exclusive goods and services. What you’re selling is exactly what the next person is selling—so why will a customer return to you? Because they feel valued!

So building rapport—knowing customers—and customizing services according to them: is the single most underrated marketing tactic that people often underestimate.

Remember:
1 returning customer >> 100 new customers

Word of mouth exists for real!!

Image Source: My gallery

Sell features and benefits…

That’s what the sales gurus keep telling us.

How many times have you read this in textbooks?

How many times have you heard it being taught by sales gurus?

How many times have you heard this crap being taught in sales schools?

Want to know the truth?

People are tired of hearing this crap being taught over and over again.

People hate being sold.

People have learned to research products for themselves even before they make an informed buying decision.

It simply doesn’t sell. People can read the features and benefits on the package anyway.

Image Credit: Getty Images

Do you want to know what sells?

Marketing is a multi-billion dollar industry. Do you think large-budget marketing companies like Coca-Cola just spend billions advertising for nothing?

No. They know what they’re doing. They’re targeting your emotions.

But it’s not just your emotions as such. It is something far deeper than emotions. They target your psychology.

They want to take control of your mind.

Before we go any further, let’s first look at the reasons people buy things.

Mostly, people buy things for the following reasons:

1. To alleviate pain or discomfort
2. To enhance pleasure
3. To impress other people
4. To avoid embarrassment
5. To avoid shame
6. To evoke jealousy
7. To feel important
8. For selfish reasons.
9. To maximize convenience
10. Laziness

The list goes on and on…

This is what drives all the marketing you see on TV, print media, video, and the internet. Billions are being poured into the marketing industry.

Why?

To persuade you to change your behavior and take necessary action.

How?

This goes back to the 1960s when an American physician and neuroscientist called Paul D. MacLean proposed a theory explaining the evolution of the forebrain of human vertebrae that also controls behavior. His works were published at length in his groundbreaking 1990 book, The Triune Brain in Evolution. He named it The Triune Brain Theory.

MacLean explained that the bran evolved into 3 parts or stages namely, the Reptilian brain (R-complex), the Paleomammalian complex (Limbic Brain), and the Neo-mammalian complex (Neocortex). MacLean viewed the three stages as structures added sequentially to the forebrain during the course of evolution.

Well, as you would expect, MacLean’s theory was not received without much criticism and hostility, especially from the scientific community.

However, his work was viewed as one of the most groundbreaking psychological works yet, to understand the structure of the human brain and how it affects our behaviors and emotions.

To better understand how this system works, MacLean described the Reptilian brain as the oldest part of the brain and the first to evolve. MacLean described this as the part of the brain that has the animal or Reptilian instincts. Although it is the smallest, the Reptilian brain actually controls the Limbic and the Neocortex. As such, stimuli to the Reptilian brain triggers response far more effectively than the other parts.

Next is the Limbic brain that controls emotions or feelings.

Finally, the third part of the brain is the Neocortex or the Rational brain. This is the part of the brain uses reason.

For example, when you’re feeling hungry, which part of the brain do you think is at work?

The Reptilian brain — right?

So, if you wanted to sell food, which part of the brain will you target?

The Reptilian brain — right?

Now, let’s look at the emotions that trigger human behavior:

Jealousy — Refers to the thoughts or feelings of insecurity, fear, and concern over a relative lack of possessions.

Love — An intense emotion triggered by empathy and genuine feelings towards another person.

Hate — The opposite of Love.

Envy — (borrowed from Latin “invidia”) is an emotion which "occurs when a person lacks another's superior quality, achievement, or possession and either desires it or wishes that the other lacked it".

Lust — A psychological emotion producing intense wanting or longing for an object, a person, sex or a circumstance to fulfill the emotion.

Greed — An inordinate or insatiable longing or hunger for material gain, food, money, status, or power.

Pride — An emotional state deriving positive affect from the perceived value of a person or thing with which the subject has an intimate connection. It may be inwardly or outwardly directed.

Fear — A psychological change in behavior resulting in certain actions like fleeing, hiding or freezing from perceived or imminent traumatic events, or in anticipation or expectation of a future threat perceived as a risk to body or life.

Anger — An emotional state involving a strong, uncontrollable, uncomfortable and hostile reaction as a result of a perceived provocation, hurt or threat.

Pain — A distressing feeling often caused by intense emotional experience or the actual physical or potential damage to body tissue.

These are some of the biggest emotions that drive human behavior. Some emotions are stronger than others.

For example, pain is stronger than love; fear is stronger than pride, and so on…

Can you think of more emotions that could trigger human behavior?

Now, consider this headline:

“New Virus Allows Hackers To Silently Steal Webcam Video From Your Computer!”

What comes to mind the moment you read this headline?

Fear? Curiosity? or Anger?

Whatever you think is triggered by this headline, that’s what would use to persuade someone to open their wallets and remove cash or credit card to buy something. Naturally, the headline will cause someone to investigate the headline further; maybe even read the story.

Fear of what may happen if a hacker sneaks into their computers is what persuades people to make a buying decision. Not features and benefits.

Once you communicate this fear, people will naturally be curious to know what they can do to alleviate the fear. You can then recommend a product that will alleviate their fears.

Insurance companies practically sell fear. That’s what drives people to take up an insurance policy.

Beauty companies trigger jealousy and envy. That’s what drives people to buy beauty products so that they may look more beautiful than their peers.

The same applies to cars, clothes, jewelry, etc.

Why do you think politicians win elections?

Because they can get people emotionally charged to hate something or someone and get angry about a certain person or situation.

Once they’re able to build up this anger emotionally, the voters will simply be left with no choice but vote for them.

By effectively targetting the emotional part of the brain and particularly the Reptilian brain.

That’s it.

Footnotes

In India, there are many street snack sellers (Chana jor garam in my case) who carry a small stall on their head and roam around.

They setup their stall wherever they find some tens of people with a belief that he will sell some.

Like this

Source: Google

So, this happened to me two days back i.e. on 11 March 2018. My friend was visiting me for a couple days and I went with him to the bus stand to say him goodbye.

We reached there half and hour before and we standing alongside some group of people who were also waiting for the bus to start.

So, this snack seller (no the one in the picture) comes and stand just in from of us, about 20 feet away and started preparing his snack.

After that, he asked me, “Lenge sahab?” (You want to buy, sir?).

I said no.

He picked his stall, and he was gone.

This was the biggest “emotional” thing I have ever seen someone do for marketing.

His actions were depicting that he was just standing there for me and when I said no, he just walked away, creating an emotional touch in my mind that, “OMG, he was standing just for me”.

I was tempted to buy it but then my friend said, “Dekh, kya marketing technique Laga rha hai, chhod, jaane de” (See, what marketing technique he used, leave it. Let him go).

It was insane.

That's all!

You will find many shops with such signboards:

Nothing new in this kind of marketing. A stationery shop will have Classmate’s signboard, and a mobile shop might have Samsung’s.

Now, look at this.

These are not painted because there is a shop selling SIM cards in the middle of nowhere. Then why are they painted in these seemingly out-of-place locations?

I used to work at Tata Docomo some years back. Smartphones were still basic at that time. So, unlike data, which is the deciding factor to choose a mobile operator now, customers used to look at talk-time, services and network quality first. Now, telcos could compete on price and services, but how to communicate about their network quality. Network is always an issue, especially outside cities. One didn’t expect to get good network inside the city, leave alone outside.

So what did the telecom companies do? They did not just install more towers along the highway and then make an ad about it. They just painted houses and shops along the highways with their logos.

This was a neat psychological trick. By painting the shops with their logos, people psychologically assumed that the company’s network is available in the vicinity. Which, in fact, was not always the case. The houses or shops had no connection whatsoever with the mobile companies or their services. At many places, network was really bad. Yet, by just utilizing their walls and paying pittance to the owners, the companies lifted their network quality perception among the public.

I'm really interested in the topic, so I actually know many of them.

Here are two on the top of my mind:

1. 10 Words That Build Trust
Some clever researchers found that placing a simple sentence at the end of an ad for an auto service company increased thier trust scores by 33%!

This was the sentence: “You can trust us to do the job for you.”

What’s strange is, that in this sentence there are no claims that the job will be done well, effectively, … The sentence above caused people to rate this company higher in every of the category:

• Fair price – up 7%
• Caring – up 11%
• Fair treatment – up 20%
• Quality – up 30%
• Competency – up 33%

It was very surprising for me that such a simple “trust us” claim could produce such increases.
So, if you want that your subscribers, customers or clients trust you more, simply remind them that they can trust you.

This works. You can trust me

2. NLP Embedded Commands

NLP comes from Nurolinguistic programming.

When you use it properly, this tactic can make all your written stuff more persuasive.

Warning: This tactic flies beneath the radar of your readers’ perception and it can produce hypnotic effect you want! It can make them buy from you, often without really knowing why. It’s really powerful, so use it responsibly and ethically.

Take a look at the sentence: “I wonder how quickly you are going to buy this product.” It seems harmless, but notice the embedded command which has quite hypnotic effect: you are going to buy this product

When you use this tactic, you need to use bold or italic font, in order to delineate your command. Your reader will respond to that part of the sentence as a command and will follow the command without consciously realizing it.

Obviously, this is a very powerful tool. This tactic motivate your readers to take action.

To learn how to use it, you can see at the source.
Source: jovicailic.org

Products do not build brands, consumers do. When it comes to spreading your brand names, awareness is everything-because consumers think what your brand is.

Understanding the "reason" behind their actions is the key to success. There are several ways to take advantage of consumer perceptions, but each one proves how well you know your audience.

Leading brands are using complex data to quantify behavior and perception and give consumers more of what they want. But what role does consumer psychology play?

Here I analyze the most important psychological strategies and why.

6 Consumer psychological strategies affecting behavior

1. Reciprocal

Reciprocity is a concept developed from the basic concept: if you give me some value, I will give you some reward. Although there is a simple concept in theory, it is a result of immersion in research and proof.

In 2002, a team of researchers found that waiters can use this strategy to greatly increase the size of the tip.

Since then, the brand has been applying theory to marketing to increase everything from brand loyalty to sales.

Make it work

A powerful way to put the principle of reciprocity into practice is through content marketing – providing consumers with valuable content, including educational skills and ideological leadership.

This is the ideal way to build brand trust and increase conversion, requiring consumers to follow, believe, and buy rewards from your brand. A different way to use this strategy for testing is through bonus-giving consumers something to push them along the way they buy.

An E-commerce report shows that free shipping and financial rewards or rewards, such as discount & coupons, are among the top buying drivers of today's consumers, making these basic strategies without a brand to ignore.

2. Commitment and consistency

Consistency means developing a brand identity that people can connect to and stick to.

Consumers not only trust the brands they know, they also like to show the brand of commitment--a reflection of our tendency to judge others by action, and our obsession with consistency.

Putting this into practice not only means letting consumers buy your brand and promoting sales, which means urging your customers to make a commitment to your brand and encourage consistent behavior patterns.

This means that you have to locate your brand in some way so that consumers will think you are the advocate of change and stand up for something bigger. When you ask a customer to subscribe themself to your blog, you promise your audience that they will deliver good-quality, high valuable content on a consistent basis. In return, you ask your consumers to make a small commitment (such as providing data).

According to this theory, this small commitment should prompt them to continue to do so.

3. Authenticity

Brand authenticity is a concept that continues to be valued and well justified.

For today's consumers, branding is not just about reducing risk, when it comes to buying, where they shape and validate our self-awareness.

Brand now constitutes the key part of our identity and our image in a world where everyone has a brand-either personal or commercial. So people no longer buy hype; if it feels spammy, they don't buy it.

And it's the wrong reason to put a brand in the spotlight in more ways than ever before, and it's essential to keep it real.

The best example of real marketing is the use of the insight framework of their brand around the audience, giving them some connection and contact.

User generated content (UGC) is a great strategy to use to encourage consumers to participate and shape your activities.

One example of a brand gaining this right is Coca-Cola's ' share of Coca-Cola ' campaign-urging consumers to use social media as a platform to share their ideas about what labels they want to see, leading to the longest campaign ever run by a long-running UGC.

4. Personalized

According to a study by the University of Texas, our preference for personalized experience boils down to two key factors: the desire for control and information overload.

Big brands are tweaking their marketing to their consumers, allowing them to feel more controlled and assisting them navigate the ocean of unrelated information at their fingertips to understand what they really value.

They do this in deep insight to help them to appraise consumer behavior and perceptions that lead to personalized marketing and branding, to them, and to them alone.

Make it work

Getting personalized means customizing your marketing, products, and services for your customers.

We've explored the greatest examples of personalized marketing, and in each case their success has come back to how well they know the audience. Once you have the data and insights you need to create a user's pen portrait, you can start using what you know in the same way.

According to MarketingProfs's data, businesses that personalize the Web experience see sales grow by an average of 19%.

O2 is a brand that shows the value of personalization, who uses data based on location and equipment to recommend the best price concessions to consumers, resulting in an increase of 128% clicks.

5. Affective Psychology

Every decision we make is based on emotion.

Research has shown that, based on emotion, our brains decide what to share and who to trust, based on the logic we feel first, and then on the second. In the analysis of the Investment Promotion Agency Effectiveness Award database, a case study containing 1400 successful advertising campaigns was completed almost two times for purely emotional content (31% vs 16%) As those who have rational content.

Frankly, emotional marketing work.

Make it work Leading your marketing and emotions may sound straightforward, but for this method of work you need to know which emotions are entering.

This will depend on the goals that you want to achieve in each campaign or content type.

Berger's study found that the more active the information, the more likely it is that the virus will occur. An example of how a brand cleverly uses emotion to drive its message is Nike.

With the help of a large group of influential people, the brand cleverly uses strategy to position itself as the ideological leader of change.

6. Color Psychology

Color psychology, as an alluring tool, attracts much attention.

Research on this topic reveals that up to 90% of the quick judgments on the product can be made separately.

Red is largely compatible with arouse strong emotions and encouraging impulsive buying-including Coca-Cola, McDonald's and Virgo's famous brands.

Make it work

Brand in practice not only from the brand's point of view to adjust their tone and shape their identity, but also to optimize the election effect. Test theory, HubSpot shows that they added CTA click to use Red 21%.

By testing your activities and broader marketing campaigns with colors to understand what resonates best for your audience, you can see significant results in driving more attraction.

Combining this strategy with hard data can open up new areas of understanding in front of the audience.

Understanding consumer psychology is no longer a guessing game. Now you have granular data to tell you exactly what you need to know and what you can use.

Here are some helpful recent statistics to help you master some of these key visitors.

Generation Z

20% is more likely to fall into our "image consciousness" attitude part.

• More likely to buy from the brand of "add value to your life".

Millennium

50% says their favorite brands play an integral role in online life.

• The third Jubilee is turning to consumer perceptions of social networks while researching products.

Mother

• A one-to-one connection between individual and brand is an important driving force for brand promotion in this group.

• Free shipping is the most important factor in motivating a mother to complete a purchase.

• More than half of online mothers comment every month.

Holiday buyers

38% can use online advertising as a source of brand discovery, a similar number that blocks ads on their main computer.

30% who has seen a brand made video on a social platform to do so.

• High-quality products are most likely to turn someone into a brand advocate.

The influence of psychology on marketing is proved to be very important. Using psychology to motivate your customer in your advantage is not that complicated.

1. Relate to your customer - the best way to motivate your customers to do something is to say that customers in their situation have done so. Try to find common ground and draw similarities among your customers as well as between your company and your customers.
2. Use reciprocity - if someone does something for you, you naturally will want to do something for them. Give your new customers a 15 % discount on their first purchase, or even better, give something for free. That way the customer will feel like he “owes” you something and will most likely come back to return the favour. Make sure to give something before you expect something in return.
3. Choose right colours - colour has a huge impact. It can not only set you apart from competitors but also influence people’s mood and feelings. Choose the right colour which will make your brand stand out from others. Contrasts and shades are influential.
4. Ask your customers to pay in advance – make your customers pay in from before what they change their preferences.

When the World Trade Center in New York City was originally commissioned, there was some concern that tenants in the top floors would feel uneasy if the buildings swayed too much under high winds. The developers wanted to know precisely how much a building could move before a tenant could feel the change, and they wanted to keep any experiments used to determine this distance absolutely quiet. After all, top-floor tenants are usually the highest paying, and there was no need to make them uneasy.

With this objective in mind, the task of determining how much a room could move before an individual in that room could feel the change was turned over to Paul Hoffman, founder of the Oregon Research Institute - a place that would later become famous for Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky’s involvement. Michael Lewis tells it brilliantly (as he always does) in his most recent book The Undoing Project:

Hoffman rented another building in another leafy Eugene neighborhood and built a room inside of it on top of the hydraulic wheels used to roll logs through Oregon’s lumber mills. At the press of a button the entire room could be made to rock back and forth, silently, like the top of a Manhattan skyscraper in a breeze. All of this was done in secrecy. The Port Authority didn’t want to alert its future tenants that they’d be swinging in the wind, and Hoffman worried that if his subjects knew they were in a building that moved, they would become more sensitive to movement and queer the experiment’s results. “After they’d designed the room,” recalled Paul Slovic, “the question was, how do we get people into the room without them knowing why?” And so after the “sway room” was built,Hoffman stuck a sign outside that read Oregon Research Institute Vision Research Center, and offered free eye exams to all comers. (He’d found a graduate student in psychology at the University of Oregon who happened also to be a certified optometrist.) As the graduate student performed eye exams, Hoffman turned up the hydraulic rollers and made the room roll back and forth. The psychologists soon discovered that people in a building that was moving were far quicker to sense that something was off about the place than anyone, including the designers of the World Trade Center, had ever imagined. This is a strange room,” said one. “I suppose it’s because I don’t have my glasses on. Is it rigged or something? It really feels funny.”

The Port Authority was dismayed by the findings, and even went through the trouble of replicating the experiment themselves only to find that the initial study proved accurate. The cost to make the buildings stand more rigid would prove high, and the process required “eleven thousand two-and-a-half-foot-long metal shock absorbers.”

What is genuinely amazing about this study is the unintended consequence:

The extra steel likely enabled the buildings to stand for as long as they did after they were struck by commercial airliners, and it allowed some of the fourteen thousand people who escaped to flee before the buildings collapsed.

This is from my blog, I think it will answer your question.

I recently saw a burger joint while shopping. On its menu, they very boldly stated “ Limit 5 burgers per customer.”

My first thought: That is absurd. Why are they decreasing their own sales. That too in festive season ( Huge Indian festival : Diwali).

My second thought: Which five am I going to get?

I didn’t realize how brilliant the restaurant owners were until I learned about anchoring. You see, normally I would just pick one or maybe when I feel exceptionally generous for myself,two burgers, but when I read “LIMIT FIVE BURGERS PER CUSTOMER. ” on the menu, my mind was anchored at a much higher number than usual.

Most people won’t order five burgers , but that anchor is enough to move the average up from one burger to two to three burgers. You walk in planning to get a normal meal. You walk out the joint spending five times more than required.

Anchoring is part of behavioral economics.

This effect has been replicated in a wide range of research studies and commercial environments. For example, business owners have found that if you say “Limit 12 per customer” then people will buy twice as much product compared to saying, “No limit.”

That’s the reason shopkeepers and online commerce sites use the “LIMITED SUPPLY” tool. Not because they have limited amount of product but because they exploit the mental errors that sway us from making good decisions.

The fear of missing out.

It’s natural to want to avoid losses. In fact, research shows that losses are twice as impactful on people, psychologically, as gains.

Perhaps the most prevalent place you hear about anchoring is with pricing. If the price tag on a new watch is $500, you might consider it too high for your budget. However, if you walk into a store and first see a watch for $5,000 at the front of the display, suddenly the $500 watch around the corner seems pretty reasonable. Many of the premium products that businesses sell are never expected to sell many units themselves, but they serve the very important role of anchoring your mindset and making mid-range products appear much cheaper than they would on their own.

So next time, you are going to make a big purchase, and considering that you want to save money, don’t even look at the high end items. So either of this is going to happen,

Option 1: Customers saw the fully loaded version of the car. Then when they said the price was too expensive, the dealer took away options in an effort to reduce the price.

Option 2: Customers saw the base price of the car. Then the dealer asked them to select which options they wanted, increasing the price incrementally.

Result: People spent more money, and were less satisfied, in the first condition. The psychological theory is that people experience FOMO and are reluctant to give up what they felt they already had.

Thanks for reading! :)

A few years ago, Dan Ariely came across this pricing strategy by The Economist:

Given this curious pricing strategy, Ariely ran an experiment with 100 MIT students asking them which package they would purchase.

16 opted for option A (online subscription), 0 nobody chose option B (print subscription) and 84 selected option C (print & web subscription)

Based on the above information, Ariely ran the experiment again with a second group of 100 MIT students. This time, however, he removed the option B to see if there would be any change in results given nobody chose the print only subscription.

Interestingly, now 68 students opted for option A (web subscription) while only 32 students selected option C (print & web subscription) — a huge change in terms of both the student’s choices and revenue for The Economist!

The reason why that second option was there is because it helps people make an easier choice.

Comparing a web subscription to a print subscription at two different prices, means there are two variables: subscription type and pricing.

By putting the print subscription and the print & web subscription at the same price, The Economist reduced the number of variables and so made it a lot easier for us to compare the two options and make a decision.

So here’s the lesson.

Simplify the options for your potential customers by introducing a decoy option that’s slightly worse in value than the option you’d like them to pick, that way they’ll automatically go for the option you prefer.

(Theoretically this should also work for dating as well. Next time you go out, bring a friend who’s slightly less attractive than you and let me know if the comments how it goes!)

One of the simplest and most interesting psychological marketing tactic is simply asking a person to shake his/her hand.

That’s right, a simple handshake can be used as a marketing tactic.

Let me explain how

In psychology there is a tactic called foot in the door (FITD).

Now let me explain how Foot in the door phenomenon works.

As the name suggests, just like after placing your foot in between the door you can open it easily,

This tactic helps in making a person comply to a large request by first asking him/her to comply to a simple small request.

So let’s say you are roaming around in a mall.

a person comes and asks you to shake his hand (don’t do it, it’s a trap)

but you do it anyway. ( and that’s check and mate)

now he asks you if you can do him a small favor

you say yes anyway.

He asks you to listen about a products that he sells

You listen to him.

He asks you to buy that product.

You buy it.

He asks you for your number, you give him your phone number.

He asks you to give him a light saber, you give him a light saber.

He asks you to give him an Upvote , you give him an Upvote.

Therefore the lesson of the day is don’t shake hands with strangers when they ask you to do so.

Never the less you can give me that Upvote that I asked for.

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Peace out.

Marketing simply relies on a basic funda.

“Looks should be deceptive.”

Many answers mentioned about the 9 magic at the unit place and other interesting facts.

I'm from India and I'm giving you a daily life example which a regular costumer faces but never observes it.

Here comes today's instance when I was using Dove shampoo, I saw this.

So Dove is so gentle that it's giving me 32% extra. But! If you observe that dangerous * with the Rs 2, you'll notice happiness is not so long.

If you're unable to read it, it reads as 4.34 ml+32%=5.5 ml.

Let's see one more shampoo sachet.

It's worth of Rs 1.5 and it's quantity is 5 ml.

So basically what it looks like, picture is something different.

*Price hike of 50 Paise should have paid you 1.66ml but you're getting only 0.5 ml.*

All and all, “Marketing wins costumer loses.”

And why not. That's how Marketing works.

Have a good day.

:)