5 Psychological Factors That Are Affecting Your Sales And Marketing Efforts

People don’t make any purchases like they used to. Most of them make their buying decisions on Google, other buyers are done digitally. Each customer typically uses different interaction channels to finish their buying journey.
Using the common acclaim in sales and digital marketing is imperative, but many companies are still behind with their efforts. You often hear this phrase: "We know that it is very important, but we don’t know where to start". Most business owners really don't spend enough time on sales.
Convincing your customers should be one of the key jobs for each marketer and advertiser. They always face two important problems that can affect your business decision-taking process. First of all, what you need to do, and, secondly, how to get moving. To grow your sales and improve your brand awareness, you should take advantage of the five psychological factors that explain and impact on customers’ decision-making.

 

1. Use Social Proof To Boost Sales

As you know people love to be a part of something big. They love to feel their peers accept a product before they make a crucial decision. There are various social proof tactics that can affect your sales. You can use product reviews, polls, surveys, expert or celebrity approval, etc.
The approach of social proof is closely associated with the approach of 'liking'. We all are social creatures and we like everything that delights the eye. Everything that displays the popularity of your products and your website can enhance a response.
Many studies reveal that 70% of consumers rely on product reviews before their decision-making stage. Make sure that product reviews are more reputable than product descriptions made by manufacturers. This tactic is perfectly demonstrated by Bestmattress Brand that provides a list of the most popular mattress and bed reviews.

Make sure that product reviews are not the only way to show social proof. You can also use other ways to increase sales:

1. Polls and surveys. Most of companies use this tactic when they state like "92% of clients are pleased with their purchases".
2. Expert or celebrity approval. Many brands take after this strategy to increase sales. Influencer or celebrity words mean a lot in a certain industry.
3. Follower counts. Using social media icon on a page that shows a number of followers and shares is a good form of social proof. When people see these tickers, they are more likely to share it themselves.

 

2. Use The Principle Of Consistency And Commitment

Many brands go all out to be consistent in their actions and works - and they even sometimes do things that are totally unwise. If you want to highlight something in your product or make changes in your life, it will be useful to state your benefits publicly. As soon as you do it out loud or online, you should build up more incentives to complete your sales deal.
As a marketer, if you want to get more clients, you need to make a good commitment to your brand. For example, you could ask visitors to sign-up to your newsletter or try out your offer for free. 

This is one of the most effective principles behind WorkExaminer:

But if you actually don’t offer products or services, for example, you offer online courses or tutorials, even if there is no official commitment, you will get more chances to increase your sales. For example, WHSR demonstrates it in a proper way. They make it as coherent as possible - "download now, start e-course and read review".

 3. Use Free Offers

It is common knowledge that people love all free things. No matter what you write or post, as soon as people view the word "free", they will stop and study your offers. Even if you provide offers that don’t intrigue people, some customers will respond, just because it is free.
Each marketer or advertiser should understand the value of "free". When customers shop online and understand that they need to spend $10 to get free shipping, they will add another product to their shopping cart to get this free shipping.

Make sure that another $10 or more can boost the size of your transaction. That’s why 60% of companies use and think this marketing tool; "free shipping with conditions" is the most effective. When it comes to e-commerce companies, free shipping and trials are enough to convert leads into customers.
Based on the research from Duke professor Dan Ariely, free offers give us an emotional snatch that makes us feel what is being offered is tremendously more valuable than it can be. It should be imperative for you to use this factor to your advantage.

 

4. Boost Desire Using The Scarcity Principle

The principle of scarcity is one of the most effective ones that highly motivate people by the thought; 'not to lose something important'. If someone tells you about something that you don’t have; man, you will want to have it!
Online marketers use this principle to offer their products and services, expressing that it may soon disappear or somebody may attempt to discontinue a certain product. It is important to use deadlines for your sales. Lilly Pulitzer counts seconds when sale prices will be unavailable.




Another online shop; ModMom use the principle "out-of-stock announcements". "You need to hurry up to get this product - only 3 
 left!"..



Seasonal or limited sales are another great tactic to attract more sales. The fact that the product is kind of limited within a certain period of time really motivates people and makes them feel like they have a chance to "win" it.

5. Integrate The Appearance Of Authority

Most famous companies are inclined to the principle of authority. People seem hard-wired to respond to influencers. When people see a man in a white coat that tells something important about products, it will build up the compliance effect for all volunteers.
If you have some secret content of your products, you can integrate the credentials from professionals like Herbalife:



Showing different course books are another good example of authority. Especially, if you use books with big names and they share their secrets of awesome sauces or other dishes:

 

Summing up…

There are a bunch of other psychological factors that affect your sales, but the five referenced in this post stand out in recent years as the most effective factors in online marketing.
Whether you use the principle of authority, scarcity, social proof, etc, it’s evident that online marketers can easily integrate these psychological impacts to increase online sales and income flow.

Sprinkle these factors across your website and watch how your sales go up!


To your success,
Jonny Tyson