The Top 9 Psychological Tips & Tricks You Need To Know to Compete Successfully In The World Of E Commerce
Whether we like it or not, humans are led by our feelings, and you need to remember this and when you are marketing your business online. Experts tell us that if you want a potential buyer to convert into a customer, you need to engage with them and appeal to their emotions.
In the increasingly competitive world of ecommerce, creating the best campaign to convince buyers to purchase your product or service, instead of a bigger named brand or from your local competitor, is the aim of the game.
Universities across the Globe offer opportunities to study their qualifications in marketing because there is a science to buying and psychology is one of the main topics.
According to marketing experts, 95% of purchasing decisions are made subconsciously, (link here) so learning the techniques and tricks of how to appeal to your customers on an emotional level, will help you establish a successful online business.
Here are our top 9 tactics to effectively target the subconscious mind of your potential customers, so you influence them to take the action you are aiming for and place an order with you on your website.
1, Safety comes first
In the current climate, ensuring that your business demonstrates that it is using Covid-19 safety measures to make, wrap or deliver goods, will help you to sell. A recent survey found 67% of consumers would not use a business if reviews said it did not have safety measure in place.
2, Draw on their desires
As your customers are driven by their feelings, your aim is to encourage them to connect on an emotional level with what you are selling. You need to help them realise that you are selling what they want.
Rather than focusing on the features of what you’re offering, use language and images to highlight the ways your product and service will fulfil their needs. Instead of just focusing on the features of something you are selling, you need to show shoppers you are offering a solution to improve the quality of their life or their business.
3, Appeal to their fear of missing out
We all love a bargain and according to experts, the pain of failing to purchase something on offer is twice as powerful as the satisfaction of acquiring something of equal worth.
We often see those adverts offering special deals or discounts for a limited period or flash sales of the last few items in stock because marketers know scarcity sells.
Creating a call to action or a sense of urgency will help you to convince your indecisive shoppers that they need to make their purchase from you before the deal ends or the stocks run out.
4, The price impact of number 9
One of the most popular ways of selling that psychologists refer to as the left digit effect, is knocking a penny off the price of your service or product.
If you reduce an item priced £50 to £49.99 it is more likely to sell as customers tend to round figures down rather than up and are likely to view the price as nearer to £40 instead of £50, so it seems more appealing.
You could try reducing the cost of your goods for a limited period to check out the impact on your own sales.
5, The tactic of three
An interesting tactic to encourage people to increase their order value is to present three similar items alongside each other; this particularly works with service or subscription-based products.
If there are two products, it’s known that the purchaser is more likely to choose the cheaper option but adding a third adds another dimension.
When there are three choices, instead of going for the cheapest, buyers are more likely to select the middle one because it changes their view of what presents the best value-for-money. It’s often referred to as the “good-better-best” pricing system.
When you are presented with three items, shoppers will ignore the most expensive and then view the products as a choice of two items. Due to their aversion to losing out, they will then choose the middle item rather than the cheapest one, as it will offer more value. Why not give it a try on your website?
6, Baffle their irrational thinking
If you can alter a shopper’s perception of your prices, they are more likely to buy. It’s why a seller will display a £50 watch next to a similar looking £100 watch.
This works due to anchoring or cognitive bias. Because of our irrational way of thinking, we make a purchasing decision by being overly influenced on the first piece of information we were given.
When displaying sale items, make sure to remind viewers of the original price as it will make buyers feel they are getting a good deal.
7, The value of free items
The anxiety of missing out means offering free items or free delivery works time and time again. We love these offers, don’t we?
Using “buy one, get one free” of “free delivery” promotions are well known ways of pushing people into making a purchase who might not have done so otherwise.
According to recent research (https://www.retailtimes.co.uk/free-shipping-proves-vital-as-nine-out-of-10-shoppers-say-no-delivery-charge-is-key-to-spending-more-says-parcelhero/), 9 out of 10 shoppers say free delivery is the main incentive to influence them to spend more, even if that means buying more goods.
There are various ways you could use this psychology, like specifying the number of items to be purchased or a minimum spend threshold before customers qualify for free delivery, as buyers are likely to buy extra items to gain the deal. The impression of gaining something for nothing is what will motivate them to buy more.
8, Revenue raising reviews
More and more shoppers are using reviews to help them choose what they buy. According to a recent survey, 87% of consumers read an online review of a local business in 2020, this was a rise of 6% on 2019 (see: https://www.brightlocal.com/research/local-consumer-review-survey/).
Employ the principle of social proof, or herd mentality, on your website by ensuring you have some good reviews of your products and top testimonials to vouch for the quality of your work. You could also highlight on your eshop your best-selling product of customer’s favourite item.
It’s also important to avoid adding any hiding extra costs, be transparent. After all, you don’t want a bad review or the shopper not to buy.
9, Deliver a great user experience
Make sure you deliver a smooth purchasing experience throughout your online shop. When it comes to the checkout, ensure it is easy as you don’t want to put them off paying.
The more quickly customers can complete the purchasing process, the better, as it will help to avoid your consumers becoming frustrated and changing their mind.
Knowing how your customers sub-conscious works can help you present an excellent shopping experience and one that increases your sales.
Also get in touch if you want us to increase the purchasing power of your website. It’seeze Colchester provides affordable web design services and will help you put these psychological principles into practice for you.
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