If there’s something technology has done for the modern world, it is to give the consumer far more power than they had before. With the power of the Internet and all the products and services that have been built on top of its infrastructure, customers can choose what they want and make demands for quality. And that includes responding to psychological tricks.
Utilize psychological tricks.
No matter what you’re selling on the Internet, you’re going to have a lot of interesting challenges that didn’t exist a decade ago. For starters, most people have low attention spans.
That means that, if you’re going to serve ads to prospective customers, your ads have to stand out. Because there are lots of other ads fighting for the same limited attention spans, you have your work cut out for you.
Additionally, you will have to deal with reviews. Customers don’t just buy products or services without first seeking the opinions of others. The Internet has made it easier than ever to find those opinions.
If your product or service has numerous negative reviews, no matter how good it is, it is going to have a hard time attracting new customers.
But the greatest challenge, now more than ever, is the choosy customer. Every customer is choosy to a degree, but some are far choosier than others.
We spoke to Jason Fitzgerald, a marketing manager at EssayOnTime about some of the strategies he uses to get through to choosy customers.
“It’s all about psychology. No matter how choosy a customer is, they all have a weak spot that you can use to your favor. Most of them have more than one weak spot,” says Jason.
He added that even with a good quality product or service you need to use psychology to seal the deal with customers.
It’s been said in the industry for a long time that using psychological hacks and tricks in your marketing is the most effective way to attract customers.
With the current ever-growing surge in a competition that has been brought up by the Internet, it is in the best interests of any marketer to get one up on their competitors by attracting as many customers as they can.
List of psychological tricks.
Here are some psychological tricks you can put into action right now with a choosy customer to get them to hop over to your brand in a matter of minutes!
Action paralysis and how to overcome it
One of the largest hurdles every customer faces when they’re deciding on a new product they would like to try out is action paralysis. They’re just not sure whether to try it or not.
Everything is so complicated, and there is no simple way to make a decision. You don’t have to see this as a problem.
Instead, you can see it as an opportunity for you. To capture the customer, help them solve their action paralysis. Make it super easy for them to get started on your product.
Emphasize that they can start for free with a one-month free trial. Make the purchase process and the sign up super easy.
The easier it is for them to take action, the less likely they’ll be to suffer from action paralysis.
Labeling
Have you ever noticed that you tend to want something more if you think that it’s only meant for a select elite group of people?
That’s one psychological hack that Apple has been able to implement over and over again with their products, and it works wonders.
If you want your customer to be hooked to your products, make them feel like they’re buying into an elite group. Label your customer and make them feel special and superior because they are your customer.
You can do this by labeling certain packages as VIP packages or loyalty members’ packages and so on.
You would be surprised how effective this is.
Master the types of buyers
There are three types of buyers, and they all have certain tendencies that you can use to your advantage when marketing to them.
The first type is the spendthrift that is willing to spend money on anything as long as it has the slightest appeal to them.
The second type is the tightfisted buyer, who needs a proper justification for ever coin that leaves their wallet.
The third type is the average buyer, who lies somewhere between the previous two extremes.
Choosy customers are almost always tightfisted, and so they are the ones you should be focusing your marketing efforts on. Look for a way to make things seem more affordable to them.
So instead of telling them that a subscription costs $600 a year, tell them it costs $50 a month.
Don’t be afraid to admit your shortcomings
Choosy customers like a company that admits where it fails strategically.
When a company doesn’t have any problems admitting its shortcomings, it is a signal to buyers that the company is actively doing something to solve the problem, and that makes it look even more trustworthy to the buyers.
Nothing chases away a choosy customer more than a company that either denies its failings completely or tries to pass the blame to others.
Choosy customers will often be the first to tell you about something you’re doing wrong. In that sense, they are your best customers because they are your most honest customers.
Listen to them, and you will undoubtedly improve.
Use urgency to your advantage
Psychological tricks and hacks.
Whenever customers feel like something is scarce, and there is a sense of urgency in acquiring it, the sales go up for that particular product or service.
Many marketers already know this. What they do not know is that you have to do it the right way for it to be successful.
If you’re going to evoke a feeling of urgency in your customer, then you also have to make it very easy for them to take action immediately.
Otherwise, they will suffer the same action paralysis we mentioned previously.
That is what happens when you smartly use urgency.
Blow their mind
MRI studies show that whenever a customer thinks about the wait, they will have to go through before a product or service they have paid for is delivered, their frontal cortex fires.
As a marketer, the last thing you want to light up in your customer is their frontal cortex. This is the thinking center of the brain, and a customer that thinks hard eventually becomes a critical customer.
What you want instead is to light up more primitive parts of their brains, such as the ones that are associated with happiness and desire.
For example, you can make sure your deliveries are super-fast. The customer will see it as a bonus on something that is already of good quality, and they will appreciate you for it.
Create healthy dichotomies
Have you ever wondered why the “Mac vs. PC” war helps to drive the sales of Apple Macbooks?
Dividing your customers into little factions based on your products and those of a competitor elevates the value of your company in their eyes.
That isn’t to say that you should do it mindlessly. Instead, be strategic about it without raising the wrong kind of controversy.
For example, you could say your product is only for those who want to stand out, to make it look like anything offered by a competitor is mainstream.
Have a stance
The only way you will get your customers to be loyal to you, including the choosy ones, is to have something you stand for.
Your customers will base their loyalty on their conviction that they share some interests in common with you. That is the glue that will bind them to you.
It could be something patriotic or something to do with a particular idealism or something of the sort.
Whatever it is, make sure you stand for something.
Play devil’s advocate as often as you can
Have you ever taken the time to play devil’s advocate for yourself?
If you take the time to think critically about some of the things you may have gotten wrong or that your competitors do better than you, you will be in a much better position to meet the needs of your customers and win their loyalty.
We mentioned earlier that your choosiest customers are your most honest customers. They will tell you exactly what you’re doing wrong.
Rather than see them as the enemy, play devil’s advocate to their complaints and use them to grow yourself.
Always keep your customers on their toes
One of the most effective ways to rope in your customers is to keep them on their toes with little incentives here and there that will make them want to buy your product.
Even a price reduction as small as 10 cents can make a world of difference.
Headlines like “Surprise Sale” or “Reward Program” will interest even the choosiest of customers.
Jacob Dillon is a professional writer and distinctive journalist from Sydney, Australia. Being passionate about what he does, Jacob likes to discuss stirring events as well as express his opinion about technological advancements and evolution of society. Find Jacob on Twitter and Facebook.
So what’s the conclusion? The conclusion is there is no conclusion. There is only the next step. And that next step is completely up to you. But believe in the effectiveness of word of mouth marketing created by remarkable customer service. And put it to good use.
It’s up to you to keep improving your creative marketing strategies. Lessons are all around you. In this case, your competitor may be providing the ideas and or inspiration. But the key is in knowing that it is within you already.
All you get is what you bring to the fight. And that fight gets better every day you learn and apply new lessons.
When things go wrong, what’s most important is your next step.
Try. Learn. Improve. Repeat.
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Do you have a lesson about making your marketing strategy better you can share with this community? Have any questions or comments to add in the section below?
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More reading on marketing strategy from Digital Spark Marketing’s Library:
Mike Schoultz is a digital marketing and customer service expert. With 48 years of business experience, he consults on and writes about topics to help improve the performance of small business. Find him on G+, Facebook, Twitter, Digital Spark Marketing, and LinkedIn.
