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Author: Chen Hao.
What are some of the weaknesses of human nature that are commonly used in marketing"? This is one of the most answered and followed marketing-related questions on Zhihu. Below the question, there are answers from the perspective of marketing work given by brand, public relations, marketing, operation, sales and other related practitioners, many of which believe that "using the weakness of human nature can detain the customer's life", which is a shortcut to marketing success, and there are also answers from the perspective of consumers who regard this as a flood beast, as if they will be taken advantage of by marketers to fall into a trap if they are not careful.
The essence of marketing is to influence and guide the behavior of consumers, and the behavior of consumers is affected by their internal psychological factors and external environment, so it is an indisputable consensus that successful marketing is closely related to insight into human nature or psychology.
However, this does not mean that marketing is simply to use the "weaknesses or advantages of human nature", but to study the laws of people's consumption psychology and behavior, that is, the regular inner activities and external behavior reactions of different groups of people in different environments in the face of different content, information, products, services, etc., and then create greater value for consumers and transfer value more efficiently through a series of activities such as improving products and services, optimizing marketing work, and enhancing consumer experience, so as to achieve marketing success. Therefore, there will be subdivisions in the field of marketing such as consumer behavior and marketing psychology.
Having said all this, I hope that everyone will take the 19 psychological effects shared correctly. Successful brand marketing should adhere to long-termism and follow the basic paradigm of determining consumer user needs - creating value (products and services) - efficient transfer of value, but understanding the common psychological effects of consumption can help us better think, understand and plan, and when looking for ideas or ideas, flipping through these items may bring some inspiration, but it must not be regarded as a panacea or shortcut.
Well, let's take a look at these 20 marketing-related psychological effects.
1.Scarcity principle
People tend to have a higher value evaluation of scarce things, and have a natural desire for possessiveness. Brand marketing can create a "sense of scarcity" to motivate consumers to make purchase decisions as quickly as possible.
Commonly used related marketing methods include "limited edition", "exclusive sales", "limited time sales", etc., which can stimulate consumers' desire to buy, and even greatly increase the brand premium. For example, a certain brand's limited-edition sneakers will often cause fans to rush to buy them.
2. Loss aversion psychology
Loss aversion refers to the fact that when people are faced with the same amount of gains and losses, they think that the loss is more unbearable, according to psychologists, the negative utility of the same amount of loss is the positive utility of the same amount of gain25 times.
Marketing efforts can target consumer loss aversion, develop limited-time offers, return policies, trial samples, ** protection, points reward programs, emphasize regret and other strategies to create a sense of urgency, reduce perceived risk, and motivate consumers to buy for fear of missing out on a good deal or experience.
However, although the above strategies are effective, they may also cause excessive anxiety or actual loss of profits to consumers, which may lead to the loss of brand credibility and consumer trust, so they must be used with caution.
3. Sunk cost fallacy
Sunk costs in economics refer to those costs that have already occurred and cannot be recovered by any means, which is a historical cost that is uncontrollable for current decision-making, and theoretically, sunk costs should not affect people's current behavior or future decisions.
However, in real life, people tend to continue to invest more resources because they are unwilling to accept the losses that have already been incurred, a psychological phenomenon known as the "sunk cost fallacy".
In my opinion, this psychological phenomenon actually stems from the psychology of "loss aversion".
Based on the psychology of the "sunk cost fallacy", marketing efforts can encourage consumers to increase purchases or avoid cancellations through means such as upfront fees and deposits, value-added services, loyalty programs, subscription services, **sales, and restrictive return policies.
When adopting relevant strategies, it is especially important to pay attention to legal compliance, process transparency, and information symmetry, so as not to damage brand reputation and consumer trust.
4. The principle of social identity or herd mentality.
social identity principle
In order to seek social belonging and correctness, individuals tend to imitate the behavior of others or follow the opinions of the majority in groups, especially in uncertain or novel situations. French social psychologist Gustave Le Pen's social psychology book "The Rabble" has made an in-depth analysis of related psychology, which is also one of the must-read books for marketing practitioners.
Common related marketing strategies include celebrity endorsements, user reviews, social interactions, limited editions, group advertising, crowdfunding, and trend and community marketing, all of which aim to create a situation where the public is following, using consumers' sense of belonging and correctness to prompt them to follow the choices of the majority.
This strategy can be effective in increasing the attractiveness of the product, but the authenticity of the information should be ensured to maintain the integrity and sustainability of the brand.
5. Reciprocity principle
The principle of reciprocity states that people feel obligated to reciprocate favors after receiving favors from others. This principle is not limited to acquaintances, even strangers or people who do not like very much, as long as a certain favor is given, people often find it difficult to refuse the other person's request.
Creating a situation where consumers or target audiences feel benefiting from the brand by offering free samples, coupons, giveaways, trial services, or valuable content, etc., can help inspire them to return and encourage them to buy or support the brand.
6. Curiosity-mentality
This is a familiar psychological effect, people will be curious about the unknown, novelty, and interesting things, and will have a desire to explore.
Marketing efforts often use mystery advertising, event warm-up communication, innovative packaging, hidden content, new product previews, etc., to stimulate consumers' curiosity, stimulate their interest and desire to explore, and prompt consumers to take action and increase engagement.
7. Appealt of authority
People have a natural sense of trust in authority figures or institutions.
Therefore, in marketing work, it is often through expert recommendations, display certifications and awards, celebrity brand endorsements, ** reports, official recognition, academic citations, professional designs, user evaluation case studies and other means to associate authority, enhance professionalism, and build brand endorsement, so as to increase consumers' trust in products or services and purchase intentions.
8. Confirmation bias
Confirmation bias refers to people's tendency to seek, interpret, and memorize information to substantiate their expectations and beliefs, while ignoring or devaluing information that is contrary to their own views.
Marketing efforts can strengthen consumers' perception of a brand or product based on this psychological phenomenon, including providing comprehensive product information, maintaining transparency in communication, displaying diverse user reviews, providing educational content to enhance consumer evaluation, encouraging self-reflection, introducing third-party reviews, providing interactive experiences, and moderate comparative marketing.
These methods are designed to help consumers capture and understand information from multiple perspectives, avoiding misleading personal preconceptions, leading to more balanced and informed purchasing decisions, and also helping to build brand credibility and long-term loyal customer relationships.
9. Mind of rivalry
People often want to show their success and status through a sense of material superiority.
As a result, individuals tend to compare their material wealth, social status, abilities, or other attributes with others in order to seek superiority, which is the psychology of comparison, also known as the psychology of comparison or competition. This psychological phenomenon can manifest itself as upward comparisons (compared to those who perform better) and downward comparisons (compared to those who perform less than themselves) and can stimulate the individual's aggressiveness, or lead to dissatisfaction and envy.
Marketing can be aimed at consumers' comparison psychology, so that they feel that they can improve their social status and personal image by purchasing specific goods or services, common strategies such as emphasizing products as a symbol of status and identity, launching limited edition products, using celebrity endorsements, showing an enviable lifestyle on social networks, showing positive reviews of other users, comparing advertisements, providing rewards and recognition, providing personalized customization and creating a membership system, etc., so as to stimulate consumers' comparison psychology. and facilitate purchases.
The application of the above strategies needs to maintain appropriate moral standards and sensitivity to avoid blind comparison, waste of social resources and criticism.
10. Greedy-mentality
People always want more, and an individual's strong and insatiable desire for material wealth, resources, or benefits often pursues more than they actually need.
In marketing, consumers can be motivated to buy more goods or services based on this psychology, such as limited-time discounts and buy-one-free gifts.
1. Strategies such as value-added services, point reward programs, buy-more discounts, ** sales, and emphasizing return on investment make consumers feel that they can get more benefits through purchases. However, integrity and transparency are required when using these strategies to avoid misleading consumers and maintain the brand's long-term reputation.
11. Anchoring effect
The anchoring effect refers to the fact that people are often influenced by the information or numbers they are initially exposed to in the decision-making process, so as to use it as a reference point or benchmark for subsequent decision-making.
This psychological effect can influence consumers' purchase decisions in marketing. For example, by setting a high initial ** as an anchor and then offering a discount or **, make consumers feel like they're getting a deal. Similarly, you can use a lower starting point as an anchor to entice shoppers into your store or view products, and then increase sales by selling more products.
12. Visual impact
The human visual system has a very strong ability to recognize and process images and colors, and mental feelings and behavioral activities will be affected by the visual information received.
Marketing efforts, especially advertising, can use strong, eye-catching, or non-traditional visual elements to capture the audience's attention, such as using methods such as bright colors, bold designs, creative images, dynamic effects, interactive experiences, surreal scenes, highlighting displays, creative copywriting, disruptive design, and personalized experiences, to quickly capture the attention of consumers and make a distinctive impression on the brand or product to the target audience to stand out in a competitive market.
13. Rejection effect
When a person is rejected, it stimulates the brain to produce dopamine, which makes them feel more eager to get the rejected things, a phenomenon that may stem from the basic motivation and desire of human beings, that is, the natural attraction to things that are difficult to obtain or restricted.
Brand marketing can imply that a product is exclusive, limited-quantity, limited-time, and non-sold, so that consumers feel rejected and produce a sense of urgency and desire to buy.
Rejection can inflate a sense of desire, which is the underlying psychological logic of some types of anti-routine marketing strategies these days.
14 Gestalt Psychology
Gestalt psychology, also known as Gestalt psychology, holds that human thinking and perception tend to integrate information into a meaningful whole. If a user feels like they've put a lot of effort into achieving a goal, but they almost didn't do it, it's easy to take action on the "little bit of it".
The childhood raccoon Water Margin card, the Three Kingdoms card, the honor level and badge system commonly used in Internet operations, and the popularity of various hand-made blind boxes all reflect this complete psychological effect.
In addition, when a consumer has already selected an item and started the purchase process, but abandons it at the last step for some reason, the merchant can use the completion psychology to guide them through the purchase. For example, by sending reminder emails, coupons, or special discounts, consumers are encouraged to complete their purchase in order to fulfill their full wishes.
15. Seek pleasure and avoid suffering.
seeking pleasure and **oiding pain
Seeking pleasure and avoiding suffering is a pervasive psychological phenomenon that refers to people's tendency to pursue pleasure and avoid pain. This psychological phenomenon plays an important role in human life, influencing our decisions, behaviors, and attitudes.
There are also many examples of marketing using this psychological effect. For example, you can first highlight the user's current problem to create his pain, and then give him the opportunity to be happy by giving him a solution; Provide a pleasant shopping experience, excellent service, comfortable environment, etc., to attract consumers and motivate them to make purchases; At the same time, we strive to reduce consumers' pain by providing convenient return services and responding quickly to customer complaints, so as to increase their satisfaction and loyalty to the brand.
16. Emotion-driven
Human beings are emotional animals, and emotions are an important factor that affects people's behavior, so consumption is not only determined by the functional demand for goods, but also by emotional resonance.
Marketing efforts can be done by telling stories, finding shared memories, or using elements such as emotional language, images, and ** to evoke various emotional experiences such as pleasure, sadness, nostalgia, and fear to motivate them to buy and consume.
17. Compromise effect
The compromise effect refers to the tendency of consumers to choose the middle option when faced with multiple options.
This is because consumers' decisions tend to be irrational and change as the situation changes. When an extreme option is added to the option set, the original option becomes a compromise, and even if it does not have an absolute advantage, it becomes more attractive because of its position in the compromise.
Anchors, tiered product strategies, and discounts can be set up in marketing to attract consumers to choose a specific intermediate option and improve the attractiveness and sales performance of a specific product.
18. Survivorship bias
Survivorship bias is a common logical fallacy that occurs when we analyze information with only "surviving" data in mind, ignoring those that "did not survive" or failed cases.
In marketing, "survivorship bias" is often used to show stories with sweet endings, successful customer stories, emphasizing positive results, using influencers, and avoiding negative information, so that consumers can perceive the great value of the product to themselves and promote their purchase decisions.
19. Self-concept
The so-called "self-concept" is the perception and attitude of individuals in a certain social status who gradually form themselves in the process of socialization. Relevant consumer behavior studies show that consumers' perception of self will be reflected in consumption attitudes and behavior patterns, and brand image and brand attitude are the external reflection of self-concept.
Brand marketing should understand and echo consumers' perceptions, values and expectations of themselves. For example, through market research, the self-concept of the target customer group is clarified, and personalized products, services and marketing activities are planned accordingly; Create an emotional connection with the brand image and values that align with the consumer's self-concept, and strengthen this connection through ongoing marketing campaigns to deepen consumers' sense of identity with the brand, thereby driving consumption decisions and enhancing the brand's market competitiveness.
Specifically, brand promotion values to attract specific groups of people, brands are keen to create fan festivals, and users participate in product design and development, etc., are all manifestations of establishing a strong connection between consumers' self-concept and brand image.
Written at the end: it is still necessary to emphasize that truly successful brand marketing must adhere to long-termism, follow the basic paradigm of determining the needs of consumer users - creating value (products and services) - efficient transfer of value, and insight into human psychology and understanding the laws of consumer behavior is the basis of all this work, and it is also a catalyst for developing more effective marketing strategies and planning wonderful marketing ideas, which must not be regarded as a shortcut to success or a secret to victory.
the end.
Author: Chen Hao, a marketing expert, has successful experience in the field of TOC and TOB, and has a column in the "International Public Relations" magazine, marketing department, advertising door, digital English network, chief marketing officer, advertising person dry goods library and other industries.
Official account: brand market relativity, welcome to pay attention to the exchange.