Both marketing and commerce have long histories. As times change and new technologies emerge, businesses have been forced to adapt their strategies in a variety of ways. While there is a relatively unchanging core set of principles when it comes to marketing and business, many new strategies have been perfected and adopted in order to sell new audiences on a variety of products and services. Most marketing efforts are rooted in one form of psychological manipulation or another: today, we’ll help you learn about some common tactics that can help you sell products and otherwise convert visitors.

Reaffirm Your Customers’ States of Mind

For any brand or business, it is absolutely important to understand the pre-existing world-views and states of mind of your target audience. For some entities, this may mean tapping into passion or frustration. For others, you’ll want to be pinging users and customers with reassurance and convenience. For most online brands, the latter will be more relevant than the former. For instance, online stores want to do everything possible to create a climate of convenience and comfort for shoppers, as this ultimately helps boost conversion rates and increases the number of successful sales. Every element of your business, from landing pages to the colors selected for use, must take into account basic psychological concerns and specific traits of the audience.

Provide Free Offers and Incentives

The power of psychology is very strong in the world of business when used properly. For businesses and brands wanting to close the deal, sometimes it takes a bit of risk in the form of offering customers and visitors something for free up-front. Many brands are understandably hesitant to do this due to the lack of a guarantee for success, but one study after another has shown that creating the conditions for consumers to feel “indebted” to you drastically increases conversion rates. Indirectly tied to this is the notion of providing a list of benefits to consumers for a given product, which likewise can boost conversion rates. It turns out that people feel more committed to your brand when you provide them with something of value.

Expand Your Pricing Options

Many businesses make the mistake of pinging users with only one or two different pricing options when offering products and services. A common psychological ploy in business is to offer at least two pricing options for products and services, with a third one serving as a fake offer. How does this work? Perhaps you are offering two related products to customers: you might charge $20 for Product A, $40 for Product B and $40 for both Products A & B. To most consumers, the third deal would seem like a great one; you’re getting Product A for free! In reality, the business is setting the desired price for the two products combined ($40) and creating an unrealistic price for Product B in order to make the deal look even better. This kind of psychology can help you improve sales and close the deal the more customers.

Have you ever caught yourself being lured in by psychological practices such as these when shopping? Tell us below about your experiences!