12 Ways To Use Psychology for Lead Conversions

By AdStation | February 18th, 2014 | Categories: AdStation
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The world’s largest advertising agencies wield the power of psychology every day to influence consumers to act or to buy. You should be doing it too. These tactics work. Even better, they mostly don’t cost a dime to utilize. Furthermore, these are not “selling” techniques. They are techniques in which to speak to a prospect’s desires.

Here are 12 persuasive psychological strategies to help you influence your prospects using a bit of psychological persuasion, which triggers deep-rooted emotions that are difficult for most humans to resist.

1. Pleasure and Pain

• Psychology: The want of pleasure or the avoidance of pain make up the 2 primary and strongest motivating factors for human beings. Generally speaking, most people will do more to avoid pain than to gain pleasure.

• Action: You can motivate your customers by telling them how much pleasure they will receive, or what pain they can avoid with your solution or product.

2. Growth

• Psychology: It is the need to expand, achieve, become more capable or have a higher understanding.

• Action: This need is not only a strong desire, for some, but it is also almost a spiritual need as well. Growth also helps people feel more important, another basic need. If you can position your product or service to tap into this desire and make people feel they will grow, achieve more or know more … to promise that it can help fulfill this basic human need will be highly motivating to your prospects and hard to resist.

3. Scarcity

• Psychology: The acquisition of something highly valued, rare or exclusive. Also, the fear of loss enters by not acquiring something before the opportunity passes.

• Action: Use time-limited or quantity-limited offers, while implying a high sense of value.

4. Newness

• Psychology: People get excited about things that are new, unique and fresh.

• Action: This is why many people are always seeking the latest and greatest (insert product here). This doesn’t have to be a product; it could be a new idea, technique or approach. Naturally, “new” has a shelf life. New also can be tied to trends. Being aware of where “New” can fit into your marketing strategy can pay off.

5. Curiosity

• Psychology: The need to know. Humans want to know what they are missing and/or what they don’t know.

• Action: Simply put, you need to create the desire by giving prospects just enough of a sneak peek, which either promises pleasure or the reduction of their pain or problem; and then leave them wanting more.

6. Anticipation

• Psychology: Looking forward to something pleasurable (in most cases).

• Action: You can increase anticipation by building campaigns around it. Creating events or ways for prospects to engage will ramp things up. Giveaways and contests are other techniques. Social media and viral content can help as well.

7. Fear

• Psychology: There are many types of fear: loss, failure, reputation or position, embarrassment, harm, not being the best, loss or reduction of income, what others think, missed opportunity, and many others.

• Action: Fear is a strong motivating factor because it is intertwined with another core human desire, which is the avoidance of pain. When you push the “fear button” correctly, it can move your prospects into wanting your product or service to solve their problem and alleviate their real or imagined pain.

8. Importance

• Psychology: The need to feel important or that one matters, is a basic human want.

• Action: Make your customers and prospects feel special. Make them feel important and not “like a number.” Excellent customer service shows you value them, and in turn, they will value you, your company and its products or services.

9. Comparison

• Psychology: Humans tend to make choices based on comparisons in order to ascertain the true worth or value of something.

• Action: Showing comparisons of specific important factors or objection points will help prospects reach decisions easier. Comparing price, features, benefits, and even drawbacks will make prospects more likely to complete a purchase.

10. Herd Mentality

• Psychology: Many people adopt a herd mentality. They follow the tribe and do what others do. They listen to what others think. This has helped mankind survive via cooperation and group intelligence.

• Action: People like “Social Proof.” Whether it’s word-of-mouth or testimonials. Friends and family are the greatest influencers, but it doesn’t stop there. Showing others who admire what you do or who love your product will influence others to follow in their footsteps. Testimonials by experts or those who are like-minded to your prospects can be used as your strongest influencers.

11. Immediacy

• Psychology: People tend to live and react “in the now” or to what’s immediate.

• Action: People react quicker to what’s immediate or what’s on their minds at that moment. Most people don’t think about flood insurance during a drought, do they? But sales spike most after a flood hits. Think topical. What’s in the news? Who’s doing what? Tying your product or brand to current events and trends can bring you to the forefront when certain trends and topics are already on people’s minds and/or being searched for.

12. Controversy

• Psychology: Stirs up emotions. Stress, fear and anxiety are the strongest, as they are survival instincts. Emotion often drives action and quick response.

• Action: Nothing can get people talking quicker than a little controversy. The right controversy can tap into this fact. Yet, while controversy stirs up emotions, one needs to step carefully here. A little controversy entices, but too much controversy can create a backlash that may turn people away. Tread carefully, especially with hot button topics.

Summary

Your goal as a marketer /advertiser is getting people to act. As long as you are not swindling or blatantly taking advantage of others, but offering a legitimate and legal product for sale; then it is neither unethical, immoral nor even sneaky to employ psychology in your sales or lead generation efforts. Every major advertising firm in the world does this. Your job is to persuade, influence and ultimately, sell. The above techniques are proven ways psychology can help improve your marketing.