How big brands online make you buy
Marketing online involves many different areas of experience, and different specialists take care of different aspects, however, the goal is always the same: maximise sales online.
The optimisation of the marketing strategy is a combination of technical web development skills and marketing knowledge. When an average internet user lands on a sales page, has no idea of how many techniques and psychological triggers they are exposed to, and they end up doing exactly what marketers want.
How does this work? How do marketers convince people to buy a product or service online?
If we think about it, twenty years ago, the majority of people would have never bought anything online, unless they could speak to a human. But marketers know psychology, and copywriters know persuasion. Their expertise can provide the best strategy for a business. And they do it so well that some businesses generate revenues without even having open-to-public premises.
The reason they succeed is hidden in some tricks they use on their pages. Let’s see some examples taken from some world-leading online brands.
Booking.com
Booking is a perfect example of how to use the Fear of Loss psychological trigger, with that “10 people are booking this hotel right now” thing that turns all our internal alarms on.
The base principle is that fear of loss is stronger than hope for gain: it means people are more likely to save something they already have, rather than getting something they wish. Basically, you should motivate people who put their attention on what they are going to lose, not what they can get.
This technique can be used when listing the benefits of a product, as you can describe them in two ways: what users will get when they buy it, and what users will miss if they do not buy it.
Amazon
The most popular e-commerce in the world makes a large use of the scarcity psychological lever, but to be honest, scarcity is very popular among all e-commerce websites. Reading “only 2 more left in stock” on the product we were looking for gives us such a pressure that all we can do is complete the purchase in a few seconds. Yes, that is how powerful a scarcity lever is.
Another kind of urgency Amazon uses obviously is the limited time offer: every day there are dozens of new daily deals that might not be there the day after. This is a time based urgency, with a limited time to take a decision and a competitive price we can’t find somewhere else.
These triggers work because it is in our nature to give more value to rare items: diamonds are precious because they are rare. If diamonds grew on plants, we would not give them so much value.
Just be careful with urgency and scarcity factors, because people can feel when they are used to manipulate them, so if you abuse them in any way, like putting all your items low on stock, you will lose your credibility, and these impulse factors will play against you.
Ryanair
Ryanair, leading low-cost airline in Europe, also creates some sense of urgency when you book a flight, recommending you to act fast because there are “only a few seats remaining at this price”, but the nicest psychological trick on the website comes a few steps forward, when you get all those upselling messages for seat choice, extra luggage, and priority at the gate and on board.
It is in our nature to want more with a minimum spend, so how can we resist the
offer of being the first in the queue for the price of a coffee and pastry?
In fact, everyone thinks the same, and you find yourself in front of the gate in a long queue because everyone bought the priority option, so you realise you spent money just to stay in a queue, which you could have done for free.
The greed factor is a powerful psychological trigger, but you should not abuse it, because there is a very tiny line between very good and too good to be true.
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