Introduction to Neuromarketing: 5 Psychological Ways to Enhance Gross sales
Neuromarketing is a branch of marketing that integrates consumer phycological principles into marketing best practices.
I've talked a lot about consumer psychology, both on my blog and elsewhere.
That's because the brain plays such an important role in selling (and buying).
For example, the color of your CTA button or the images on your landing pages can affect conversions.
The brain is designed to process information in certain ways and reacts accordingly to certain triggers.
If you can optimize your website to include these triggers, you can increase your sales.
It's not always as easy as using certain colors. Like humans, psychology is complicated.
Despite the complexities of psychology, there are some brain-based strategies you can use to get results.
How psychology affects sales Through neuromarketing
Based on studies of the brain, we know that beauty literally moves us to action.
The place of something attractive – even a beautifully packaged product – triggers the part of our brain that controls hand movements.
We see something we like and we want to touch it.
While we can't literally reach and retrieve products from our screens, there are ways retailers can use this principle to increase sales.
For example, web design can have an impact on how positively someone sees your brand or product.
Psychology also tells us that people don't like making difficult decisions.
In one experiment, the researchers gave buyers the choice of whether to buy a pack of chewing gum or buy nothing.
When they had the choice between two equally cheap packs (63 cents each), only 46 percent spent their money.
If the prices of the packs were different (62 cents and 64 cents), 77 percent decided to buy a pack.
In psychology, this experiment relates to "analysis paralysis" or the idea that it is better not to make a choice than to make a difficult choice.
If you make it easy to choose between your products, people will be more likely to buy them.
Makes sense right?
There are probably tons of ways that psychology can help you set up your website or improve your marketing.
But some tactics still work better than others. Here are some of the ones I recommend the most.
1. Structure content according to neuromarketing principles
While consumer psychology has been around for a long time, neuromarketing is a relatively new field.
Neuromarketing uses technology to track blood flow to the brain as people respond to audio and visual cues.
In this way, researchers can study the deep part of the brain known as the "pleasure center".
Do not worry. You don't have to invest in expensive equipment to take advantage of neuromarketing. You can use the research you already have.
We know that our brain is divided into three unique “lower brains”.
- The new brain: Also known as the rational brain, includes the neocortex (the outermost layer of the brain), which is responsible for processing facts, language logic, and other skills.
- The middle brain: Structures such as olfactory bulbs (smell), hippocampus and amygdala, which control emotions and memory, are also known as the emotional brain.
- The reptilian brain: Also known as the instinctive brain, the brain consists of the brain stem and cerebellum, which are responsible for motor balance, safety, avoidance, and the instinct for survival.
Each part of the brain releases different chemicals depending on certain triggers.
For example, the middle brain releases endorphins when a person sees something beautiful.
When someone is concerned, the reptilian instinctive brain can trigger the fight or flight response.
They each have their own job to make sure you survive and are working properly.
But what does that mean for your marketing strategy?
Take a look at how this could affect the structure of a blog post, for example:
- First image or design elements: The brain processes the overall design of the landing page and determines its attractiveness (dopamine is released). This is what the middle brain is busy with.
- Intro or headline: A teasing topic creates an anticipated rush and affects the reptilian brain (dopamine and adrenaline are released).
- Problem or concern: A negative headline or introduction triggers fear and the reptilian brain takes over again (cortisol, the stress hormone, is released).
- S.Solutions to the problem or concern: The content addresses the issue and offers a solution that involves the new brain (endorphins and dopamine are released to reduce cortisol and adrenaline).
- Call to action to solve the problem: Serotonin and oxytocin are released.
So you could have a blog post that looks like this:
With a resolution that looks like this:
At each stage of the post, certain chemicals are released in the brain of the person reading it.
Using a "scary" headline (like 7 marketing mistakes you're about to make) may generate a different response than a "happy" headline.
Or one that is more solution-oriented, like "Fixing These 10 Common Marketing Mistakes".
Or this:
Each of these triggers different emotions and different reactions in the brain.
This is neuromarketing.
They use the way the brain naturally responds to stimuli to create content that triggers those responses.
2. Promote benefits to ease anxiety
Neuromarketing isn't just for the headlines.
You can also use neuromarketing principles on your landing pages.
Take a look at the homepage of Ubersuggest, our keyword research tool:
You'll notice an instant psychological trigger: "Would you like more traffic?"
I definitely have an emotional reaction to it.
Hey, why am I not getting more traffic? What am I doing wrong? How can I fix this?
It creates a little bit of fear. I need answers.
The Ubersuggets landing page immediately lets me know what steps I can take to allay my fears.
All I have to do is enter a domain or a keyword. OK. Easy enough.
If I want to learn more about how this is going to help me, I can scroll down the page to learn more about the Domain Map, Top SEO Pages, and Keyword Suggestions.
Here are the exact benefits I'm getting with this tool.
It is a solution to my initial concerns.
The headline was a trigger. The sub-header was my answer. The perks on the side told me I would be fine.
And everything was so simple that I could process it quickly.
Listing the benefits of your product or service, or including a value proposition, not only triggers chemical reactions in the brain, but also plays with another psychological principle: selfishness.
When it comes to buying, people ask, "What's in it for me?"
This is why you want to use what HubSpot calls a solution sale. The focus here is on the requirements of the customer and not on the requirements of the customer.
They also use this tactic on their homepage.
You have a suggestion that solves a nearly unanswered question (don't worry, you can grow like a company twice your size).
But they also alleviate other concerns that may arise in the back of your instinctive brain, such as: B. "How much does it cost me?"
This works because it not only answers what's in it for me, but also plays out my emotions.
We often use our basic instincts and emotions to make decisions before our rational brain kicks in.
Emotional triggers like the ones HubSpot uses can have a positive impact on us when it comes to making purchasing decisions.
So if you want to generate more sales, list the benefits and ease the anxieties – preferably at the same time.
3. Build trust through storytelling
Trust is another neuromarketing component of a successful sale.
We usually buy from people we trust and fire those we don't trust.
But trust is built over time. How do you build trust with a buyer you've never met or seen?
Psychology tells us that including storytelling in your sales strategy can help build trust on a deeper level than just selling it on the benefits.
Stanford economics professor Jennifer Aaker says:
Our brains aren't hardwired to understand logic or to hold facts for a very long time. Our brain is designed to understand and remember stories.
How do you use storytelling for sales?
One of the best ways is to use social evidence like testimonials to highlight customer problems and use personal stories to show how you solved those problems.
Just right?
Well, not that fast. There's a catch.
As it turns out, not all reviews and testimonials are created equal. Some don't work as well for sales as others.
According to further research, the way you design your social proof is more important than the social proof itself.
Action-based social proof – the testimonials that tell you how many customers bought your product – may not always be as effective as preference-based social proof.
Preference-based social evidence focuses on why customers liked your brand, product, or service rather than how they used it.
To be clear, both strategies work.
Depending on your target audience and where the testimonials are placed (feature page, homepage, etc.), one may be more effective than the other.
As Roger Dooley explains at Neuroscience Marketing:
When shopping, consumers are influenced more by what other people would like to have than what they actually have.
In many cases, using "warmer" testimonials (which affect emotions and preferences) can be more effective than just listing numbers or credentials.
Focus on including social evidence that tells a story about how you helped your customers.
4. Make people curious to learn more
People are naturally curious.
We love finding out how things work and we want to know the full story before we shop.
In psychological terms, this is known as the curiosity gap.
This is why clickbait headlines work so well.
A question is asked that you want an answer to even if you didn't know you wanted to know.
You can use it to spice up all aspects of your content marketing and landing pages.
Take this example of an article headline from Buzzfeed:
I don't usually spend my day worrying about who wants to be prime minister. But now I've been asked a question that I need an answer to.
A lot of content marketing is set up this way, and some of them work very well for increasing traffic.
However, what Buzzfeed does is smart because if you read the article you will get the answer right away.
While curiosity about engagement works, the caveat is that people don't like to be betrayed.
If you make a promise of information, you must keep that promise.
If Buzzfeed's article never answered the question, or if it was linked to unrelated content, I'd be amazed. I would feel misled.
Here is an example of the curiosity gap that I use on my homepage:
There is no misdirection here. If you're looking to learn how to get more traffic, there's a step in action right there waiting to satisfy your curiosity.
Leveraging curiosity is a great way to push someone down the sales funnel.
Just make sure you answer their questions without forwarding them.
Nobody likes to feel betrayed.
5. Keep your message consistent
One way to increase sales is through customer loyalty.
You heard the statistics. Acquiring a new customer costs five times more than retaining a new customer.
But companies often do not concentrate here. Most of them are about finding new customers.
Let's change that and focus on customer loyalty.
There's a lot that goes into customer loyalty, but one of the main reasons (psychologically) why customers stay here is for a positive experience.
You will see results from what you do. You love your products. You love your brand.
But one thing that people don't like is change.
We are creatures of habit.
Brands often grow and change over time. That's pretty normal. I've also changed my message and branding over time.
But something that has always been consistent is my reputation.
I'm talking about marketing. My whole world is marketing.
If you came here tomorrow and I changed my colors from orange to green, you might be a little shocked for sure.
OK, maybe not so shocked.
The point is, you would still get the same marketing advice even if I got my colors mixed up.
Nothing about who I am as a brand changes.
If you want to build a solid customer base, you need to maintain some consistency.
While this doesn't mean you can't change it every now and then, try to keep things as familiar as possible.
Choose a simple design that is easy to navigate. Use two or three colors and a few fonts for your branding.
Once the general look and feel of your website is part of your identity, your audience will easily recognize you when you show up elsewhere on the internet.
This can be useful when you're retargeting or using PPC ads.
Check out this Facebook ad from Start.io:
The color schemes, font, and overall tone match the landing page the ad points to.
It also fits the theme of their homepage.
While they use different marketing approaches, you know that each of these components came from StartApp.
This is the kind of consistency you want to see across all channels.
When customers recognize your brand (and hear all the testimonials and other things you do from that list) they connect the dots.
Consistency is a great way to build relationships with people in the long run.
Not only will you make a one sale, but you will also have many sales over the life of that relationship.
Conclusion
Neuromarketing can be a helpful tool in understanding what drives people to buy.
It can tell you what your customers really want, why they make decisions, what emotions drive them, and how they see your brand.
One important thing to remember is that people are unique and often unpredictable.
Because of this, it is important that you understand your audience before implementing this tactic.
What works for one brand or buyer may not work for another.
But in general, you can still use basic psychology principles to grow your sales and build relationships.
If you can convince the brain, you can convince the buyer.
Which neuromarketing principles from this list worked for you?
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