Selling Psychology: What are Selling Triggers and Why Marketing Manipulation Doesn’t Work Anymore

How does sales psychology work? What are sales triggers? How has the attitude of buyers towards selling triggers in marketing changed?

Triggers are triggers for various actions. In marketing, they are used, taking into account the psychology of sales, in order to provoke a client to buy or provide their contacts: phone, social networks, email. What are triggers and how to use them?

Triggers in sales psychology

Marketing hooks grow out of psychology techniques. They cling to people’s emotions and needs. If a client finds a reflection of his emotions in your offer, even the understanding that he does not need a thing / service is unlikely to interfere with the deal. But the most effective way is to solve a person’s need. Each of us has a desire to make life better / easier. If you find a way that will help a person, he will gladly accept the offer.

Sales triggers can be used at any stage of interaction with a client: from the first visit to a website or blog to after-sales service. The main thing is to maintain balance and reasonableness, otherwise the pressure may scare away a potential buyer.

Related material: 4 skills for developing sales and negotiation skills

Triggers in marketing: persuasion techniques

Problem solving

Your product should solve a consumer problem. Therefore, the first step in successful sales is to understand the needs of your customers. If you offer a good solution, you won’t have to wait for the buyer.

Mutual benefit

Reciprocity is a powerful sales trigger. To do this, you can offer the client a free discount coupon, a free tasting, or a gift when ordering. Having used the service, people subconsciously consider themselves obligated. Because of this feeling, they can make a purchase, leave a review on the site or in social networks, write their contacts and recommend to friends.

Interest

The interest of buyers is used when placing ads, creating content. In this case, the information breaks off at the most interesting place. To learn more, the client needs to wait for the next post, go to another page.

The second option is to indicate from the very beginning what is required from a potential buyer. For example: “Read to the end to find out the secret”, “Wait until the end of the presentation and get a pleasant surprise.”

Time limit

“Hurry to buy now, tomorrow will be too late!” “Only an hour until registration ends!”

The unique offer is valid only for the specified dates. A popular trigger in marketing has an impact on the fear of not being on time. If you don’t buy, you won’t be able to save/get unique knowledge/exclusive products!

But be sure to keep your word. If you say the offer is only valid today, don’t renew it tomorrow. This will undermine consumer confidence in you.

Before the presentation of the product, you can warm up the audience. But here you should be careful with the plot: there are a lot of videos on the network with dubious, provocative and even shocking warm-ups. The mass consciousness is eager to see such stories, but not everyone will decide to buy a product that is associated with unpleasant or tragic events.

Confirmation

Use everything that will help demonstrate to the buyer your veracity and the quality of goods / services. Sales increase when testimonials, certificates, awards work to convince the client.

Consumers don’t really trust written reviews these days. But the video review looks more reliable: someone who has already used the service is not an anonymous person, but a real person.

Specifics

To use the psychology of sales correctly, it is important to clarify a few details.

• Understanding the audience. Determine who your potential client is: gender, age, profession, hobbies. And based on this information, make the most beneficial offers for a specific consumer group.
• Destination. When a person leaves his contacts, he also writes his name. It’s great if, during further interaction (mail, SMS, instant messengers, direct), the client will see his name – today there are many services for this. Such a move will cause a warm response from the consumer.
• Precise information. Nobody trusts phrases like: “According to experts” anymore. What kind of experts? When the source is unknown, it is not clear whether it can be trusted. Therefore, indicate the names, positions and exact numbers.

Related material: Target audience: analysis and client profile

Honesty

This is an important marketing trigger: don’t just prove the quality of your product, but provide as much information about it as possible. Possible allergy? Need special handling? Be sure to let me know. If you tell the buyer about all the features and warnings, this will inspire respect and trust.

Sometimes companies exploit fresh social topics in an effort to be relevant to the new generation. But unexpectedly, the new brand message is in most cases received poorly by the audience. “Why are you suddenly interested in this topic? Do you want to sell us something unnecessary on the wave? It’s hypocritical.” Therefore, the best solution would be to stay in line and talk about the nuances of your company: from production to sale.

Result

The most effective selling triggers are the before and after demo. When a client sees the result he wants to get, he will be interested in a product that can provide this result. The most important thing here is not just to talk about the changes, but to demonstrate them in a photo or video.

For organizations, the result can be shown in the form of statistics, changes in sales / production.

Prohibition and provocation

“Don’t read this post if you don’t want to improve.” “Don’t click if you don’t want a gift.” The forbidden always arouses interest, so this trigger in marketing remains relevant for a long time. However, recently its effectiveness has been declining due to widespread use.

Idol

Opinion leaders, show business stars can manage the demand for goods and services. It is enough for them to appear in advertising, as the demand for what is presented increases. It can be absolutely any area: real estate, juices, etc. The main thing is that the hero of the advertisement evokes positive emotions. Otherwise, a seemingly selling trigger may turn against the seller.

herd instinct

People always want to be in the crowd. This can be seen from the way they choose a product: if there are many reviews and many positive ones, then it will suit them. But at the same time, everyone considers himself unique. Therefore, a good technique for manipulating demand is to make a personal offer that will affect many. For example: “For our favorite artists”.

Related material: Psychology of social networks: dependence on likes

Chosen

“Closed Sale!” If the buyer feels his exclusivity, he will definitely inquire about what is being offered to him, and even buy it. In order to emphasize the status of the client, use the words “exclusive”, “VIP”, etc.

Comparison

If you offer several products that are similar in many ways (especially for a random person), compare them directly on the site. Make a table where you consider the characteristics of each product.

Service

Be sure to keep in touch with the client. Indicate that you are ready to answer questions and accept feedback. You can even think of a reward, for example, 30 rubles to your personal account for a review.

Encouragement

As a thank you for your purchase, give a present: an elastic band, a sticker, an e-book, etc. You can accrue bonuses to your personal account, and the buyer will be able to use them to partially pay for the next order.

Warranty

Promise to return the product if the buyer is not satisfied with something. Is the courier late? Refund a small part of the cost or give a gift on your next order. To make the client confident in your honesty, write down all the conditions on the site or in the group.

The psychology of selling is changing: why selling triggers are getting worse

Manipulation in sales and psychological tricks haunt consumers everywhere: stores, websites, signs on the streets. If at the dawn of marketing development it was interesting, catchy, now people understand that sellers want to use their weaknesses and needs. When understanding came, irritation and a desire not to be led by companies came. From this arose “consumer cynicism”.

“Consumer cynicism” (a term by Philip Audu and Paulin Perchereau) is the desire to change the way consumers interact with companies. People remind manufacturers of things that should not be forgotten: about honesty, about the limits of what is permitted, and about ethics. Society has stopped putting consumption first, focuses on awareness and moral values, and demands the same from corporations.

The second side of “consumer cynicism” is the desire to simplify life. People worry less about the future, they want to live well now. Therefore, they buy what they need or like without regard to the status of the item or brand. The intentional demonstration of labels is causing increasing rejection: this reveals a person who is superficial and dependent on the opinion of society.

But the most important desire of the consumer is free goods and services. Therefore, sales leaders are promotional products. This forces manufacturers to regularly make discounts, special offers, cashback, or even just giveaways.

Let’s not forget that the consumer is angry at the “cunning” of the manufacturer. Wanting to cut costs, firms reduce the volume of goods in the package. And now on the shelves there is not 1 kg of rice, but 900 gr. The buyer decides not to spend the amount for which he previously bought 1 kg, but to wait for a discount. And again we return to the topic of promotional goods. This is a new trend that is now only gaining momentum.

Marketing triggers work, but only in combination with a well-built advertising campaign and attention to the consumer. Use hooks in advertising, mailings, websites. Study the audience, recognizing its strengths and weaknesses. But use triggers in your marketing wisely: moderately and unobtrusively. The consumer will appreciate your respect and reciprocate.

Increasingly, brands comparing different types of promotions come to the conclusion that the best results come not from direct sales and persistent calls to action, but from native materials, where the product fits organically into an interesting or useful story. To receive such content, order the service “Content Marketing” at Exiterra.

Author: Exiterra.com Digital Agency