If you’re starting your business, you’ll realize that you need certain fundamentals to ensure success. Values, such as trust and authenticity, are essential to your company culture. In addition, there are six marketing principles that savvy online marketers and successful entrepreneurs use to generate high income.
These marketing principles work both online and offline. They influence the psychology of the consumer and trigger the desire to want the offered product. Thus, this article introduces you to the best tips and tricks in sales psychology.
Sales Psychology As The Basis Of Marketing Principles
If you want to establish yourself in the market with your products or services, you must face the challenge of getting noticed. It isn’t easy to draw customers’ attention to your company and convince them to do so. And this is precisely where sales psychology and the six marketing principles set out by Robert Cialdini come in. Cialdini is a US psychologist, researcher, and professor of psychology and marketing.
He wrote down his findings in his book, The Psychology of Persuasion, which has sold over three million copies worldwide. Although Cialdini developed his six principles of persuasion for traditional marketing, nowadays, they are also applied to online marketing. And because of the great success of these marketing principles within sales psychology, we want to introduce them to you in detail.
1st Marketing Principle: Reciprocity
Reciprocity is one of the most effective principles within sales psychology. This is because exchange describes how humans treat our counterparts like he treats us. So when we get a favor from someone, we want to give something back to that person.
In this case, it is vital to us not to be in debt; therefore, we often give back even more than we have received. This effect can be strengthened if the first favor is significant and highly valued, especially when this advance comes unexpectedly and is customized to the gift recipient.
This marketing principle of sales psychology can be cleverly used in online marketing. For example, you can offer high-quality content to attract your customers’ attention and convince them. This can be implemented in the form of free eBooks or free webinars.
If a customer has already bought something from you, give him a free sample or a discount voucher. In return, customers or potential customers may subscribe to your newsletter, like your social media channels, or decide to buy a product from you directly.
2nd Marketing Principle: Sympathy
We are more willing to listen to people, trust them, and be persuaded by them if we find them likable. And whether we find someone agreeable depends on various factors. Is our counterpart similar to us, or can we identify with them? Does our partner seem attractive? Do we receive praise and recognition? Do we feel a certain closeness to each other that triggers familiarity? Does our partner seem honest? Are they successful?
If you combine a few of these characteristics, you can convince potential customers more easily to buy your products or services.
But how does this theory work in practice? For one thing, frequent contact with the customer can already create a certain closeness and familiarity. Someone who is often in touch by e-mail or is very present on the website through pictures seems to be looking for contact with customers and conveys an appearance of genuine interest.
On the other hand, personalized addresses in newsletters, e-mails, or other communication channels can also reinforce this effect of sales psychology. Likewise, you can create personas that have a sympathetic effect on your target group.
3rd Marketing Principle: Social proof
The fact that humans are herd animals becomes apparent at the latest through the marketing principle of social proof. This is because we humans judge a situation to be correct if we can also observe the same behavior in other people.
Do we sit in an empty café when the place next door is bustling? Do we buy product A if product B has more customer reviews? So social proof causes us to look at the majority and draw conclusions. Social proof is particularly influential with very uncertain people who have not yet decided on a particular action.
You can also take advantage of this effect in online marketing. Have customers bought one or two products significantly more often than others? Then point this out to other customers and convince them of the satisfaction of previous customers.
In general, it is worthwhile to make successes visible. Does your website have an above-average number of visitors? Do your social networks have a massive number of followers? Are your sales figures very high? Or do you have well-known people among your customers? Communicate these successes and advertise them so those uncertain potential customers are encouraged to buy. However, ensure that everything here is always accurate and that you advertise with people and names who have also given you their consent.
4th Marketing Principle: Authority
Another marketing principle in sales psychology is the principle of authority. People believe and trust other people in positions of power much more than people who hold a lower position. So whoever is more successful, more powerful, and better known, we take a leap of faith and act on their instructions.
Often we don’t even have to be convinced of their authority and knowledge because even simple symbols already trigger this behavior. Everyday symbols that radiate authority are, for example, professional clothing, titles, or status symbols such as cars or expensive clothing.
Your online marketing can also benefit from these symbols. Here there are special trust seals for websites, which on the one hand, radiate expertise and, on the other hand, appear very trustworthy to users.
In addition, professional articles, contributions from external experts, or listed studies can also stand for authority and expertise and convince customers more quickly. So think carefully about using authority as a building block of the six marketing principles.
5th Marketing Principle: Scarcity
When goods are available only rarely or in small numbers, these goods seem more valuable. The principle of scarcity describes this circumstance precisely: we perceive products or services to be all the more valuable, exclusive, and significant if they can only be acquired in limited quantities.
In addition, we feel we have to act quickly because there may soon be nothing available, and we want to avoid missing out on anything. A shortage can therefore awaken and, above all, increase our desire for a product. It becomes particularly urgent when we know that we are directly competing with many other people.
And that’s why scarcity is often used in online marketing. Because this marketing principle is an excellent way to make your goods scarce and thus quickly increase demand. Even small information on your website, such as “Only 50 copies available” or “This product has already been sold ten times today,” can encourage the customer to buy or at least ensure that the offers are constantly kept in mind.
However, make sure that your requests match the stock. Otherwise, you can quickly receive warnings.
6th Marketing Principle: Consistency
We, humans, are not only herd animals; we are also creatures of habit. According to Cialdini, we feel the need for consistency. This means we stick to our decisions, values, and positions once we have made them. We want to avoid questioning everything and reorienting ourselves repeatedly.
But how can we apply the marketing principle of consistency in sales psychology to online marketing? Everything you know about your target group’s habits, interests, and values can be used to your advantage. All you need to do is know your target audience and your customers well.
If you know their values and ideas, you can start right there. If you know your target group has a high need for security, make this a topic when contacting them. If customers respond more to emotional offers, create dynamic content to lead them to your product.
Conclusion: Use Sales Psychology For Your Online Marketing
Of course, some marketing principles can be integrated into your strategy to a greater or lesser extent. But wherever possible, you should benefit from this knowledge. Because often, the integration of a small info button is relatively uncomplicated but achieves a significant effect on your marketing goals.
It would help if you never forgot that the more you know about your potential customers, the better you can address them. So use these marketing principles from Robert Cialdini and try them out: success will surely come soon and take your business to the next level.
Do you have little time besides your daily work to deal with content that attracts customers to you and generates more sales?
