8 psychological marketing theories behind the popular cases!

Because of ignorance, people think that "men are all lustful" and "women are all materialistic."

Let’s take a look at 8 marketing theories below! Worth thinking about.

1. Barnum Effect

In 1948, psychologists conducted a personality test in which each student was given a "personal analysis" and asked to score how well the following description fits them, with 5 being the highest and 0 being the lowest.

This “personal analysis” is:

“You pray to be liked by others but find fault with yourself.

Although you have some personality flaws, generally speaking you have ways to make up for them.

You have considerable untapped potential that has not yet been realized to your strengths.

The seemingly tough and strictly self-disciplined exterior conceals an uneasy and worried heart.

There are many times when you seriously question whether you have done the right thing or made the right decision.

You like a certain amount of variety and become dissatisfied when restricted.

You pride yourself on being an independent thinker and will not accept statements without sufficient evidence.

But you believe it is unwise to be overly candid with others.

Sometimes you are extrovert, friendly and social, and sometimes you are introvert, cautious and silent.

Some of your ambitions are unrealistic."

According to common understanding, people are different, so what will be the average of the students' scores in the end?

4.26 points (out of 5 points), and the "personal analysis" received by each person is exactly the same, which is the text above.

Psychologists collected these contents from the descriptions of the relationship between constellations and personality, and compiled them into "personal analysis". Many statements are applicable to anyone, and these statements were later named Barnum statements after Barnum.

The Barnum effect is a psychological phenomenon that was demonstrated by psychologist Bertram Fuller through experiments. It is named after the acrobat Barnum.

It is easy for anyone to believe that a broad, general personality description fits him particularly well. Even if this description is very empty, I still think it reflects my personality, even if I am not that kind of person at all.

This reminds me of a joke Ma Weidu made about fortune telling: No matter who comes to see me, I will first close my eyes and tell him, "You have a mole on your left leg." He doesn't believe it? I went home, took off my pants and asked my mother to help me find the mole. She would definitely find it because no one has no mole on their legs.

Therefore, each user's behavior and psychology vary greatly, but they must all follow some common general ideas.

2. Decoy Effect

I have loved fishing in the river since I was a child, but at that time I never understood why we had to use feed to make a nest? What a waste! To catch a fish, you only need the bait with a hook.

In the 1930s, Wickers-Sonoma confidently released its first toaster; but this did not ignite consumers' enthusiasm for buying, but instead put them in a dilemma of choice. The consumer mentality at this time is like this:

What is a home toaster?

Is it good or bad?

Do we really need toasters at home?

If you have money, why not buy that new coffee machine next to it?

Faced with poor sales performance, the company had no choice but to hire a marketing research company. After some research, the marketing research company did not ask Vicos to improve its products, control costs and lower prices.

Instead, they were asked to launch a new product that was not only bigger but also 50% more expensive. Once the new bread machine was launched, the sales of the old model immediately improved , and consumers no longer had to face the dilemma of choice.

At this point the consumer is thinking: I may not know much about toasters, but I know that a small one is definitely better than a big one.

The new model toaster provides a reference point, or a decoy, making the original model seem more worth buying.

3. Transaction Utility

Now imagine that a beautiful woman passes by you while you are sunbathing on the beach. You call your friend and ask him to buy you a bottle of beer.

When you hold this $2 bottle of cold beer, your friend tells you that this is a great buy! The wine on the counter at XX luxury Holiday Inn only cost $2.

On another day, your friend also buys you some wine at a roadside store and the same wine costs $2. Would you think it’s worth it? I even suspect that the wine in this store might be fake.

Generally speaking, you will be happier if you know that the beer comes from a high-end Holiday Inn, because your "actual price paid" is much lower than the "reference price", which makes you feel like you got a bargain.

But if you buy the same beer in a lower-end store, $2 doesn’t seem cheap (13 RMB).

Transaction utility, the difference between the "reference price" and the "actual payment price" is the source of "transaction utility". The more the actual payment price is lower than the reference price, the more you feel that it is a good deal.

From the seller's perspective, this is often explained as the "anchoring effect."

4. Loss Aversion

There is a set of experiments comparing one option:

1. You have a 100% chance of getting 3,000 yuan.

2. You have an 80% chance of getting 4,000 yuan and a 20% chance of getting nothing.

Do you think users prefer 1 or 2?

If it were me, I would choose 2, because 2 is obviously more cost-effective. The average gain of 1 is 100% 3000=3000 yuan; the average gain of 2 is 80% 4000=3200 yuan.

But people are more willing to evaluate based on their feelings. Choosing 2 is so scary, and you may get nothing.

The experimental results show that most people would rather choose to get $3000 without risk (that is, 100% chance) rather than gamble with an 80% chance of winning $4000.

Loss aversion refers to the fact that people find losses more unbearable when faced with gains and losses of similar magnitude. The negative utility caused by the same amount of loss is 2.5 times the positive utility of the same amount of gain.

"Let's make a bet! Flip a coin. Heads, you give me 10,000 yuan. Tails, I give you 10,000 yuan."

It can be seen at first glance that this is a very fair gamble, but when you really want to play it with users, few people are willing to participate because of loss aversion.

For example, when you do business and invest 100 yuan and earn 10 yuan, you are very happy. When you earn 20 yuan, you are even happier. When you earn 60 yuan, your mentality seems to be normal.

But it’s different if you lose money. If you invest 100 yuan and lose 10 yuan, you may think it’s not so bad. But when you lose 60 yuan, will your mentality be more normal? I’m afraid he thought like this - it’s over, it’s over, I’ve lost a lot this time!

For example, an App has a sign-in function. Normally, each sign-in will give you xx points, which can then be used to redeem some things or artifacts.

But you insist on doing something out of the ordinary, not giving any points for signing in, and deducting XX points for missing a sign. Try to figure out whether the users will beat you to death.

When faced with gains, users may remain silent, but when faced with losses, they will turn hostile.

5. Obsession with low-probability events

Many people have bought lottery tickets. Although the chance of winning is very small and there is a 99.99% chance that your money will go to support welfare and sports, there are still people who take chances on low-probability events. For example, my dad is particularly obsessed with it. He buys it every day and even draws pictures to make inferences from time to time.

Things like pie falling from the sky are low-probability events, but so many people desire them.

At the same time, many people have bought insurance. Although the probability of bad luck is very small, they still want to make a profit from the loss. This tendency of people is the psychological basis for insurance companies to continue to operate.

For this kind of low-probability bet, people pay very little, thinking that if "shitty luck" comes, they can make a huge profit!

Therefore, nowadays, whether it is game products, offline stores, mobile operators , various shared products, or Taobao and JD.com , there will be lottery activities. You may add 1 yuan to win a prize of 10,000 yuan, or even free of charge. For example, Fliggy Travel draws discounts, China Mobile draws traffic , ofo draws coupons, and lol draws skins...

In fact, annual store celebrations, such as Taobao’s Double 11 and JD’s 618, are also based on users’ “loss aversion” psychology.

From the first perspective, users think that if they can buy such affordable products during such a carnival, they must seize the opportunity!

Users think from a second perspective: if they miss this opportunity, such an affordable product will only be available next year!

6. Decision-making on “Sunk Costs”

The official description of sunk costs is that they refer to costs that have already been incurred and cannot be recovered.

What we are going to discuss today is what impact the cost of silence has on consumers (users) when they make decisions?

For example, a couple decided to go ice skating this Saturday, and as a result, both of them booked tickets.

The boy booked skating rink A, the ticket price was 100, there were many people, and the environment was worse;

The girl booked the B skating rink, the ticket price was 50, there were fewer people, and the environment was better;

Since they are all tickets for the same time, and one has to be given up, what choice will people usually make at this time?

The pros and cons of the choice in this case are quite obvious, so it is not difficult to judge. Keep rink B and abandon the inferior rink A.

Let’s look at another case: Your city is going to hold a grand lantern festival in the near future. The ticket price is 1,000 yuan and is non-refundable, or the refund fee is very high.

Scenario 1: This ticket is given to you as a year-end benefit by the company.

Scenario 2: You ordered this ticket yourself for 1,000 yuan.

After getting the ticket, you get accurate information some time before the Lantern Festival that there will be heavy snow on the day of the Lantern Festival, which will cause traffic congestion and there will be a lot of people, probably the kind that will be squeezed into a meat patty.

So, I would like to ask, are people in “Situation One” more inclined to give up, or are people in “Situation Two” more inclined to give up?

The survey results show that 2/3 of the people in "Situation 1" chose to give up, while most of the people in "Situation 2" insisted on going ahead.

These two cases illustrate the decision-making of "sunk costs". When the choice results show a significant difference in quality (going to skating rink B will obviously have a better experience in the end), people tend to ignore the "sunk costs" and make wise choices based on the current results;

When the results are the same, people will consider "sunk costs" more and ignore future costs.

The lantern festival example above can illustrate this. The result is that everyone goes to watch the lantern festival, but the "sunk cost" in situation one is almost 0; while the "sunk cost" in situation two is 1,000 yuan, so people tend to choose to watch the lantern festival, thinking that they would lose out if they don't go.

At the same time, they also ignore future costs, such as possible traffic accidents, landslides, and stampedes.

A small revelation: the same product or service can better retain users if you add a little trick, such as: collecting some deposits; recommending membership cards; booking discounts; assisting users in completing a series of complicated procedures in advance; monthly fees, annual fees, etc., the longer the subscription, the cheaper it will be.

7. Cognitive Dissonance

The official explanation is that a person's behavior is inconsistent with his or her previous consistent cognition of self (which is usually a positive and active self), and the discomfort and unpleasant emotions that arise when one cognition is pushed from one opposing cognition.

This is not the point in marketing. The point is that after most people experience "cognitive dissonance", in order to reduce the negative experience caused by this "cognitive dissonance", they will exaggerate its only advantages.

When smokers first learn to smoke, they may think it is very cool because all the big brothers in the movies smoke.

Later I found out on TV that smoking actually increases the risk of lung cancer and will bring great pain. This is completely different from the smokers' original cognition, and creates a bad experience (opposing cognition) in the smokers' minds.

Therefore, in order to reduce the negative experience caused by this cognitive dissonance, smokers will lower their expectations of the risk of disease and exaggerate that smoking is romantic and about enjoying life, making this behavior look like a rational choice.

Therefore, even if "Smoking is harmful to health" is printed on every pack of cigarettes, and even on Russian cigarettes there are large pictures of eroded lungs, it still cannot stop smokers.

In game products, players may think that paying is absurd at first, then some people start to "take the lead", and later more and more people pay. These players may explicitly want better graphics, props, etc., or they may be blindly following the trend.

But generally speaking, once you enter the paid circle, it is very difficult to get out. It is roughly like "it is difficult to go from luxury to frugality", and you have become accustomed to better enjoyment.

For players who have invested time and money, they will exaggerate its advantages, ignore its shortcomings, and even use "poor players" and "loser props" to belittle other free users and free props.

Because this will strengthen the good self-image of RMB players and demonstrate their taste and wit.

Under the psychological factor of "cognitive dissonance", when paid products and free products coexist in a system, the number of paid users will inevitably increase gradually, while free users will gradually be squeezed out.

For example, Himalaya and Tingting FM currently have both free and paid content in the same product. Paid users will gradually form cliques, and free users will gradually be squeezed out or converted into paid users.

The same principle applies to video payment, so iQiyi ’s VIP slogan is “Distinguished Member”. Let vip users convert non-vip users.

8. Diderot Effect

In the 18th century there was a French philosopher named Denis Diderot. One day, a friend gave him a nightgown of fine texture and exquisite workmanship, and Diderot liked it very much.

But when he walked around the study in his luxurious robe, he always felt that the furniture was either shabby or of the wrong style, and the stitches on the carpet were frighteningly rough. So, in order to match the bathrobe, the old things were updated one after another, and the study finally caught up with the grade of the bathrobe.

Later he became distressed and reflected for a long time, wondering why he was threatened by a nightgown? Then he wrote "The Troubles After Parting with the Nightgown".

200 years later, Juliet Schroer, an economist at Harvard University in the United States, proposed a new concept in her book "The American Overconsumption" - the "Diderot Effect", or the matching effect, which refers to the phenomenon that after people own a favorite item, they will configure items that are suitable for it in order to achieve psychological balance.

Similarly, when the accessories of their favorite items are broken, people prefer the "original" ones. Even if the quality and style of accessories from other brands are exactly the same and the price is more affordable, people still have an obsession with the "original".

The above is all about the Barnum effect, bait effect, transaction utility, loss aversion, obsession with low-probability events, "sunk cost" decision-making, cognitive dissonance, and Diderot effect. Rereading the full text will help you think more. I hope that fellow craftsmen can think about it and internalize it, which will be helpful.