Why do you want to shop again on Double 12? Beware of these 8 marketing psychology principles!

Animals may become aggressive when they see feathers of a certain color, or become protective of their natural enemies when they hear a certain sound.

It may look ridiculous sometimes.

But this mechanical reaction also exists in humans. When a trigger feature appears, we will respond accordingly without thinking.

Just like Double 11, we always can’t help but buy, buy, buy. Double 12 is coming soon, and unless there are any unexpected events, we still can’t help but go shopping.

In recent years, Double 11 and Double 12 have become super shopping events that everyone is celebrating, and it can be said that they have created a market worth hundreds of billions of yuan.

There are many reasons behind this, but the 10 marketing psychology principles that I’m going to talk about below cannot be ignored.

You can learn about it first, and think about it carefully when you have time. Take it and you’re welcome!

1 Anchoring Effect

Naturalist Konrad Lorenz discovered that newly hatched goslings become deeply attached to the first creature they see (although usually that creature is their mother).

But things took a turn when Lorenz was accidentally spotted for the first time by newly hatched goslings during an experiment. From then on, they followed him until they grew up.

Lorenz thus demonstrated that goslings not only make decisions based on their initial discoveries at birth, but also stick to them once they have made a decision. Lorenz called this phenomenon "imprinting." (To put it bluntly, it’s the first impression)

This effect is very obvious in the economy. There is a term in behavioral economics called "anchor".

The general meaning is that if you encounter a certain product in your life, the price that impresses you at first sight (or the price when we first decide to buy a specific product at a certain price) will have a long-term impact on your willingness to bid for this product in the future.

This price is the "anchor".

There is a classic case in the industry, which is about black pearls.

Black pearls are produced from a type of black-edged oyster. In the 1970s, even though they were cheap, there was not much of a market for them. Only after the "planning" of a legendary gem merchant did they finally become popular.

He displayed black pearls in store windows on Fifth Avenue in New York, priced them at incredibly high prices, and placed advertisements in some high-impact magazines with gorgeous prints, showing black pearls gleaming against the backdrop of bricks, rubies and emeralds.

He also put black pearls around the neck of a popular New York opera star and paraded them around Manhattan.

Just like that, something that was originally worthless suddenly became a rare treasure. This shrewd businessman initially "anchored" black pearls with the most expensive gems in the world, and its price has followed closely behind the gems ever since.

Price itself is a kind of brand positioning, and consumers' purchasing intention can be easily manipulated. In other words, it is not the consumers' willingness to buy that affects the market price, but the market price itself that in turn affects the consumers' willingness to buy.

This method is used very often in promotional activities. The simplest example is the original price is 1999 and the current price is 199.

The 1999 is an anchor price, which increases users' perceived value of the product. This product is of good quality and is worth 1999 yuan.

If there is no such anchor and the current price is only 199 yuan, users will feel that the product is very cheap rather than a surprise of a discount.

2. Social Identity Principle

Most marketers are already aware of this concept and its importance cannot be overstated. Social proof refers to the fact that people adopt the opinions and actions of people they like or trust, which is the bandwagon effect.

For example, at a fundraising venue, if we see that there is already money inside, we will be more likely to put money in; if there is no money inside, we will be less likely to put money in.

The psychological activity behind this is: when there is money in it, we will tell ourselves that others also think that this thing should be donated, so I might as well donate it; when there is no money in it, we will tell ourselves that no one else will donate this thing, so it is probably not reliable.

When businesses create and hype the illusion of "hot sales", it often leads to real hot sales. Creating a sense of hot sales is a common method.

In addition, you can also add fuel to the fire by promoting hot-selling products, such as the commonly used "cumulative sales volume XXXX", "circling the earth XX times" or "number one in sales for N consecutive years" in advertisements.

Even without specific data or numbers, the popularity of a product can be implied by showing countless people in a certain scene using or admiring a certain brand of product. Many brand advertisements such as Wanglaoji and Coca-Cola have long used this suggestive technique.

The influence of this "herd effect" not only occurs when we are waiting in line or exposed to advertisements. Once this experience or impression is stored in our memory, we may often choose brands that use the herd effect technique again when we consume similar products in the future.

To put it bluntly, it’s the herd mentality that makes Double 12 too common.

3. Decoy Effect

When people make choices between equally matched options, the addition of a third new option (the bait) will make one of the old options appear more attractive.

This is what we often call the "bait effect" in marketing planning. It is a typical way to take advantage of people's comparison psychology.

For example, there is such an example in "Freakonomics":

Rapp was a consultant for a restaurant that paid him to plan the restaurant's menu and pricing. Rapp later learned that the high prices of entrees on the menu could increase the restaurant's profits even if no one ordered them.

Why?

Because people generally don't order the most expensive dish on the menu, but they are likely to order the second most expensive dish.

In this way, he created a high-priced dish for the restaurant, modified the menu, and then many customers were "enticed" to order the second most expensive dish.

In this case, a high-priced dish added to the menu is a "bait item", and the second-ranked dish that it promotes clicks is usually called the "target item."

The addition of bait items often allows consumers to make a more intuitive comparison and quickly find the option that they think is "very reasonable."

For example, some stores always put some high-priced goods that are basically unsaleable. The quality is not very good, but they are expensive. This is a deliberately placed “bait item” that makes other products appear to be more “good value for money”.

Another example is a very simple example of an ad for The Economist magazine subscription:

① Electronic subscription: US$59.

②Paper subscription: US$125.

③ Electronic and paper subscription: $125.

Why would they offer this option when the price of a digital and print subscription is the same as a print-only subscription?

The experimenters gave 100 MIT students the above price list and asked them about their purchasing choices. When all three options were available, students chose the hybrid subscription; when the $125 print subscription option was removed, students chose the cheapest option.

This means that the middle option is not completely ineffective. It provides students with a reference. Through comparison, they will find that the mixed subscription is very cost-effective, thus stimulating them to spend more money on magazine subscriptions.

This is the common theory of relativity in our consumption behavior. Making decisions based on relative factors is our natural way of thinking.

Think about it, haven’t we seen too many such bait items on Double 11 and Double 12?

Let me just give you an example. There are two similar mattresses. One originally priced at 750 and is now priced at 450; the other originally priced at 650 and is now priced at 450. Which one would you choose?

4. Scarcity Principle

The rarer the opportunity, content, or product, the greater its value.

The fewer the opportunities, the higher the value. The idea that something might be lost plays a big role in people’s decision-making process.

It can even be said that the fear of losing something is more motivating to people than the desire to get something.

The scarcity principle has even more applications in business, such as telling customers that the quantity of a certain product is limited and there is no guarantee that it will always be available.

It is worth noting that "time" is also a resource, so sales methods such as "deadline", "rush purchase", "flash sale", etc. can also stimulate customers' desire to buy.

Humans are accustomed to judging the value of something by how difficult it is to obtain it. The harder something is to obtain, the higher its value is likely to be. Therefore, scarcity will stimulate us to strive for it.

5. Bundled Loss Principle

Why do we often see many merchants saying "Buy a 3999 yuan computer, and get a headset, a high-end mouse pad, and one-year free on-site repair" instead of including the price of the headset, on-site repair, etc. in the 3999 yuan?

If you spend the same amount of money on products and services for 3,999, why do you describe some parts as “free”?

This is because people's perception of losses and gains is not linear. Suppose you can get a certain happiness by getting 100 yuan, and to get double the happiness you may need 400 yuan instead of 200 yuan.

Likewise, the pain of losing $100 may be doubled by losing $400.

Therefore, if all costs are added together and the user is given a total price, so that the user only pays 3999 at one time, instead of feeling the expense multiple times (3000 for a computer, 200 for headphones, 200 for repairs...), the user will feel that paying this money is not so painful.

Therefore, countless merchants will say "buy a 3,000 yuan computer, free shipping", instead of "the total cost is 3,000 yuan, of which you spent 2,995 on the computer and 5 yuan on postage."

This is why gyms have always insisted on annual memberships instead of charging by the number of visits. Users feel that annual memberships are more affordable than spending 50 yuan each time, but in fact they overestimate their future usage.

Similarly, if the "benefits" are dispersed, the "benefits" perceived by users will also increase.

Therefore, on Double 12, merchants will not say "We will sell you a large number of packages, including computer mouse, etc.", but will say "Buy a computer, and get a mouse headset, a high-end mouse pad and repairs for free."

As Taylor wrote in Marketing Science magazine: "Don't put Christmas presents in a box."

In short, in order to make you feel that you are getting a discount, merchants will do everything they can to bundle losses and disperse the benefits.

6. Anticipation Effect

Our existing impressions of things will blind our vision of observing problems. Our expectations of something will affect our attitude and experience of it.

If we believe in advance that something is good, then it will generally be good, and vice versa.

An experiment conducted abroad has shown that when the same coffee is placed in a high-end container and an ordinary container, people will generally feel that the coffee in the high-end container tastes better.

The packaging form and design of a product will also affect people's perception of the quality of the product inside the packaging.

Another study used vinegar in beer. When participants were told that vinegar was added to the beer, they still found the beer less tasty because of their expectations.

The other group thought the wine tasted good after drinking it, and their evaluation was still positive after being told that vinegar was added to the wine.

In fact, participants who learned the truth later liked the vinegar-spiked beer just as much as those who hadn't been told the truth at all.

This shows that expectations do affect people's behavior and even perception. Some restaurants add exotic and fashionable words before the names of their dishes, such as "Alaskan cod". Even before we even tried it, we already felt that this dish seemed to taste more delicious than ordinary cod!

Expectations not only affect people's cognition and experience of vision, taste and other sensory phenomena, but can also change people's subjective and even objective experience.

The core purpose of brand communication methods such as advertising is to shape people's positive expectations of a product, service or even a corporate organization.

This expectation is due on the one hand to the brand's own commitment, and on the other hand to familiarity, reputation and trust. To put it more fundamentally, advertising is about shaping a bias in cognitive expectations.

There are actually a lot of such advertising copy , product introductions, and marketing slogans, for example:

Become a PPT master in 10 days

Born for fever

20 marketing experts jointly created

18 million soft light photography, illuminate your beauty

5 minutes of charging, 2 hours of talk time

Even the smallest individual has his own brand

360° master-level skills, let you reshape your 18-year-old tender skin

…

All of this is to increase user expectations, attract users, and stimulate their interest in further learning.

7. Loss Aversion

Loss aversion means that once people have something, they are very reluctant to lose it. People are afraid of loss. This is because we care more about the unhappiness of losses than the happiness of gains.

Two logically similar statements about the same problem will lead to different decision-making judgments. When consumers believe that a certain price brings "loss" rather than "gain", they will be very sensitive to price.

When it comes to deciding their own returns, people tend to be risk-averse and have a tendency to be risk-averse. When people face losses, they all become extremely adventurous and are all risk-seeking adventurers.

For example, you can open a specific feature of your product for free for a period of time. After the expiration date, customers have become dependent on this feature and ultimately can only enjoy it by paying.

Another example is the “sense of scarcity” created by flash sales and limited-time offers, which makes us feel that we will lose an opportunity if we do not participate in this promotion. And this "sense of loss" motivates us to do everything we can to place orders quickly.

We also have a natural fear of missing out on discounts, so Double 12 is here.

8. Mental Accounting

Why are more and more e-commerce companies saying "200 off for orders over 1,000 yuan" instead of "20% off for orders over 1,000 yuan"? Why is the "full-discount strategy" so popular?

First assume these two scenarios:

1. One day you accidentally scratched your car and spent 1,000 yuan to repair it. In a bad mood, you returned to the office and found that you had won 200 yuan in a lottery.

2. One day you accidentally scratched your car and spent 800 yuan to repair it.

In these two situations, which one do you think will make you feel better? I think most people would guess the first one, and the experimental results also prove this.

Why? This is because we tend to set up different "mental accounts" for gains and losses, and tend to view different "mental accounts" in different ways.

The cost of repairing a car is in the "accidental loss account" in our minds. At this time, the difference between 800 and 1000 is not that big, and the loss and pain brought to us are almost the same.

And "winning the prize" is in the "windfall account" in our hearts. 200 yuan is much more than 0 and can bring us a lot of happiness.

Similarly, the full-reduction strategy also uses this principle. If a product is discounted by 20%, a 1,000 yuan item can be purchased for 800 yuan, so the difference doesn't seem that big.

But if it's 200 off for orders over 1000, it feels like you have paid 1000 yuan (not much different from 800), and then earned an extra 200 yuan (200 is a big difference compared to 0).

What's more, many shopping malls adopt the method of returning coupons for purchases over a certain amount (for example, if you spend over 1,000 yuan, you will be given a 200 yuan cash coupon, which can be used to buy anything). This further distinguishes the two different psychological accounts and makes consumers feel that they are getting more discounts.

Secondly, everyone has a psychological account. If you want others to buy something, you actually have to give them a reason to buy to fill this account.

You can first analyze and understand which psychological accounts your target users mainly have and which account they are generally willing to spend money on. Then use emotional design to highlight it, that is, find a plausible reason for users to spend money, thereby reducing the psychological guilt of spending money and promoting purchases.

For example, if you buy a piece of clothing priced at 2,000 yuan for yourself, you may feel it is expensive and reluctant to buy it, but if it is a birthday gift for a loved one, you may buy it without hesitation.

This is because users classify these two types of expenditure into different "psychological accounts". Clothes bought for themselves are "daily clothing expenses", but clothes bought for loved ones are classified as "favors or emotional maintenance expenses". Obviously, most users are more willing to spend money on the latter.

Alas, after experiencing Double 11 and Double 12 every year, I feel like I know everything now and am immune to all poisons.

But, the shopping still continues! That's human nature.

above.

The author of this article @木木老贼 is compiled and published by (青瓜传媒). Please indicate the author information and source when reprinting!

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