20 common brand marketing and promotion psychology effects

Today I want to talk to you about the application of psychological effects in marketing. I have summarized two reasons why I want to write this article, or the importance of psychological effects.

Reason 1:

“There are no experts in marketing. The only experts are consumers. All you have to do is impress consumers.” I have said this many times. It seems to be nonsense, but it is like a beacon in the darkness, guiding us in the right direction. It means to tell us that we should always pay attention to consumers and work hard on them.

Many people would rather brainstorm in the office than go into the market to see the consumers. They want to sell products to consumers, but they ignore and show no concern for them and are unwilling to spend time and energy on them.

If we want to "impress" consumers, we must at least understand them. Of course, every consumer is different and there are no two exactly the same people in the world, but it is undeniable that they all have some commonalities.

Psychological effects are laws that have been obtained through a large number of experimental studies. It can be said that almost everyone will be affected by these effects, and they are universal.

To put it simply, by properly utilizing these psychological effects, we can more easily impress consumers and sell our products.

Reason 2:

If we use one word to describe the current marketing environment, "chaotic" would be the most appropriate word. Various concepts and gameplays emerge in an endless stream, leaving consumers overwhelmed.

Changes in the environment have led to changes in consumption habits. In the past, people could just go online to buy something. But now it is different. It seems that buying things on Douyin and Kuaishou feels better. Changes in consumption habits have also promoted changes in the environment. Live streaming sales on online shopping platforms are now very popular.

It is not difficult to imagine that in the future, with the development of science and technology, the environment will undergo unimaginable changes, and certain habits of consumers will also change accordingly. Of course, in addition to predicting future changes, we also need to grasp some things that will not change or change much.

Psychological effects can also be said to be the underlying logic of marketing. To a certain extent, they will not change with changes in the external environment. They are something that is deeply rooted in consumers' bones. It is worth our time and energy to study and explore.

To put it simply, we should respond to the ever-changing external environment with the unchanging psychological effects.

Many people have written about it, and you may have studied it before, so just treat it as a review. In fact, every time you study it can bring us different thinking, and repetition is one of the rules to success.

1. Mutually beneficial effect

The reciprocity effect refers to the fact that most people have a psychological tendency not to want to owe others anything. Once we benefit from others, we will feel a sense of pressure that we owe the other person. If we can repay the other person with equal or greater favors in a timely manner, we will be relieved from this psychological pressure.

This is easy to understand. After all, we have all asked others for help in our lives. After the matter is done, we will feel a little uncomfortable and we always have to express our gratitude, either by inviting the other person to dinner or tea, or by taking the initiative to help the other person next time they are in trouble.

How is the reciprocity effect used in marketing? Remember this sentence: "The good you do to consumers, they will eventually return it to you."

In Influence, Cialdini gives an example that when a waiter does not give a mint when handing the bill to a customer, the customer will subjectively give a tip based on the level of service. If the waiter gives one mint, the tip increases by 3.3%; if two mints are given, the tip increases by an unprecedented 20%.

A friend of mine who works in big customer sales told me a story. When he was following up with a customer, he found that the customer liked to drink tea, but the teacup was a bit worn out. The customer was very busy at work and had no time to buy a new one. My friend went to the supermarket and bought a better teacup for the customer without saying a word. The customer's face was immediately filled with smiles, and in the end, the project was done.

What you need to pay attention to when using the reciprocity effect is that your kindness to consumers should make them feel that you have put in a lot of effort, so that they will cherish it or give you a greater reward. For example, if one store gives out coupons to everyone it sees on the street, while another store says that they have worked hard to get the coupons for you and that there are not many left, which store's coupons would you prefer?

If Li Jiaqi said to his "all the women" in the live broadcast room that the discounts offered by these brand owners are very easy to get and everyone should place their orders quickly, then his "all the women" may not cherish them very much. On the contrary, if Li Jiaqi said that these discounts were obtained for everyone with great effort, then they may place their orders faster.

The reciprocity effect mentioned above is relatively common. There is also an upgraded version called the "rejection-concession" strategy. What does it mean? It means that after you make a request that the other party finds difficult to accept, you should then take a step back and make the request that you really want the other party to do. At this time, the other party will feel that you have given him benefits or considered him, and because of your concession, he will feel a sense of indebtedness and will be willing to take a step back and accept your request.

I don’t know if you have ever encountered this situation: you are walking on the side of the road, and suddenly a little girl comes up to you, pulls the corner of your clothes, and asks you to buy a big bouquet of flowers. You might refuse, and then the little girl says to you, "Then can you buy one?" I guess you probably won’t refuse.

I have encountered such a situation before. It was not a flower seller but a water-based pen seller. At the beginning, the salesman asked me to buy a whole box of pens. I refused without hesitation. However, the salesman did not give up and continued to say, "Why don't you buy two?" In the end, you should have guessed the result.

In fact, I didn’t really need the pen. A big part of the reason I bought it was because I felt the salesman was thinking of me, so I bought it to “thank” him.

2. Bandwagon effect

The bandwagon effect refers to the situation where when an individual is influenced by a group (guided or pressured), he or she will doubt and change his or her own opinions, judgments, and behaviors in a direction consistent with the majority of the group. That is to say, individuals are influenced by the group and doubt and change their own views, judgments, and behaviors in order to be consistent with others. This is what people usually call "following the crowd."

This point is easier to understand. It can be said that we are affected by the herd effect all the time, and the most profound feeling is probably when waiting for the traffic light. If you and a group of people are waiting for the traffic light, and one buddy can't wait and runs a red light, at this time, you are still relatively determined to be a civilized person and not run a red light. Then, one, two, three... everyone follows that buddy, and it's hard to say what will happen to you at this time.

Even when doing good deeds, we are affected by the herd effect. If there is money in the donation box, you may be more willing to donate some. If there are words written on the donation box: "Nine out of 10 people passing by donated", then your willingness may be even stronger.

That is why many brands will bring out data to speak for themselves, such as registration data, sales data. If the data is not sufficient, they will simply use the word "more", "xxx, the choice of more people". It is undeniable that they will have a tangible or intangible impact on your decision.

Despite the huge risks and high costs of fake orders, there are still so many merchants who choose to use fake orders to increase their store sales. This is because the level of sales has become one of the factors that consumers consider when deciding whether to buy.

Of course, if you are selling luxury goods, don’t bring out the sales data or create a hot-selling phenomenon. If everyone is using luxury goods, then it will no longer be attractive because it is rare and therefore valuable.

3. Anchoring Effect

The anchoring effect, also known as the sinking anchor effect, refers to the fact that when people make judgments about someone or something, they are easily dominated by the first impression or the first information, which fixes people's thoughts somewhere like an anchor sinking to the bottom of the sea.

Therefore, the first impression is particularly important. The quality of the first impression largely determines how others view you in the future.

Someone did an experiment in which they divided consumers into two groups and asked each group how much an anti-inflammatory drug was worth. The experimenters asked the first group, how much do you think this box of anti-inflammatory medicine costs? Then the result was that most of them were estimated to be around 50 yuan.

In the second group, the experimenter asked, "Do you think the price of this box of anti-inflammatory medicine is higher or lower than 500 yuan?" Then the result was that even though everyone in the second group thought that the cold medicine could not possibly cost 500 yuan, they still estimated an unreasonably high price: 200 yuan.

What is the reason for this? In fact, people are affected by the anchor price. Here, the 500 yuan asked to the second group of consumers is the anchor price set by the experimenters, which makes consumers increase their valuation of the product.

The most common anchoring effect in marketing is probably "original price xx, current price xx". For example, if a piece of clothing that costs 99 yuan is marked with "original price 399, current price 99", it is more likely to be chosen by consumers because we think that the clothing is worth 399 yuan. If you open your online shopping platform and take a look, you will find that most of the items are priced like this.

Why do you think a 2-yuan steamed bun sold on the street is expensive, but you think a bottle of Coke at 10 yuan in a five-star hotel is cheap?

Why do many brands go to great lengths to enter airports and high-speed rail stations? It’s simply because they want to sell at high prices. The strange thing is that consumers are still willing to pay for them. This is because, in the minds of consumers, things in these places should be sold at this price, so they are naturally willing to accept it.

Why don’t consumers buy Evergrande Ice Spring for 4 yuan? Because in the minds of consumers, mineral water is only worth 1-2 yuan, and it has been fixed deep in the hearts of consumers.

Why can Baishuishan be sold for only 3 yuan? Because Baishui Mountain is partly water and partly a symbol of status, with the slogan of "aristocrats among water", people who drink the water will naturally imagine themselves as aristocrats among humans, and there are still many people willing to pay for it.

4. Decoy Effect

The decoy effect refers to the situation where when people make a choice between two equally good options, the addition of a new option, or the decoy option, makes an old option appear more attractive.

There is such an example in "Freakonomics".

Rapp was a consultant for a restaurant. The restaurant hired him at a high salary to plan the restaurant's menu and pricing. Rapp later learned a phenomenon: the high prices of the main courses on the menu can increase the restaurant's profits even if no one orders them.

Why does this phenomenon exist?

Because people generally don't order the most expensive dish on the menu, but they are likely to order the second and third most expensive dishes. 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, the high-priced dish that Rapp added to the menu was a "bait item," and the second-ranked dish that it promoted clicks on was what is commonly called a "target item."

The addition of bait items often allows us to have a more intuitive comparison and quickly find the option that we think is "very reasonable." This is why some merchants now always put some high-priced goods that are basically unsaleable. The quality is not that good, but they are expensive. This is a deliberate “bait item” that makes other products appear to be more “good value for money”.

If there is a magazine seller now, he is given two options:

1. Electronic subscription: US$59.

2. Electronic and paper subscription: $125.

Which one would you choose? To a large extent, you will choose the first option because it is cheaper and the electronic file is more convenient. If you were given another option now, which one would you choose?

1. Electronic subscription: US$59.

2. Electronic and paper subscription: $125.

3. Paper subscription: $125.

You might prefer the first option because the addition of the third option makes the second option look more affordable. This is an advertising case for subscriptions to The Economist magazine. Indeed, when the third option was added, more people chose the first one.

5. Endowment Effect

The endowment effect means that once we own an item, our evaluation of its value will be greatly increased compared to before we own it.

A behavioral economist conducted an experiment in which two groups of people were asked to price the same cup. The first group was given the cup and then asked how much they were willing to offer for the cup. The second group was asked directly how much they were willing to pay for the cup. Surprisingly, for the same cup, the price given by the seller was twice as high as the price given by the buyer.

Isn’t it interesting? There is an idiom called "treasure one's own possessions", what does it mean? I cherish the broken broom at home as if it were a treasure.

Merchants seem to be using this effect every time and it works. After you own an item, you will greatly increase your evaluation of its value than before you own it. So I will let you use it first, and when you are satisfied with it, you will naturally pay for it.

Why is it that when you go shopping for clothes, the salesperson keeps asking you to try them on? It doesn’t cost anything anyway, so you try them on without hesitation, and it seems that the more you try on, the better you think the clothes are. According to a large amount of research and data, we are more likely to place an order after trying on clothes than before, because when trying on clothes, we have a sense of "possession" of the clothes. When we put them on, we feel that they are ours, and naturally we will ignore some flaws in the clothes.

Why has the DIY industry become so popular among consumers in recent years? Why was Xiaomi’s original “sense of participation” strategy successful? This is all because of the endowment effect, which allows consumers to participate and naturally make them willing to pay more for it.

I once thought about this question: Isn’t it a loss to offer “7-day no-reason return” on many online shopping platforms now? I actually tried it out. The freight insurance was 10 yuan, and the postage was only 8 yuan, so I made a profit of two yuan. Later I thought it was not right. Many people may not want to return the goods after using them for two or three days after receiving them, because in the process of use, they will invisibly deepen their liking for the product, even though they are not satisfied at the moment of opening the package.

6. Loss Aversion Effect

Loss aversion means that when people are faced with the same amount of gains and losses at the same time, most people will think of it as a loss. The negative utility of a loss is 2 to 2.5 times the positive utility of a gain.

An experimenter conducted such an experiment, which was divided into two groups:

The first experiment: The experimental group first held 1,000 units of cash. Make your choice based on this.

A. There is a 50% probability of increasing the cash held to 2,000.

B. There is a 100% probability of increasing the cash held to 1,500.

In this experiment, 16% of the experimental group chose A and 84% chose B.

The second experiment group: The same experimental group first held 2,000 units of cash. Make your choice based on this.

C. 50% probability of losing 1,000 units of cash.

D. 100% probability of losing 500 units of cash.

In this experiment, 69% of the experimental group chose C and 31% chose D.

In the experiment, the probability that Option A and Option C will eventually hold 1,000 or 2,000 in cash is 50%. In contrast, the probability that Option B and Option D will eventually hold 1,500 in cash is 100%. That is, the experimental group tends to choose low risk when there is a possibility of gaining benefits, and tends to choose high risk when there is a possibility of suffering losses.

So, sometimes it is better to emphasize loss than gain. If consumers do not buy your product, they will lose something. The most commonly used method in marketing is loss bundling. Since you are afraid of losses, I will package the losses and give them to you at one time.

The same item has two different pricing methods. Just imagine what it is like.

1.99 yuan, free shipping.

2.90 yuan, postage 9 yuan.

Although the overall price is the same, both are 99 yuan, but it seems that the first one can make us feel better. Now many online shopping platforms mark prices like this. It seems that JD’s self-operated products are an exception. Free shipping is only available when the purchase is over a certain amount of yuan. Every time I buy something on JD, the most unhappy thing is its postage.

Many activities nowadays are done in this way, which can be said to be the full use of the loss aversion effect. For example, if you recharge 100 yuan, you will get 300 yuan. The 300 yuan may be returned to you in 12 installments, 25 yuan each month. But in fact, your monthly consumption is far more than 25 yuan, but you are reluctant to throw it away because you will get 25 yuan every month, so you use it for a year.

7. Mental Accounting Effect

Psychological accounts mean that we will classify various types of consumption into corresponding psychological accounts, including daily consumption accounts, entertainment accounts, accidental loss accounts, etc. In each account, you subconsciously save the amount you are willing to spend.

For example, suppose you come to the concert hall with great expectations, and when you are about to reach the entrance, you find that you have lost the 600 yuan ticket you bought in advance! What would you do at this time? Will you buy another one?

The second situation is the same as the first one. You come to the entrance of the concert hall, but this time you don’t lose your ticket. You didn't buy the ticket, but you found that the 600 yuan cash in your pocket was missing! What would you do at this time? Will you pay for the ticket?

Almost everyone will choose not to buy a new ticket in the first case, that is, losing the 600 yuan ticket, but will pay another 600 yuan to buy a ticket in the second case, that is, losing the 600 yuan cash.

In fact, you face the same dilemma in both situations – should you still go to the concert if you lose 600 yuan? But why are the choices made in these two cases completely opposite? The reason is that the lost 600 yuan and the 600 yuan used to buy the ticket are not in the same mental account at all.

How is the mental accounting effect used in marketing?

It is to guide consumers' accounts that are less likely to pay to accounts where they are relatively easy to pay. I believe everyone has heard the very magical advertisement of Melatonin, "I will not accept any gifts this year, the only gift I will accept is Melatonin", which is to transfer the consumption account to the gift account. In fact, Melatonin is essentially a health consumer product. If you were asked to spend several hundred dollars from your daily consumption account, you would definitely be reluctant to do so. However, when you think about giving it as a gift, your gift account will be opened, and you will not think that a few hundred dollars is expensive.

What’s interesting is that sometimes in order to give ourselves a reason to spend money, we will transfer our own mental accounts. For example, you see a very expensive piece of clothing, but you are reluctant to buy it at the time, but then you change your mind and decide to reward yourself, so you place an order without hesitation.

Even when doing a promotion, the psychological account effect is being used. For a 300 yuan piece of clothing, wouldn’t it be better to just give it a 50% discount? Why do you say you get 150 in cash for every 300 you spend? It’s because, no matter how much the discount is, buying clothes still costs money, and it’s a loss. But “get 150 yuan in cash for every 300 yuan spent” is different, it’s like you got 150 yuan unexpectedly.

8. Diderot Effect

The Diderot effect refers to the fact that after people own a new item, they tend to constantly configure it with corresponding items in order to achieve psychological balance. This law is later called the "Law of Matching".

In the 18th century, the French philosopher Denis Diderot received a fine and exquisitely crafted bathrobe from a friend. He walked around his study in his new bathrobe and always felt that the furnishings around him were so inconsistent: the furniture was either too worn or did not match the style, and the stitches of the carpet were frighteningly rough.

In order to match his bathrobe, he updated his old things one after another, and the study finally caught up with the level of his bathrobe. But at this time, he felt uncomfortable because he found himself "being threatened by a nightgown." So he wrote an article - "The Troubles After Parting with the Old Nightgown".

In fact, in life, each of us is Diderot. You bought a very advanced computer, and then found that the current mouse is not good and cannot match this computer, so you bought a more expensive mouse to match it. After buying a mouse, you feel that your old keyboard is not so good. After replacing the keyboard, you may feel that the table is not suitable enough and think about buying a table again.

It's just that the merchants make us feel more at ease. Some time ago, I went to the store to buy a coat, well, just to buy a coat. When I was trying on the coat, the shopping guide kept asking me to try the base shirt inside, saying that it would look better together. The previous one didn't match very well, so why not give it a try, it's free anyway. Then after trying it on, it seemed to be a better match, so I took two pieces back.

Especially now that big data is widely used, our Diderot effect has been fully brought into play. When you buy an item on a certain platform, matching products will come to you, or more directly, they will be sold to you in sets.

9. Proportion Bias Effect

Proportion bias means that in many situations, people should consider changes in numerical values ​​themselves, but they tend to consider changes in proportions or multiples. In other words, people are more sensitive to proportions than to numerical values ​​themselves.

Suppose one day you go to a 4S store and see a car you like. The salesperson said, "The car you are looking at is very popular and there are no discounts. If you are willing to spend 10 minutes filling out a questionnaire, I can give you a 100 yuan discount." At this time, you might think, "I spent hundreds of thousands of yuan to buy a car, and I only get a 100 yuan discount? Are you kidding?"

In the same scenario, if you have already bought a car, you go to the 4S shop for maintenance today. Just by filling out a questionnaire, a barrel of motor oil worth 300 yuan can be saved by 100 yuan. Now do you need to do some calculations? Have you ever felt that “there is true love in the world, and every penny saved is a penny earned”?

It’s the same 100 yuan saved, the amount of money has not changed, but sometimes we care about it and sometimes we don’t care. Why is that? The reason lies in the "proportion". For a barrel of motor oil that costs 300 yuan, a 100 yuan saving is one-third cheaper; but a 100 yuan saving when buying a car is only a savings of one thousandth or one ten-thousandth, which is insignificant in comparison.

What consumers want is not cheapness, but the feeling of getting a bargain. The more commonly used activity is the "one yuan add to cart" activity. The reason why it is so attractive is because it is affected by proportion bias. Buying a pair of shoes worth 1,000 yuan and getting a pair of socks worth 30 yuan for free may not be very attractive. Compared with 1,000 yuan, 30 is too small. However, if you change it to "Just add one yuan, and you can exchange it for a pair of socks worth 30 yuan", it will be more attractive. After all, who doesn't want to exchange one yuan for something worth 30 yuan?

Now there are two shopping malls selling electrical appliances. Store A has the slogan "200 yuan discount for purchases over 1,000 yuan", and Store B has the slogan "20% discount for purchases over 1,000 yuan". Which one is more attractive to you? I think it should be store A, because compared with 1,000 yuan, 200 yuan is still a pretty big number.

There are also two candy stores. Store A’s slogan is “Get a 2 yuan discount on orders over 10 yuan,” while Store B’s slogan is “Get 20% off on orders over 10 yuan.” Which one attracts you more? I think it should be store B, because 2 yuan seems too little.

10. The Sleeper Effect

The sleeper effect refers to the fact that due to the time interval, people tend to forget the source of the communication and only retain a vague memory of the content. In attitudinal psychology, the phenomenon that the influence of a speaker's prestige factors produces the opposite effect over time is called the sleeper effect.

To put it simply, human behavior can be divided into short-term behavior and long-term behavior according to how long it lasts. Emotional arousal is very short-lived, so it generally only affects people's short-term behavior, but has no effect on long-term behavior.

The NetEase layoff incident caused a lot of controversy some time ago, and many people said that they would never use NetEase products again. This is very understandable. NetEase, which they loved so much before, actually did such a thing. However, once the resentment passes, many people will still download the related software again.

We have all set goals at some point in our lives. These moments may be when we watched a motivational video, were hit by others, or were touched by our family. These goals may be to get up early and exercise regularly. You will find that many people go back to the beginning once their emotions calm down.

No one likes "brainwash advertising", but it is undeniable that it can indeed bring effects to brand owners. If I ask you now, which travel photography brand can you think of? You will most likely think of "Earl", even though you used to sneer at its brainwashing and stupid advertisements, but as time goes by, the disgust has subsided, and what remains is the memory of the brand name.

There are also many brand owners who have shot a lot of videos that make people excited and passionate after watching them, but they have no effect on sales. A big part of the reason is that there is no purchase link when watching the video. Although consumers have a strong desire to buy at this moment, after watching the video, their emotions have calmed down and they are not so eager to buy.

Why are short videos and live e-commerce so effective? Because when consumers are in a very high mood, they can click on the purchase link and place an order directly.

11. Exposure Effect

The exposure effect, also known as the seeing more effect, (simple, pure) exposure effect, (pure) contact effect, etc., refers to the fact that we prefer things that are familiar to us. Social psychology calls this effect the law of familiarity. We call this phenomenon that the degree of liking increases as long as it appears frequently the exposure effect.

Researchers conducted an interesting study to illustrate the simple exposure effect. At the beginning of a semester, the researchers had college women appear in certain classes 15, 10, or 5 times. These girls never talked to anyone else in the room, they just sat there, and their presence varied.

Then, at the end of the semester, show the photos of the girls to real students in the class and ask for their reactions. The results were very clear: the more familiar the girls were (that is, the more often they appeared), the more attractive they were to the students, and they liked them more than those girls they had never seen before.

The most widely used exposure effect in marketing is advertising exposure. However, the exposure here is not to make consumers like it. After all, liking something does not necessarily lead to sales. Instead, it is to engrave the advertising information into the minds of consumers, so that they remember the brand, think of the brand when they have a need, and buy the product.

Someone has made a very vivid metaphor, comparing advertising information to nails and "repetition" to a hammer. Each repetition is equivalent to using a hammer to hammer the nail into the consumer's mind one more time, so as to achieve the effect of firmly remembering it.

When it comes to Melatonin, you may blurt out its slogan, "I won't accept any gifts this year, the only gift I will accept is Melatonin"; when it comes to mobile phones, what slogan can you think of immediately? I think it should be OPPO R9's "5 minutes of charging, 2 hours of talk time". What makes you remember it so deeply is the constant repetition of the advertisement.

Among the advertisements that have left a deep impression on everyone in the past period of time, these four should be among them: Mafengwo’s “Before traveling, go to Mafengwo first”, Zhihu’s “Do you really know?”, BOSS’s “Looking for a job, talk to your boss directly” and Earl Travel Photography’s “Go wherever you want to shoot”. Why do we remember it now? Repeating a message over and over again over a period of time makes it difficult for people to forget.

To achieve better exposure effects, at least two points should be noted. First, the information should be single. Many people want to convey too much information to the audience, without a core point. Often the audience cannot remember any of it, which is not worth the effort. Second, the information should be refined and expressed creatively. For example, the selling point of OPPO R9 is "fast charging", which after refinement is "charge for 5 minutes and talk for 2 hours". If it is directly expressed as "fully charged in one hour", the effect will definitely not be good.

12. Reference Effect

The reference effect refers to the fact that when people evaluate one thing, they are often influenced by other things, or in other words, people will actively look for things that can be used as reference in order to make opinions and decisions about current things.

“Shop around” can illustrate this point very well. Offline entities may also have to consider the issue of action costs, but when shopping online, people should look at more than one store, right? Sometimes I may have to browse through more than ten stores before I can make a purchase decision, referring to the price, brand, material...

How would you describe someone as beautiful? If you directly say how beautiful this person is, others will not be able to perceive it. But if you say "looks like Pan An" or "as good as Diao Chan", does this beauty immediately appear before your eyes?

To put it more simply, the reference effect is to associate things that people are familiar with to highlight what you want to express. To describe how quiet a house is, we often use the expression “you can hear even a needle falling to the ground”. The quietness comes out immediately because the sound of a needle falling to the ground is very small.

Nanfu previously released a power bank that is very small. How small is it? 9.2cm*2.3cm, it seems very small, but consumers cannot perceive it clearly, what should we do? Find small objects that people are familiar with, such as lipstick, and put them in the same picture for comparison, and it will be very clear.

Xiaomi has previously launched a smart weight scale, which features accuracy. How can it be presented so that consumers can easily perceive it? Find things people are familiar with and make connections. We all have the habit of drinking water on a daily basis, and we drink water many times a day. Water is something that everyone is very familiar with, and a glass of water is also light. When you combine these selling points, the "precision that can be felt even when drinking a glass of water" comes into being.

David Ogilvy used the phrase “at 60 kilometers per hour, the loudest noise comes from the electronic clock” to highlight the performance of Rolls-Royce, and Steve Jobs used the phrase “put 1,000 songs in your pocket” to highlight the large storage capacity of iPod. Both are wonderful applications of the reference effect.

13. Commitment Consistency Effect

The commitment consistency effect means that once a person makes a commitment to his or her behavior or choice, he or she will strive to keep his or her words and actions consistent.

Someone did an experiment on the beach. He and his assistant, one played the role of a thief and the other played the role of the owner. The thief wanted to steal a radio. The experimenter counted the number of passers-by who would stop the thief from two situations: one was to actively ask passers-by to help look after the radio, and the other was not to actively ask passers-by for help, and it all depended on the passers-by's willingness. The results of the experiment were very surprising: when the thieves were asked to watch over the property, 98% of them would stop the thieves, but when the thieves were not asked to watch over the property, only 5% would stop the thieves.

At work, we have all encountered the situation of "received, please reply". Often, if you reply with "received", it can indeed increase the possibility of the task being executed, because you will try your best to keep your words and actions consistent. However, this is not enough, because your commitment is not strong enough. A handwritten signature on paper will make people fulfill their promise more easily than a "received".

I remember seeing a case like this before, which was about a brand owner organizing a "essay writing competition with prizes". What happened? Ask consumers to write about their feelings after using the product or their opinions on the brand. In short, they have to write about the good aspects. Because there is a reward, everyone will write and even those not-so-good feelings will be turned into praise for the brand.

What effect will this produce? In order to maintain consistency with what is written, they will have a better impression of the brand and will be tricked into choosing that product.

For a period of time, JD.com required a verification code to be entered before coupons could be received. The button said "Confirm to use this coupon." Every time a customer confirmed, it represented a commitment. To a certain extent, this could increase the usage rate of coupons.

Many people cannot stick to losing weight, and they work hard for three days and rest for two days. You might as well try the commitment consistency effect. Take out a piece of paper and a pen, and write down the relevant plans and commitments for losing weight with a pen. Then take a photo and post it to your circle of friends, and then send it separately to a few good friends who care about you very much. If you want to be more ruthless, you can read what you wrote out loud on the street.

14. Scarcity Effect

The scarcity effect refers to the fact that people are more willing to buy something because it is scarce, mainly because “scarcity makes it valuable” or because they don’t want to miss out on current offers.

It's a very simple truth. There are two apple sellers on the street. Boss A says that his apples have high yield and are sweet. Boss B says that his apples only produce a certain number of kilograms each year and the quantity is very limited. If you buy from him, you will make a profit. Are you more likely to buy apples from Boss B?

The most well-known and discussed one should be Xiaomi's "hunger marketing", but the premise is that the product must be attractive. It is better to say that it is the success of the product rather than the success of "hunger marketing". At that time, smartphones were not yet popular, and most similar smartphones were sold for more than 3,000, while Xiaomi only sold it for 1,999. A product with great value for money, who would not grab it if they needed it? It’s just that appropriate limitation has increased people’s desire.

There are roughly three situations in which the scarcity effect is applied in marketing:

1. Limited quantity. A common thing is that products are limited in number. Those globally limited edition luxury cars and luxury bags attract a lot of tycoons to scramble for them. However, here, it is better to say that they are buying the psychological satisfaction of having something that others do not have, rather than the product.

2. Limited time. Walking on the street, you must have heard a shop slogan "The last day is a sale at a loss". Interestingly, you often go to see it after a day, but the slogan still remains unchanged. For them, every day is the last day. Why did Double Eleven attract carnival among the people across the country? A very important point is that many brands will do activities that day, and there are attractive offers. In just one day, you must not buy more points, especially the countdown to the event, which will make your heart thump.

3. Limit identity. You should have applied for a membership card for some reason. These reasons may be that members are free of charge for free. For example, JD.com, members may be able to get points for cash back, or members may enjoy discounts and low prices. For example, Costco, a foreign country, can make a profit by collecting membership fees every year. If you want to enjoy these benefits, you have to apply for a membership card.

I have seen a case before. Maybe a supermarket did such an event. It usually sold bananas that cost 3 yuan per pound, but only sold 2 yuan during the event. Many people rushed to buy them, but most of them only bought two or three pounds. Later, they wrote a slogan "Permanent purchase limit of 7 pounds" next to it, and found that sales had increased significantly.

I guess it is because if I don’t buy more, there will be no such good opportunity.

15. Like effect

The preference effect refers to the fact that people are always able to accept the requests or suggestions made by people who like or are similar to them.

One study was like this: the same car was advertised, one had a sexy female model in the advertisement, and the other had no sexy female model in the advertisement. Men generally think that the cars in the former advertisements are faster, more likable, more expensive, and more refined in design. But when asked afterwards, the men refused to believe that beautiful girls affected their judgment.

This is the powerful power of the preference effect, which is why more and more auto shows have become "breast exhibitions". More and more game exhibitions have become "girl exhibitions". On the one hand, attracting popularity through beauties is the reason, and on the other hand, the reason is to transfer your preferences for beauties to your preferences for products through the principle of preferences.

Advertising master David Ogway proposed the "3B" principle from creativity, beauty - beauty, beast - animal, baby. Advertising with this as a means of expression is in line with the nature of human beings to pay attention to their own lives and is most likely to win the attention and likes of consumers. If you pay attention, you will find that many advertising images contain female models, animals or babies, which invisibly affect your consumption behavior.

Why does the things recommended by friends have a much greater impact on you than merchants’ advertisements? Because your preference for friends is greater than that of brand owners, you are naturally more willing to accept friends’ recommendations from you. Why is word-of-mouth communication so effective? It is probably based on the preference effect.

How to win customers' preferences and increase the chances of being selected by customers? If you sincerely think about customers and solve problems for them, no one will hate people who are useful to them. Sometimes a smile can win the hearts of customers.

16. Celebrity Effect

The celebrity effect refers to the effect of attracting attention, strengthening things, and expanding influence achieved by the emergence of celebrities. The reason for this effect is mainly due to our admiration and trust in celebrities.

There is a story about a man who wanted to sell horses. After three days of selling, no one asked about it. He went to meet the horse expert Bole and said, "I want to sell a horse, but no one asked about it for three days. Please help me no matter what. You just need to look around my horse a few times, and then look back after walking away. I will give you the cost of a day." Bole agreed and really went to the market to look around the horses a few times. Before leaving, he looked back. As soon as Bole left, the horse price immediately soared ten times.

The most common thing we are endorsing celebrity brands, especially in the past four traditional media eras. If brands want to become popular, there is already a standard formula. To win the CCTV bid, find a popular celebrity, and repeat the brand information endlessly.

Another common thing is that celebrities sign products. For example, the original price of rag dolls in the United States is $20 each, while the original designer of the "Cauliflower Doll" was once sold at a price of as high as $300. This "Cauliflower Doll" was once in short supply in the United States. However, it is not advisable to overdo it when inviting celebrities to sign. Currently, some calligraphers are everywhere in order to write titles for shops, which will undoubtedly lose the attractiveness of celebrity signatures to some extent.

The advent of the mobile Internet era has weakened the influence of celebrities to a certain extent, because each of us has the right to speak out and can become a "celebrity" in a certain circle. Or in other words, our preference for "grassroots" stars has exceeded that of some "traditional stars". Many celebrities have been selling live streaming some time ago, but their sales are far from that of Li Jiaqi, Weiya and others.

17. The threshold effect

The threshold effect, also known as the greedy effect, refers to the possibility of accepting greater demands once a person accepts a trivial requirement from others, in order to avoid cognitive dissonance or want to give others a consistent impression of the past and future.

In 1966, American psychologists conducted an experiment: they sent people to randomly visit a group of housewives and asked them to hang a small sign on the window of their house, and the housewives happily agreed. After a while, I visited the group of housewives again and asked to place a sign that was not only big but not too beautiful in the courtyard, and more than half of the housewives agreed. At the same time, someone was sent to visit another group of housewives randomly and directly proposed to place the signs that were not only big but not very beautiful in the courtyard. As a result, less than 20% of housewives agreed.

The threshold effect is widely used in marketing. In other words, "Don't eat a big fat man in one bite, you have to do it step by step." When consumers step on the first step, it will be much easier to ask consumers step on the second step.

It is more difficult to make you buy products directly. It is much easier to scan the QR code and add WeChat to let you follow a public account. For those products that have long decision-making time, it is much easier to place orders directly with soft articles, and it is much easier to leave contact information. You will be invited to the store later.

It is difficult for you to pay, so use free products or content to retain you first, and then convert them. This is true for 360's anti-virus software and Tencent's QQ.

It is difficult to make you spend more money, so I will give you discounts first. It is so cheap that it surprises you and cultivate your usage habits. When you get used to it, you will unknowingly increase the price. Didi Taxi's early coupons will never be returned.

The shopping guides in the supermarket are all using the threshold effect. Two days ago, I went to the supermarket and I saw an aunt doing a candy tasting activity in the distance. "Come on, everyone, it's not a good idea to taste it." Still, I couldn't resist the temptation. After tasting it, I found that the taste was good, so I bought a little.

The aunt was definitely thinking, "It is difficult to buy it directly, so let you taste it first. After you taste it, you want to buy it."

18. Veblen effect

The Veblen effect refers to the increase in the degree of demand for a commodity due to higher prices rather than lower prices. It reflects people's desire to consume squanderly. The higher the price of the product is, the more it will be favored by consumers. The higher the price of the product, the more willing the consumer is to buy it.

I've seen this story before.

There is a jewelry store in a tourist attraction. There are so many people coming and going. Many people came to the store to ask about the price and left. The clerk was very puzzled and reported the situation to the boss. The boss convened an emergency meeting for employees to reduce the price of all jewelry by 1/2. The employee did the same, but the effect was still not satisfactory. "It's obviously very cheap, why isn't anyone buying it?" the boss lamented.

So the boss asked a friend who had been in the mall for a long time. The friend gave him a strategy, "raising the price of all jewelry by 1/2 on the original basis." The boss was very confused, but he still did it, which surprised everyone, and sales actually increased a lot compared to before.

You see, what consumers buy is not jewelry but a sense of identity. How can they highlight the sense of identity? Price is a very good dimension. In real life, many people are the same. They buy not products, but the feeling of identity that can be highlighted in front of everyone. The higher the price, the more they want to buy, thousands of sneakers, bags, clothes, etc.

If the price of Apple phones is reduced to 2,000 yuan now, what do you think will happen? Maybe not so many people want to buy Apple phones. For some people, they are embarrassed to use a 2,000 yuan mobile phone. They buy not only the mobile phone, but also the envy of the people around them.

Xiaomi no longer uses the slogan of "cost-performance ratio" now, or simply operates multiple brands. One brand sells high-end mobile phones, and the other brand sells mid- and low-end mobile phones, which are cheaper. If you have always advocated cost-effectiveness, consumers will not pay. What they want is identity, but you only gave them a mobile phone. However, when Xiaomi started its business, smartphones were not fully popular, and people's pursuit of social attributes was not so strong.

19. Target approach effect

The goal approach effect refers to the closer we get to the goal, the more we will achieve this goal at all costs. In order to achieve the goal of success, we may spend more time and more money.

Many times, when we test whether a boy really likes a girl, we often use whether the boy will answer the girl's phone number when playing games. To be more precise, when he is about to win and when he is a little bit short of his goal, it seems that it is not unreasonable, because at this time, it does require a lot of restraint.

Think about it, are you willing to invest more time and energy just because you are about to achieve a certain goal? For example, you are about to get off work, but you have a plan that is still a little short of the last. Even if you get off work, will you finish the plan before leaving?

How to use the target approach effect in marketing? This is to make our products and services part of consumers’ goals, especially if they are the last step.

Sometimes, when we go to a barber shop, we spend hundreds of dollars to make a hairstyle. At this time, the barber tells you, you have spent so much money to make this hairstyle, and add a little more money to take care of it, so that your hairstyle looks better. I think at this time, as long as you are not particularly shy, you will most likely agree to the barber’s request.

In summer, friends who like to eat watermelon should have discovered that many businesses will cut watermelons in half and even give you a spoon so that you can dig it up when you buy it. Does that feeling make you want to pay more?

Some time ago, I was stunned by Pinduoduo's "Receive 100 Yuan Cash" activity. It's probably the case that you can increase the cash amount through the help of friends or attract new money. You can withdraw cash only if you spend 100 yuan. However, 0-99 yuan is very easy, and you may only need the help of a few friends. When you see the amount suddenly goes from 0 to dozens or dozens, you are excited and speechless. Then you suddenly find that you can't get up after 99 yuan, and it has changed from speed to speed, and a few cents or cents increase. At this time, should you give up or continue?

A large number of people will choose to continue. One is that they have paid so much money, and it is a pity to give up. The other is that they are already very close to the goal, and they are only a few dollars away.

If you give up, that's great for Pinduoduo. You did it, but it didn't cost money. Several friends who have not been in contact for a long time asked me to help him. I have to say that the event is really attractive and breaks the embarrassing relationship between us.

I saw a copywriting before, which was quite interesting, "You spent 30 nights, traveled 13 streets, and swept 7 credit cards. I finally made an appointment with the goddess tonight. The room was opened, but I lost to a pair of underwear?"

Well, I have finished writing 19 psychological effects, although it is already past 11 o'clock in the evening, so I will stick to it.

20. Authoritative effect

The authoritative effect, also known as the authoritative suggestion effect, refers to the fact that if a person has a high status, prestige, and respected by others, what he says and does will easily attract others' attention and make them believe in their correctness. Of course, in addition to referring to others, there are other authoritative institutions, media, etc.

There is an experiment in psychology where researchers pretended to be hospital doctors to give a clearly wrong instruction to the nurse, but 95% of nurses obeyed this loophole instruction without hesitation. Facing the instructions of a doctor or even a fake doctor, the nurses put down their medical training and professional knowledge and entered the response mode of "click and play".

The authoritative effect is also something that many businesses have tried and tested. The most direct thing is to find authoritative institutions to verify or to endorse authoritative people. In recent years, the knowledge payment industry is in full swing. If you have bought knowledge products, it should not be difficult to find that many experts recommend this item, some are written by experts, some are voice, and some are videos. Of course, the trust they bring to everyone is unequal, generally video > voice > text.

Sometimes when you say ten thousand words of good product, it is better to show the certification of an authoritative organization to the customer or let an authoritative professional say something.

I have to say that Teacher Ma is a marketing expert. In addition to speaking all over the country in recent years and endorsing Alibaba, Teacher Ma's marketing thinking was revealed as early as 1995. At that time, everyone did not believe in the Internet. No matter how good Teacher Ma said the Internet was, no one paid attention to it. So Teacher Ma had an idea and said, "Bill Gates said that the Internet will change all aspects of human life", which attracted many media reports.

The words were said by Teacher Ma, but it was just borrowed from Bill Gates' authority and fame, and the effect was completely different. However, Teacher Ma today is no longer the same as Teacher Ma back then. He and Bill Gates are both Internet figures that influence the world and are both worthy of admiration.

Okay, that's all I have written about. I know you haven't enjoyed it yet, so read it a few more times.

Of course, the psychological effects that affect consumer behavior are far more than the above twenty types. Everyone is welcome to communicate and make progress together. There is no end on the road to impress consumers.

Author: Qi Shao

Source: Qi Shao