17 psychological phenomena that planners and promoters must know in 2020

Consumer insights , which marketers often talk about, are a kind of psychological game , and products or brands are the protagonists of this game.

If you want to become a master of psychological games, you need to understand consumers’ psychology just right. Next, I will share some psychological phenomena that are often encountered in consumer insights.

1. Different mentality, different meaning

The concept of mental accounting was proposed by Thaler in 1980. He believed that people would psychologically divide their money into different accounts, and the money in each account had "different meanings" . Even if it was the same amount of money, these accounts would psychologically affect our daily decisions.

To give a very good example, take the Hermès "Haagen-Dazs" of ice creams. If you were asked to spend more than 30 yuan just to buy a bottle of Haagen-Dazs, it would be a bit ridiculous. Anyone who has eaten it knows that this ice cream is no different from other ice creams that cost a few yuan.

When Haagen-Dazs implants the idea of ​​"If you love her, take her to eat Haagen-Dazs" , the target of Haagen-Dazs is no longer ice cream, but a gift between lovers. Then, for the psychological account of gift, more than 30 yuan is already very cheap.

To give another example, if you spend 1,000 yuan, you must save 10 yuan. This corresponds to the consumption mentality of contemporary young people of "save when you can and spend when you must" . Which psychological account of the consumer is mainly used for this and what is the meaning of consumption?

For example, if your first sweater in winter costs 300 yuan, you would think it is a reward for yourself and it is worth it. But if you have to pay an additional 10 yuan for postage for a sweater that costs 89 yuan, you will feel it is not worth it because the postage is not within your expected range. You can buy AJ, but you have to fight for the video membership. You can split the bill for a weekend dinner of 100 yuan, but you can’t get a discount on takeout unless you spend a certain amount.

2. The words of a humble person are not taken seriously, but the words of a noble person are taken seriously.

The authority effect is also known as the celebrity effect , which means that people with authority (high status, prestige, and respect) have the right to speak and influence.

Then people are more willing to listen to what they say, and more likely to identify with and imitate what they do.

The reason why the authority effect exists is that people have a "security mentality". It is human nature to avoid risks, which means that if you follow the instructions of someone with authority, you can reduce the risk index and gain more social recognition.

Lu Xun is the man who has said the most famous quotes in the entire universe. A single sentence "Lu Xun said" is worth a thousand words. If that doesn't work, then just say "Lu Xun once said that". Basically, these "famous quotes" can achieve a 180-degree reversal in an argument. Because of this, there is a shortage of "golden sentences" in the market, which leads to Lu Xun being constantly implicated.

3. No matter how many times it happens, it does not affect the original probability of not happening

The gambler's fallacy is an illogical way of reasoning about probability. Gamblers believe that a certain situation has happened many times before, so the chance of it happening again is low. Or a situation hasn't happened for a long time, so the probability of it happening next is high.

Just like tossing a coin, if it lands on tails 10 times in a row, a gambler will think that the probability of it landing on heads the 11th time is very high. But the reality is that the probability of the 11th head is still 50%.

4. Follow the crowd

The herd effect is the conformity effect , which refers to the social psychology that individuals are easily influenced by group behavior, thus giving up personal thinking and ultimately maintaining consistent behavior with the group.

We subconsciously believe that if so many people are doing this, it can’t be wrong. The herd effect caters to people's risk aversion and lack of security .

When faced with decision-making, people tend to not think and take decisions with relatively low risks. People are lazy. It is human nature not to think and to save time.

Examples of communication include positioning the product as a certificate of consumer trust, selling more than 200 million cups a year, and ranking first in sales volume on the entire network. Another example is the group buying phenomenon in social e-commerce. When there are more people participating, it naturally means that there is "basically no problem" with the product. The same logic applies to e-commerce sales endorsement, with monthly sales of 100,000+ being more likely to drive decision-making.

5. You get what you pay for

According to the price theory, when prices rise, purchases decrease, and when prices fall, purchases increase. As the saying goes, "small profits mean more sales, big profits mean less sales."

But economist Veblen proposed the concept of "high profits but quick turnover" . It refers to the degree to which consumer demand for a good increases if its price is higher rather than lower. This reflects people's psychological desire to engage in wasteful consumption and can serve as a reference.

The shift from “small profits but quick turnover” to “large profits but quick turnover” is mainly due to the prevalence of consumerism in the 20th century. Consumers buy not only product functions but also emotional significance.

Consumers believe that cheap products are not necessarily bad products, but basically expensive products are also of good quality, otherwise why would they be priced so high and still sell well?

The logic of the market is "because the product is good, so the price is high" , while the logic of consumers is "because the price is high, so the product is good". Consumers use price as a criterion to judge the quality of products, which saves a lot of unnecessary screening steps. This is in line with human laziness and the psychology of seeking security.

The reference for the market is the entry into the price segment . One of the angles of market entry is to occupy the price segment, that is, to find a blank price segment for consumers in a certain category, and this price segment has relatively fewer competitors.

For example, some products with functions higher than the market level, such as maternal and child products or medical beauty, will not meet the quality standards recognized by consumers if the price is too low.

You say you are so good, why are you so cheap? It means you are definitely not good enough and there must be something wrong with the quality. This only applies to specific categories. Don't break through consumers' psychological price defenses.

6. Start with a small step and eventually take a big step

The foot-in-the-door effect means that once you accept a trivial request from others, you are likely to accept a larger request in order to avoid cognitive dissonance or to give others a consistent impression.

For marketing, it is necessary to set up different levels of thresholds so that consumers can climb up step by step.

When promoting consumers’ first orders, you can lower the purchase threshold, such as giving out samples (small samples, medium samples), high discounts, free orders for new users, etc., in order to build consumer trust and achieve a high first-order conversion rate.

7. Who you refer to determines who you are

Anchor generally refers to a ship anchor. When stopping the ship, the anchor needs to be thrown into the sea, and then an iron chain is tied to the ship to fix the ship.

The anchoring effect refers to the reference influence of the first information when people make judgments about someone or something. It is like an anchor sinking to the bottom of the sea, fixing people's views in a certain place.

There are five basic types of anchoring effects: (1) Price anchor . During a promotion, the original price is the anchor. The size of the discount will give consumers the illusion that they are getting a good deal. (2) Value anchor . For example, Feihe’s two-hour fresh milk powder makes the production process an anchor in consumers’ minds, thereby supporting high-end prices.

(3) Reference anchors , such as the advertisement for Lao Luo English Training, "What else can you buy with 1 yuan today?" It gives examples such as a steamed bun, a newspaper, and a lollipop, and then says that you can take eight classes at Lao Luo English Training. (4) Time anchors, such as Double 11, which offers the lowest price of the year. There is only one day a year, and if you miss it, you will have to wait for a year.

8. Why are many people superstitious about zodiac signs?

The Barnum effect refers to using a general and vague personality description to make the other person feel that they "know your heart well".

This phenomenon is quite common in life. Take fortune-telling for example, why are fortune-tellers more accurate? Firstly, what they say is basically based on the common characteristics of human nature. Secondly, they are better at observing people's words and expressions and can find their entry point from their emotions.

9. The leader is the way

Human memory is limited, and everyone has a mental drawer for memories in a certain area. They will pay more attention to the leading brands in a certain category and naturally prefer them when making purchases.

Research by authoritative organizations has found that in a system, the top brand attracts more than 40% of the attention, the second place attracts less than 20%, and the third place attracts 7% to 10%, and everyone else competes for the rest of the attention.

Therefore, it is very necessary to become a leader in the category, concentrate superior resources, and occupy or develop categories with market prospects. Become the representative of the category, and then the category feeds back to the brand, eventually forming the Matthew effect, where the strong become stronger.

10. Find matching products for "extra" items

The birdcage effect means that if you are given an empty birdcage, every time your friends see it, they will ask why there is no bird in the cage. In order to avoid your friends' tedious questions, you finally buy a bird.

That is, when people acquire an item they didn't need, they continue to add things to go with it.

For example, an empty vase will encourage consumers to buy flowers, and a bookmark will encourage consumers to buy books, etc.

11. First impressions are important

The primacy effect refers to the first impression people form of an object in the process of social cognition. This first impression will greatly influence people's subsequent judgment of the object.

People are always impressed by the first information they see, thus forming a preconceived subconscious mind. For example, when a brand is attracting new customers, consumers will form a primacy effect because of the product price and brand impression.

12. New impressions can be created

The recency effect is the sister version of the primacy effect. When multiple stimuli appear intermittently, perception depends mainly on the last impression .

This manifests itself in interpersonal communication, where our latest understanding of others takes the dominant position, overshadowing our previously formed evaluations of others.

For customers who make repeated purchases, brands need to pay attention to every detail, because any behavior may become the immediate cause of consumption leaving.

13. About Hunanese people’s spicy food

Stereotype is a social psychology concept, which mainly refers to a generalized and fixed view that people form about something. And they generalize this view, believing that this thing has this characteristic, thus ignoring individual differences .

When interacting with people or looking at things, we need to try to avoid the negative influence of stereotypes. Individuals are different, not just one thing, one phenomenon, or one result.

Rushengjia’s love letter to Fotile broke the stereotype. Range hood advertisements are no longer simply about the strong suction power itself.

14. The Power of Suggestion

Also known as the placebo effect, it is a concept proposed by Dr. Beecher, an American anesthesiologist and pharmacist. It refers to the phenomenon that although the patient receives ineffective treatment, his symptoms are relieved because he expects or believes that the treatment is effective.

The placebo effect is actually a subconscious self-suggestion . In addition to affecting the physical state itself, the subconscious mind also has a great influence on the mental state, thus affecting the development of events.

15. Reasonable, unexpected

The expectancy effect means that human behavior and emotions are not affected by the results they ultimately obtain, but by their psychological expectations .

One of the important reasons why Haidilao is successful is that its service exceeds customers' expectations. It has service similar to that of a "five-star hotel", which far exceeds customers' expectations of a restaurant. When five-star hotels have such services, consumers will simply think that it is a routine operation and not take it seriously.

16. Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder

The halo effect, also known as the halo effect, refers to an exaggerated phenomenon in interpersonal communication, just like the halo around a luminous object, forming a halo effect.

The essence of the halo effect is a tendency to generalize and to use a single point to represent the whole. It is the result of the generalization and expansion of personal subjective inference. Due to the halo effect, once a person's strengths or weaknesses are transformed into an aperture and exaggerated, other strengths or weaknesses will retreat behind the aperture.

This is what the saying "beauty is in the eyes of the beholder" means. Men and women in love see only the advantages of each other and no disadvantages. This is because one party is attracted by a certain advantage of the other party, and then influenced by the "halo effect", he or she will feel that the other party has only advantages.

When you think someone is bad, you will find that every action of his is annoying, and even that every action is declaring war on you.

17. Attitude determines the situation

The most intuitive statement of the law of unworthiness is: things that are not worth doing are not worth doing well.

This reflects people's psychology: if a person feels that something is not worth doing, he or she will often be sarcastic and perfunctory. The mentality determines the quality of the work. Because even if you succeed, there is no sense of accomplishment.

Summarize

The so-called psychology is not absolute, because it is itself a probabilistic summary .

But it can classify people's psychology and thus find the optimal solution for communication .

Author: Zang Feng

Source: Self-cultivation of strategic people (clrdzwxy)