9 Devious Psychological Marketing Tactics

It’s a 50% SALE on REISS. Let’s grab it all!! This is what maximum people think when they hear such lines. You must have seen a bombardment of sales at various big brands every now and then. It’s in human nature that they get fascinated towards such offers. And trust me these sales are nothing but the psychological tricks which the businesses play on the people. And yes, they win.

Here, I will let you introduce with 9 such marketing techniques which companies use to make you buy their products.

1. The Decoy Effect- Companies sometimes just raise a third option to make you think that you are getting a better deal choosing the one among the other two. Several times you must have found that Westside offers 1 t-shirt for £10, 2 for £15 and 3 for just£17. People rush for the third option as they found it the best deal.
2. Priming- People have the tendency to view the related things with the same perspective. Hearing the word “tasty” will water your tongue with an imagination of a delicious meal you had rather than a garbage dump. Similarly, companies know that advertising with a hot cheek with an awesome physic in a Jeans ad would generate more sale than with a thin school boy.
3. Reciprocity- According to a psychologist, you probably do something in return if someone does something to you. You offer more to the ones who have done at least a bit for you. Marketing Researchers found that when a restaurant server brings the check with one mint, people will tip 3.3% higher than normal and with two mints; they’ll tip a monstrous 20% more.
4. Frequency Illusion- Have it ever been with you that you started seeing similar things again and again? If it has been then you have gone through Frequency Illusion. It is the effect where you see something once and suddenly you start seeing it everywhere. Market Planners use this as a tool to market their products. It might have happen with you too. When you have purchased a car, you might have seen the same car everywhere.
5. Anchoring- It’s a seasonal sale!! Flat 50% off on all the products..!! 60% people make up their minds to visit the shop as soon as they see this. This is what we call as anchoring. When people will make a decision that relies maximum on the first piece of information they get. And the companies take advantage of this like what I said above.
6. Social Proof- It is human behavior to follow what the others do. They go along with the herd. Companies often buy “ghost followers” to make others think they have a large following. Impressed with a huge fan follow, people start following these companies and starts talking about them. And this is how companies tract the genuine towards them.
7. Loss Aversion- Have you ever thought why companies offer free trials? Do they love to suffer a loss or is there any marketing strategy behind it? Of course, the latter one is obvious. They knew that people are more likely to act when they have something to lose, as opposed to gaining something. And results show that the maximum people continue to subscribing after the trial period is over.
8. The Illusion of Scarcity- We run after the things which are limited. Whether it is apparel or a dwelling, people opt for those which are less in number. Companies are very cunning at this point and they take the advantage of this human psychology to benefit their trade. Therefore, you might have watched various townships advertise with a statement-“Hurry up!! Only few flats left”. Today this tactic is used by many companies especially the airlines where they say, “Only a few tickets left at these prices”.
9. The power of anecdote- People gets influenced by stories. They love to read them and relate them with their livelihood. They get transported by the stories to a place where they love to live. And here comes the reason why businesses use testimonials on their websites. Because testimonials tell a story people identify with.

These were some tactics which are planned to play with the human nature. People automatically get tempted towards these marketing strategies. Just put these in your market plan and you are done. You will instinctively generate leads.