4 Psychological Triggers that will Bump Up Conversions on Any Website
Online selling is an intricate art.
It encompasses different aspects that must mesh together like cogs in a well-oiled machine.
If you’ve been in business for a while, you’re probably already familiar with some of them — from SEO or Search Engine Optimization and email marketing.
What a lot of marketers miss, however, is the influence of on-page psychological triggers on the buying behavior of customers.
Sounds intimidating?
Don’t worry, it may sound fancy on paper, but using customer psychology to your advantage isn’t rocket science. You just need to pay attention to key elements that constitute the user experience and make sure they lead customers down a sales funnel you’ve plotted for them.
Without further ado, here are the top four psychological triggers you should leverage if you want to get more sales.
Let’s face it, even as a big-name brand, people don’t come to your website because of the design or your products per se. They’re there because of the value they’re anticipating from the experience.
Once they are provided something that they deem worthwhile, they should be more willing to return the favor and do whatever you specify in your call to action.
For this, there are a couple of strategies that may come in handy. One of which is to offer an opt-in bribe that encourages users to take action in exchange for an instant reward.
Consider, for example, this simple full-screen popup by Jeff Bullas — an internet marketing expert:
Apart from the clear value proposition and simple call to action, Jeff Bullas also utilized an opt-in offer in the form of a free eBook.
It’s definitely not a new technique, but it should still pique the interest of businesses and marketers who indeed want to learn how to “double their traffic.”
Another strategy is to develop a blog section where your leads can acquire heaps of useful information for free. Not only will this help build your brand’s authority and trustworthiness, it’ll also help improve your website’s visibility in search engines and social media through shares.
Below are a few additional tips that will help you succeed with this strategy:
According to the 2017 Local Consumer Review Survey from BrightLocal, 85% of consumers trust online recommendations as if they’re coming from someone they personally know.
This isn’t really surprising, especially considering today’s hyperconnected culture. If they have no way of testing out a product or service themselves, they’d look for reviews instead and let another consumer’s judgment be their guide.
As such, it’s an excellent marketing practice to ask for customer reviews after every successful transaction.
Yotpo, a user-generated content marketing platform, can help you with this by automating review collection and aggregating them into one widget. You may also use a free email marketing platform like MailChimp to automate a follow-up review request after purchases, handpick the best ones, and then manually upload them to your website.
Lastly, you can also have a trust-oriented approach all throughout your website’s design. This homepage design from MarketingProfs, for example, pulls it off quite nicely by mentioning how many marketing professionals use their services.
The mind is designed that way to help us evade harmful and potentially life-threatening situations.
From a marketing standpoint, a little bit of fear can be the most effective tool when it comes to compelling an audience to commit to a transaction, be it to sign up for an online course, make a purchase, and so on.
The fear of missing out, for example, is one of the strings that a lot of brands tend to pull. It’s about heightening the sense of urgency by adding the element of scarcity into the mix.
A typical approach is to provide users with special, time-limited offers — preferably at specific times when they’re most likely in a buying mode such as Black Fridays, Cyber Mondays, and so on. If your goal is to generate leads, you may also launch a webinar or any other event and then state that you only have “limited spots” to fill.
Here is an example from the Quick Sprout blog where they provide confidential consultations as their opt-in offer:
For example, the color red, which is associated with dangers and warnings, is shown to instill urgency and increase click-throughs when used in CTA buttons. It’s also often used by brands that are trying to build a bold and energetic brand, like Budweiser, Virgin Records, and Netflix.
The Logo Company’s infographic below perfectly sums up the different colors and how they affect customers on an emotional level.
When picking which color palette to use on your website, remember to utilize contrasts to highlight page elements that you want your audience to focus on. For example, if your brand’s primary colors consist of shades of blue, you can use either yellow or green to make CTA buttons pop.
That may be true, but remember that effective web design is all about designing a cohesive experience that’s memorable to your target audience. Buttons, fonts, icons — every single detail can alter the trajectory of your online success, so be sure all of them are tailored to your specific goals.
It encompasses different aspects that must mesh together like cogs in a well-oiled machine.
If you’ve been in business for a while, you’re probably already familiar with some of them — from SEO or Search Engine Optimization and email marketing.
What a lot of marketers miss, however, is the influence of on-page psychological triggers on the buying behavior of customers.
Sounds intimidating?
Don’t worry, it may sound fancy on paper, but using customer psychology to your advantage isn’t rocket science. You just need to pay attention to key elements that constitute the user experience and make sure they lead customers down a sales funnel you’ve plotted for them.
Without further ado, here are the top four psychological triggers you should leverage if you want to get more sales.
1. Use the Law of Reciprocity
The first rule in online marketing is that you need to give value before you receive value.Let’s face it, even as a big-name brand, people don’t come to your website because of the design or your products per se. They’re there because of the value they’re anticipating from the experience.
Once they are provided something that they deem worthwhile, they should be more willing to return the favor and do whatever you specify in your call to action.
For this, there are a couple of strategies that may come in handy. One of which is to offer an opt-in bribe that encourages users to take action in exchange for an instant reward.
Consider, for example, this simple full-screen popup by Jeff Bullas — an internet marketing expert:
It’s definitely not a new technique, but it should still pique the interest of businesses and marketers who indeed want to learn how to “double their traffic.”
Another strategy is to develop a blog section where your leads can acquire heaps of useful information for free. Not only will this help build your brand’s authority and trustworthiness, it’ll also help improve your website’s visibility in search engines and social media through shares.
Below are a few additional tips that will help you succeed with this strategy:
- Whether you like it or not, the online audience can get very easily distracted and bored. Try to limit the number of on-page elements to highlight those that matter.
- To make sure your audience sees your value propositions as soon as possible, don’t forget to optimize your website’s loading speed. Some of the solutions include upgrading your hosting solution and using a CDN to speed up the transfer of web content internationally with the help of proxy servers.
- Split-test multiple CTAs to determine the best version as soon as possible. Tools like Optimizely and Convert.com can help you test not only CTAs but other page elements as well.
2. Show the Wisdom of the Crowd
Speaking of building your brand’s trustworthiness, there’s nothing else users trust more than the recommendations of their peers.According to the 2017 Local Consumer Review Survey from BrightLocal, 85% of consumers trust online recommendations as if they’re coming from someone they personally know.
This isn’t really surprising, especially considering today’s hyperconnected culture. If they have no way of testing out a product or service themselves, they’d look for reviews instead and let another consumer’s judgment be their guide.
As such, it’s an excellent marketing practice to ask for customer reviews after every successful transaction.
Yotpo, a user-generated content marketing platform, can help you with this by automating review collection and aggregating them into one widget. You may also use a free email marketing platform like MailChimp to automate a follow-up review request after purchases, handpick the best ones, and then manually upload them to your website.
3. Invoke the Sense of Urgency
Out of all the human emotions, it’s fear that incites the most action.The mind is designed that way to help us evade harmful and potentially life-threatening situations.
From a marketing standpoint, a little bit of fear can be the most effective tool when it comes to compelling an audience to commit to a transaction, be it to sign up for an online course, make a purchase, and so on.
The fear of missing out, for example, is one of the strings that a lot of brands tend to pull. It’s about heightening the sense of urgency by adding the element of scarcity into the mix.
A typical approach is to provide users with special, time-limited offers — preferably at specific times when they’re most likely in a buying mode such as Black Fridays, Cyber Mondays, and so on. If your goal is to generate leads, you may also launch a webinar or any other event and then state that you only have “limited spots” to fill.
Here is an example from the Quick Sprout blog where they provide confidential consultations as their opt-in offer:
4. Color Psychology
Final, you can never ignore the impact of colors when trying to leverage customer psychology to close more sales.For example, the color red, which is associated with dangers and warnings, is shown to instill urgency and increase click-throughs when used in CTA buttons. It’s also often used by brands that are trying to build a bold and energetic brand, like Budweiser, Virgin Records, and Netflix.
The Logo Company’s infographic below perfectly sums up the different colors and how they affect customers on an emotional level.
Final Words
On websites, some psychological triggers may seem insignificant, especially when compared with other elements like headers and featured images.That may be true, but remember that effective web design is all about designing a cohesive experience that’s memorable to your target audience. Buttons, fonts, icons — every single detail can alter the trajectory of your online success, so be sure all of them are tailored to your specific goals.
Guest contribution by: Jimmy Rodela
Published Under:
Guest Contributions
