A hundred years ago, products were marketed based on their functionality, effectiveness, and production. Business owners weren’t concerned about launching a loyalty program or standing out among thousands of daily advertisements. However, our world has shifted from using economic models to explain consumer choice to using psychological theories.

Have you ever wondered why most fast-food companies have red branding? It’s because the colour red provokes hunger. This is a small way marketing psychology is used to draw in consumers. There are various strategies that marketers today can use to present information in a subconsciously appealing way. What is marketing psychology, and how does it work?

What is Marketing Psychology?

Brands can use marketing psychology theories and first-party data to shape consumer journeys in every stage of the path to purchase, from awareness and acquisition to loyalty and advocacy. Marketing psychology helps them to understand user motivations, influence consumer behavior, and effectively segment and target their audiences. Data helps marketers look at individual consumers, while psychology helps them understand consumers as a whole.

In marketing psychology, brands apply psychological theories about human behaviour to their marketing strategies to help drive desired outcomes like increased brand awareness, user engagement, and customer loyalty. Various tactics can be used throughout the marketing funnel to attract consumers by appealing to their preferences and behaviours. Brands use marketing psychology in simple ways, such as the font or colors they choose to use in their branding. However, there are also complex ways marketers incorporate marketing psychology by appealing to consumers’ emotions to influence their decisions.

Feel-good marketing

Consumers desire relational experiences with the brands they interact with. McKinsey recently reported that 71% of consumers expect personalized experiences while shopping, showing that shoppers desire a more profound, personal connection with the brands they purchase from. When looking at how the generations interact with brands, Millennials, Gen Z, and the upcoming Gen Alpha generally desire the brands they support to align with their personal values. Feel-good marketing is a prevalent psychological technique that appeals to the human desire to “do good”. For example, telecommunications company AT&T donated $400,000 to support communities impacted by Hurricane Ian. They also allowed other carriers’ customers to roam on their networks, as their network may have been made available due to the hurricane. Acts of charity such as this invite consumers to a greater purpose, which allows them to feel that supporting a particular brand helps make an impact in the world.

Awareness

In the awareness stage, brands are focused on consumer outreach. They want to position themselves in front of their target audience, understand their interests and expectations, and stay top of mind to acquire new leads.

Information gap theory

The information gap theory relies on human curiosity. This theory suggests that when people have gaps in their knowledge about a topic that interests them, they’ll seek ways to learn more. This applies to consumers looking for a product or service to help them fulfill a need. Marketers can use this theory to draw attention to their product and bring awareness to needs consumers aren’t actively aware of.

The information gap theory can be leveraged using phrases like “learn more” and “find out how” to attract and educate consumers. A great way to incorporate this theory is by creating targeted social media campaigns that demonstrate the benefits and functionality of your products. Alternatively, your brand can write articles that mention your products or services with titles that include words like “how-to”, “tricks”, and “hacks”. These tactics help boost social and website traffic, bringing greater overall awareness to consumers looking for brands that can fulfill their needs.

Nike, for example, has a blog on their website called the Nike Journal that posts articles about various topics including running, coaching, training, and sports history. The article above gives tips on how athletes can become faster runners. The headline “Unlock a New Personal Record” uses information gap theory and captivates readers to want to learn how to beat their fastest running time.

Mere exposure effect

Have you ever disliked a new fashion trend but slowly warmed up to it over time? This is a phenomenon known as the mere exposure effect. Also known as the familiarity principle, this occurs when an individual’s attitude towards something is shifted because of repeated exposure, regardless of other factors.

The mere exposure effect is all about the long game. While marketers generally focus on conversions over impressions, increased awareness reinforces familiarity and can even build trust over time, leading to desired engagement like clicks, shares, and purchases. Brands typically take advantage of this by creating paid campaigns and retargeted ads for search engines, websites, and social networks.

Marketers can capitalize on mere exposure effect tactics by providing limited-time deals to incentivize consumer engagement once new audiences are aware and educated about their product or service. This helps to create a mini-sales funnel from awareness to acquisition. For example, Spotify’s Twitter ads offer potential users an exclusive Spotify Premium discount.

Acquisition

In the acquisition stage, brands focus on taking consumers from being aware of their brand to being involved with it. They want to encourage audiences to make a purchase, incentivize them to engage with their brand, and turn potential leads into new customers. This can look like inviting consumers to sign up for an email newsletter or offering 10% off their first purchase.

Reciprocity principle

Have you ever been in a pay-it-forward drive-thru situation? When someone pays for the order behind them, the next person is compelled to do the same thing. Why? This is the reciprocity principle in action. The reciprocity principle refers to the human desire to return the favor. This desire helps us to build connections with others. In marketing, we can assume that consumers are more likely to engage with brands that give them the incentive to do so.

Brands can form reciprocal company-consumer relationships in many different ways. For example, they can ask consumers to subscribe to their email newsletter to receive exclusive discount codes and news about upcoming sales. They might encourage followers to share their social media posts to enter a sweepstakes contest or product giveaway.

Marketers can also leverage the reciprocity principle by offering a free gift for a desired action, such as a blog comment, newsletter subscription, or product purchase. Gift with purchase programs are a popular way for brands to boost sales of specific products and acquire new customers simultaneously. For example, Lysol’s gift with purchase promotion asked consumers to purchase Lysol sanitizer products from Walmart, Target, or Kroger to receive a $5 digital gift card to the retailer they purchased from.

Commitment bias

A little effort can go a long way after consumers make their first purchase. Commitment bias states that people easily repeat past behaviours and decisions because they have invested significant time and/or resources. This is a great opportunity for brands to build relationships with consumers who are taking actions of engagement.

One of the best ways to leverage the commitment bias during the acquisition stage is through progressive profiling. Rather than immediately asking consumers to make a purchase, brands slowly build a relationship with potential customers by requesting small amounts of data at a time. For example, brands may only ask people for their name and email address to join their mailing list, then send a short survey with a discount incentive to capture their content preferences. The more information consumers provide, the more likely they are to fully commit to a brand, as they’ve started actively building a relationship with them. This first-party data collection can be used to nurture relationships further and build loyalty.

When practicing progressive profiling, brands should showcase their customization capabilities so potential customers can see how their individual needs will be met, increasing the likelihood of acquisition. For example, Function of Beauty creates made-to-order haircare and skincare products that can be customized to suit the unique desires of the customer. They start by asking website visitors to fill out a short survey about their hair type, hair structure, scalp, hair color, hair goals, fragrance preference, and so on. The consumer’s hair regimen results are then sent to their email. By this point, they may be more likely to purchase their customized hair product than if they were pushed to buy something generic immediately.

Purchase

In the purchase stage, brands focus on initial and repeat sales. They want to drive product purchasing, stand out from their competitors, and increase their return on investment and customer lifetime value.

Scarcity modeling

The neocortex in the human brain is associated with obsessive-compulsive behaviour and flight or fight responses. When marketers use phrases like “act now”, “limited time only”, and “last chance”, the neocortex can be triggered, leading people to impulse purchases. This is called scarcity modeling: the perception that the more difficult it is to obtain a product or an offer, the more valuable it becomes. In other words, when we think a product will be discontinued or is about to run out of stock, we’re more likely to purchase it so we don’t miss out.

Brands can primarily leverage scarcity modeling to drive purchases and encourage shoppers to act quickly. Around 45% of consumers are more interested in learning about or buying products in short supply. Creating this sense of urgency around products can help consumers get ready to purchase quicker than if they knew the product or deal was not limited to a specific time frame.

Tactics such as limiting the number of participants, the window of time, or the number of products or offers available can help to create a sense of scarcity. Each year following Black Friday is Cyber Monday, when brands markdown items in their online store to boost sales. Adidas, for example, capitalized on Cyber Monday by discounting all of their products by 50% sitewide and storewide. This considerable discount may lead consumers to purchase quicker than they typically would.

Anchoring effect

The anchoring effect states that people commonly make decisions based on first impressions and/or comparisons. The most common application of the anchoring effect is through product pricing. Brands choose to show a crossed-out list price beside the discounted price because they want to emphasize the deal consumers are getting. Consumers will “anchor” themselves to the list price and make purchase decisions based on that price comparison. Brands may even feature premium-priced products to make their regular-priced products seem more affordable, resulting in more sales than if all of their products were similarly priced.

A similar tactic called charm pricing can subconsciously lead consumers to believe they are getting a good deal. Charm pricing describes how consumer demand increases when product prices end in 9. Because we read left to right, our brains will read the first number and interpret the entire number as a lower price.

For example, clothing brand Lululemon utilizes both the anchoring effect and charm pricing in their “We Made Too Much” sale section. The full price of the clothing is crossed out, yet still visible, and the sale price of the product often ends in 9, as seen above.

Loyalty and Advocacy

In the loyalty and advocacy stages, brands focus on user retention and customer loyalty. They want to create content and messaging that builds a dedicated community of consumers, turns loyal customers into brand advocates, and promotes overall higher engagement.

Social proof

Social proof, also known as informational social influence, is the idea that people observe the behavior of others and take cues on how they should act. For example, if we want to visit a restaurant we’ve never been to, we might look for reviews to get food recommendations or see if they have a dress code. If we want to buy a new phone, we may ask family and friends for suggestions or look to influencers for inspiration.

Consumers are drawn to the popular or common choice when making a purchase. Younger generations like Millennials and Gen Z are more likely to trust other people than brands themselves. Research shows that 91% of people read online reviews, and 84% trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. Marketers take advantage of this by leveraging social proof through case studies, testimonials and reviews, and user-generated content. They may also include awards, certifications, and experts to increase their credibility, such as Facebook and Twitter’s blue check mark for verified accounts. Social proof tactics help drive sales, encourage consumer engagement, build user communities, and identify brand advocates.

Brands can also incorporate social proof through celebrity endorsements and influencer marketing, expanding their reach to the celebrity or influencer’s own audience. For example, Nike partnered with NFL player Colin Kaepernick to make a stance against injustice and police brutality. This partnership invited supporters of Kaepernick and other social justice warriors to see Nike as a brand aligned with their values.

Group belongingness

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theorizes that people are motivated by five basic categories of needs, one of which is “love and belonging”. People seek acceptance and emotional connections through family, friends, and social groups like classmates, colleagues, and team members. While social proof is about looking to others for guidance and inspiration, belongingness focuses more on developing reciprocal relationships and like-minded communities.

Marketers create a sense of belonging through user communities to nurture customer loyalty. The more emotionally attached consumers are to their brand, products, and services, the more loyal they become. Brands can build communities through loyalty programs, online forums, social networks, messaging platforms, and special events. This helps them foster one-to-one relationships, amplify their consumers’ voices, and get a better understanding of how to meet their expectations.

Some brands are known to have a dedicated “cult following”, characterized by their love for the brand and shared similarities such as age, interests, and personality traits. Fans of companies like Jeep, Marvel, and Air Jordan may even advocate for them without an incentive, as they genuinely believe in the brand’s values and feel like they belong to a supportive community.

Benefits and Challenges of Marketing Psychology

Benefits

The main advantage of marketing psychology is its ability to take known patterns of human behavior and apply them to the different stages of the purchase path without needing extensive research. For example, marketers might use commitment bias to turn leads into customers through progressive profiling practices, slowly asking users for more information over time. They can build trust by running user-generated content campaigns on Facebook and Instagram to act as social proof. Without established theories, brands would need to invest time and resources to develop their own.

Another significant benefit of marketing psychology's seamless integration with consumers’ zero-party and first-party data is another significant benefit. Brands can use the theories outlined to guide their marketing strategies. However, they shouldn’t be afraid to test them out and change things if they find their consumers are responding in alternative ways. For example, color theory may tell marketers to use blue for call-to-action buttons, as people associate blue with trustworthiness and authority. However, over time, a brand may see their first-party data show that their customers respond better to red, which evokes action and excitement.

Challenges

Marketing psychology comes with various challenges in regard to ethics. Brands must be aware of the fine line between creating effective marketing campaigns and exploiting consumers for data. For example, in 2015, Facebook failed to keep users’ data private, allowing the data firm Cambridge Analytica to unethically use the data of 87 million people without their consent. This was eventually exposed in 2018, and Facebook faced major fines for their role in the process. Brands should always ensure that they are transparent about their intent and usage of data, abiding by the most current privacy laws and regulations, and asking for information that will help consumers rather than take advantage of them.

Navigate your consumers' path to purchase with data-driven marketing campaigns

Marketing psychology can be utilized at every stage of the path to purchase, from awareness and acquisition to loyalty and advocacy. Understanding the principles and patterns behind consumer behavior helps brands learn how to influence consumers toward conversion. However, they should also prioritize capturing users’ first-party data to either supplement or subvert marketing psychology theories with actionable insights.

With 3 tier logic’s PLATFORM³, brands can create and launch marketing campaigns like loyalty programs, contests and giveaways, and gift with purchase promotions to leverage consumer behavior theories and collect customer data. The Data Capture & Analytics dashboard helps marketers make informed business decisions about better connecting with consumers throughout their buyer’s journey. To learn more, chat with an expert today.

8 Marketing Psychology Tactics to Help You Understand Consumers