How to Use Psychological Tactics to Increase Conversion Rates of Online Sales

Increasing or optimizing your conversion rate is a two-way activity consisting of what, and how you offer. Well, much of what you would be of two-way is unique to your product and the target audience. But, how you go about this is also crucial. Increasing conversion rates generally involves convincing a great percentage of your target audience to purchase your product or service.

How you offer your product essentially involves convincing a large number of people to believe that your product can improve their lives. In order to achieve this, you need to understand how you can make use of psychology and consumer behavior to increase conversion rates of online sales. In most cases, the best marketing tactics are deeply rooted within human psychology – some of the best marketers are those who have in-depth knowledge of the functioning of the brain. Here are the top psychological tactics that can help you increase conversion rates of online sales.

Urgency

Urgency is one of the most effective human psychology tactics as it causes individuals to suspend immediate tasks and act quickly. It is a powerful tactic that helps to push through promotions and time-sensitive deals. Companies have utilized this tactic with the use of irresistible offers and countdown timers on their websites. With the timer ticking down along with bold phrases such as “Ends soon” or “Hurry now, the final day”, major brands have been able to spur consumers to act.

Another powerful urgency tactic that can increase conversion rate and sales is scarcity. This bias is employed to make a consumer think that there are only limited products on offer – when the perception of scarcity is created in the minds of consumers, the subjective value of such product increases. Some brands have utilized this tactic by using phrases such as “five more left”. This creates a desire and feeling of urgency in the mind of consumers as they think the time left is greatly reduced.

Loss Aversion

Loss aversion refers to the psychological fear of losing out. This clever tactic creates a belief in consumers that they will be faced with a dangerous or catastrophic situation if they do not act quickly. Although the loss may not necessarily be life-altering, the user feels a sense of urgency until action is taken. If your marketing strategy makes a consumer feel as though something will be lost if they do not respond, they will more likely act promptly and purchase your service.

Create Fear

Creating the fear of missing out on something online is also referred to as “digital peer pressure.” It is an incredibly clever psychological tactic that gets people to take specific action. However, you do not need to act like some horror movie act to scare potential customers out of your prospect. Brands have pushed through this strategy by revealing information about how many people are viewing a particular service and how many have booked in the past few hours. This creates an “in demand” feeling and psychological pressure in the minds of potential customers. They will lose out if they do not act immediately.

Reciprocity

Reciprocity creates an obligation in a consumer to return favors. You could offer valuable gifts such as a coupon or ‘free e-book’, in exchange for the email address of the consumer. This psychological tactic works because it is human to feel compelled to something after receiving a valuable gift or higher value. Although this tactic may not work for everyone, it would still boost your reputation and work to increase sales in your niche.

Price Anchoring

Online subscription-based services employ the price anchoring tactics to make consumers select a particular option. Also referred to as price farming, it is a tactic which focuses on offering win-win strategies to make customers feel they are getting the best value for a service. Brands employ this strategy by creating a pricing table – this helps overcome the bias a buyer may have toward a static pricing system.

Exclusive Service

In recent years, brands now recognize the importance of leveraging the ability to relate with consumers through an effective email marketing strategy. This makes the consumer feel special and appreciated as they receive exclusive “just for you” services. Exclusivity is a great psychological tactic and it can be executed in several ways – a brand can achieve this by offering free special gifts, big discounts, or free shipping following a first purchase.

Trust

Trust is a great way to remove the barrier preventing a potential customer from making a purchase. It instills confidence and makes sales a lot easier once it has been established. Although trust could come in different ways, social proof is the most compelling of all. Examples of social proof include customer testimonials, product reviews, endorsements by influencers, and brand logos of happy customers who use your services.

However you decide to employ the psychological tactics for your service, you are guaranteed to see fruitful results in the end. Optimizing conversion rates requires patience and the willingness to try out new strategies. The good news is, once you find a working formula, the time invested will continue to reap great rewards.

Lastly, it would be ideal to look out for what businesses in your niche are doing to boost their online conversion rates. By employing the right psychological tactics, you can the benefits associated with gaining the ‘psychological upper hand’.

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