I’ve been fascinated with psychology for as long as I can remember – my Mum studied child psychology, and I’m sure she used some of the techniques she learned on myself and my brother.

I consider myself an empathetic person, conscious of how other people are feeling, and the impact of my actions and words on their emotions.

Long before I even considered stepping into the wonderful world of marketing, as a sales administrator at a few different companies, I would carefully word each email I sent to customers, and think about their journey to be on my radar.

Ultimately, this sort of empathy is the bedrock of marketing.

All marketers need to be empathetic, understanding their audience’s problems and how their product can help solve those problems.

However, there are some ways to ‘hack’ this empathy with psychological ‘tricks’ to get inside the minds of your consumers.

Ultimately, the best results will come from real empathy, but I’ve discovered a few handy ways to use psychology to understand customer intentions and desires better.

These tips are particularly useful when you’re new to a company or audience, since actual knowledge of your audience comes with time and experience.

Let’s dive inside the mind of the customer...

Leverage existing customers to expand your audience

Your customers will likely have friends similar to themselves.

Those people are, by extension, more likely to be your audience.

You should use your existing customers to bring in new customers – prove to them that your product is good enough for them to share on social media, tell their friends, and even refer them directly to you.

Treat your existing customers well, and they’ll do the hard work for you, bringing in new leads, even creating content for you to re-post on social media – user-generated content (UGC).

It’s so common these days to have amazing deals or flashy marketing to bring in new customers, but never forget how valuable your current customers are. 

Customer retention is imperative.

For more on customer retention, check out my guide, Keeping Customers Loyal.

Give and get

If you’re asking your customers for something – some feedback, a testimonial or review, or even a post on social media – you need to give them more.

Offer a discount on their next order if they write a review, send them a free gift if they post a photo on Instagram – give them a reason.

Not only will they act as brand ambassadors for you, but you’ll also increase the chances of them ordering with you again.

Prepare your audience

If you’re asking your customers to do something that will take more effort from them, like take part in a focus group session or to try out a new product as part of a market test, then it can help to give them warning before you ask.

Give them time to ‘think about it’.

They won’t think about it – it’s hardly as pressing a matter for them as it is for you.

But they will be more likely to take on the task when asked later.

So call them before you invite them, to say that they’ll likely be requested to take part in a market test and that you’ll give them a week or so to think it over, then when you actually call to invite them, chances are, they’ll do it.

Keep it simple

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again – simplify to amplify.

Don’t use words over three syllables, avoid fraction- or percentage-based statistics, and try not to use business terminology.

These can alienate your customers.

In general, it’s best to speak to your customer with the same language as a ‘normal’ 12-year-old would use.

You don’t need to prove the ‘exclusivity’ or ‘elite-ness’ of your brand by using superfluous language – show it in your service and your product, and how you treat your customers.

Just keep your language simple.

Use free trials to increase uptake

Free trials are excellent converters.

Customers are far less likely to cancel after a free trial rather than just to purchase the offering straight-out. 

If your product is good enough, and your customer fits in with your criteria of an audience, they won’t want to lose access to it.

If your product is service-based, or you encourage repeat purchases, then free trials can help entice new customers to become loyal customers.

Harness influencer culture

People are far more likely to buy something if someone they admire owns it, and praises it. 

I’m a prime example – if you were to browse my makeup bag, you’d see a collection of Emma Watson’s favourite products – I admire her, and she praises the products.

Influencers don’t necessarily mean social media influencers (although you shouldn’t write them off, they can also have an impact), they can be anyone with a reasonable following, on social media or in general, whose audience reflects your own.

A word of caution when working with influencers: they must reflect your brand values, because their actions could have dire consequences for your brand – anything they do will be associated with your brand.

Suppose you’ve not worked with influencers before. 

In that case, I’d advise starting small, with someone with a niche following that’s similar to your audience – but don’t just send them free products in exchange for publicity, you should pay for their time, just like anyone else with whom you’d work.

Arrange to have a chat with the influencers  (where possible) to determine that they are the right fit for your brand, and work with them collaboratively – your audience will sniff out deceitful collaborations in a heartbeat.

Tap into their subconscious

Not all adverts have to be big, flashy, attention-grabbing videos that stop customers in their tracks.

While it’s harder to attribute sales and lead gen to this tactic, more subtle paid adverts can work wonders for brand awareness.

These sorts of adverts tap into your audience’s subconscious, so you have to be careful about the placement, imagery and language you use.

You want to be subtle in this approach: use words you want your audience to associate with you, images that reflect your brand values, and advertise in more subtle positions, like ROS (right of side), text banners, and other PPC (pay per click) adverts.

#FOMO

A little competition can help marketing. 

Not just looking at your own competition, but tapping into your audience’s competition.

For example, if you’re in the hospitality sector, and run a hotel or B&B, you can use the same tactic as Booking.com, where they highlight when other guests have booked, and that rooms are running out: “Yasmin S from Hull booked a room 5 minutes ago”.

This ‘fear of missing out’ (FOMO) can help persuade your customers to buy products then and there – it usually doesn’t work to convince customers to buy when they wouldn’t do beforehand, but rather for them to buy now what they would buy later.

Price with value in mind

Pricing is something that should involve marketing, not just finance and operations.

There was a study conducted by Professor Dan Ariely at MIT Professor Dan Ariely where he asked his students to choose a subscription-based on three options:

Web subscription: $59 (16 students chose this subscription)
Print subscription: $125 (no students chose this subscription)
Web and print subscription: $125 (84 students chose this subscription)
Total revenue: $11,444

He then tested the same pricing but without the extra print subscription, and decidedly fewer students took up the $125 option, because its value to them was perceived as less than with the print subscription to compare it to:

Web subscription: $59 (68 students)
Web and print subscription: $125 (32 students)
Total revenue: $8,012

It’s important to consider not just the price of your product as it stands alone, but also its price when considered with other products, particularly when merchandised on your website.

Go the extra mile

I love it when brands I buy from go the extra mile even if the extra mile is their standard practise; the way you present it to your customers is everything.

For example, I recently bought a new foundation from Il Makiage, after seeing their advert on Facebook (proof that Facebook ads still work!), where they were boasting that they could colour match people with an online quiz. 

Being exceptionally pale, I’ve always found it hard to find the right shade for me, so I decided to take them up on this challenge (plus, the gamification aspect appealed to me – more on that later).

When I received my suggested foundation from them, I was a little disappointed – it was too yellow and dark for my pale complexion, so I contacted them (politely, because I’m not a Karen) to ask what was the best step for me if the shade wasn’t quite right.

I had a speedy reply to my message, asking me to send a photo of myself in natural lighting with no makeup, and they offered me a new shade for free.

They also said I could keep the wrong shade, and give it to a friend, and offered me a £15 voucher off my next purchase for the inconvenience.

My new shade is perfect, and naturally, I’ll buy from them again.

I was honestly expecting to pay for a new shade, and not to get it for free and a discount on my next order.

Reward loyal customers

I love loyalty schemes.

I find the most effective type of loyalty schemes are those that give customers something to aspire to.

A straight-up 5% discount from every order with a special card is fine, but it’s not as effective as a stamp card or VIP programme.

If your business needs repeat customers, you should have a loyalty scheme.

Most markets are flush with competitors, and similar products, so setting yourself apart from the rest can be tough, but instilling that loyalty from your customers from the strat is the way to solidify your customer base.

It can be an investment, particularly if you’re incorporating a stamp system on your website (i.e. one stamp per £10 spent, when you get ten stamps, you get a free gift etc.), as it requires some programming, but it can be worth the investment.

Reward new customers

Offering new customers a fantastic deal is an essential marketing technique.

You bait the hook, wait for customers to come, they sniff out the tasty treat, then you’ve got them, hook, line, and sinker.

A great way of encouraging people to book in the first place is using a pop-up on your website, with XX% off your first order.

You need to make sure that, while you’re rewarding new customers, you’re also treating your loyal customers just as well. 

There’s not much more annoying that companies that invest all their time into lead generation, but treat their existing customers like garbage.

For every offer to your new customers, you should have another offer for your existing customers.

Use images with people

Using images of people gets more engagement from people, and taps into their emotional subconscious.

Think about it – if you have a product lifestyle shot of a backpack artistically positioned in a beautiful woodland, and another shot of a happy person hiking through that same woodland while wearing the backpack, which do you think would get more engagement and reach your audience in a more emotional way?

Naturally, the photo with the person.

Give it a try, see how including people in your photography has an impact – it’s best to test this on social media, where you can quantify the engagement with the images.

Let’s get visual

Visuals have more of an impact than text. 

As a copywriter, this hurts me more than you will know, but it’s true. 

Sure, words are important (obviously), but visuals like infographics, videos and photographs can tell a story differently.

The aim is to put your message across to your audience as coherently as possible – that means making sure it’s easily accessible and interpreted by as many people as possible.

Visuals are usually the first thing that your audience will see, before the text.

The images you use need to represent your brand and the message you’re telling your audience.

If you can present hard-to-read information in an infographic, it’s worth investing in the design needed to make that happen.

If you have a product that people interact with, use photography to demonstrate how to use it.

If you have a lot of information to cover on a topic, try presenting it in video format as well as text – something we’re keen to try out at NSC, and regularly use in our 9-5 roles.

I recommend investing in photographers, designers, and videographers for these sorts of assets, as you’ll have a better standard of quality, but you can create these yourself if your budget is low, using platforms like Canva, and using your smartphone for photographs and videos.

Make them sing

Earworms are pretty impactful.

They sound gross, but an earworm is just a catchy tune or song that people can’t stop singing. 

It’s something that’s even more prevalent now, with the rise of TikTok (at least, until it’s banned…) – I spend more time than I’d like to admit scrolling through TikTok.

I can guarantee that I’m annoying Dean by randomly yelling out “who in the hell put the muffins in the fridge?” and singing “don’t be suspicious” at least five times a day.

If you have the budget, and your product would suit a mass-market advertisement, try out advertising on TV or radio with a catchy jingle.

Even if it’s a tad annoying, if you get it in your customer’s heads, you’ll get repeat advertising every time they sing it.

If you don’t have the budget, give TikTok a try, and experiment with trending songs, or start your own trend with a catchy tune about your business or product.

For the Brits: who else still hums the “0-800-00-1066” retro jingle by Hastings Direct? 

It can’t just be me.

Clear calls-to-action

You might think that customers don’t like to be told what to do.

Actually, it’s the opposite.

The clearer your messaging, and the clearer you tell your customers what next steps to take, the more likely they’ll take those next steps.

Your audience shouldn’t have to ponder about their next steps – make it easier for them, tell them in no uncertain terms what you want them to do, and why.

Try not to use language that skirts around what you’re trying to say, particularly in your calls-to-action.

For example, instead of “Why not try a sample of our new tea flavour?”, try “Sample our new flavour now”.

It’s much clearer, and it takes the uncertainty out of it for the customer.

Repeat your brand values

Your brand values are the words you use to describe your business, the things you stand by.

Keep using the same words to describe your business in as much of your messaging as possible, without compromising the readability and grammar of your writing.

With each time you use those specific words, you’re solidifying those brand values. 

Your brand values should be simple, clear words that are reasonably common in your language, so whenever your audience uses them, they subconsciously think of your brand.

Gamify your lead gen

I’ve mentioned gamification before – I love it.

According to Dictionary.com, gamification is “the process of turning an activity or task into a game or something resembling a game”.

You can use gamification in several ways, but it’s particularly useful for lead generation. 

People love doing quizzes, just look at how popular Buzzfeed is – I won’t deny that I’ve filled out quizzes on Buzzfeed to find out which Pokémon I am, what colour I should dye my hair, and where I should travel next. 

However, if you’re doing a quiz or game for lead gen purposes, you have to offer something to your customers that’s relevant to your brand or product. 

There’s no point in creating a fun quiz that has nothing to do with your product, only to bring in new leads that have a significantly lower chance of becoming a customer.

As I’ve mentioned before, Il Makiage did this very well, with their built-in quiz to find out my ‘perfect shade’ of foundation – it caught my intrigue, and when I took part, they suggested which shade I should purchase.

The Il Makiage quiz was useful for both lead gen and converting me to a customer – stellar marketing.

Another example of gamification that I’ve appreciated is Yeo Valley’s Dairy-Go-Round (excellent name, I love a good pun), which is used for lead gen as an instant-win prize draw – simply spin the wheel to see what you win.

Getting customers to interact with your brand and feel that they are getting something extra and different from you is a brilliant marketing strategy, and, quite simply, it works.

Limited editions

This technique is particularly useful if you have a certain amount of time to hit targets and need a boost.

I’d advise against using it all the time, as it won’t look genuine to customers, however.

You can use this approach in several ways: countdown timers, limited numbers of tickets/products, limited time offers, and limited edition products.

They help create that sense of urgency to persuade customers to click that ‘buy’ button and make the purchase then and there.

I’ve found it useful for events, where you, as a marketer, have a set deadline to reach your target – early-bird offers and countdown timers can be very effective.

It taps into the same sort of mindset in customers as the FOMO technique from earlier – people don’t want to miss a bargain, as long as it’s genuine.

Get emotional

Don’t be afraid to use emotional words over technical terms.

It can be tempting to focus on the features of your product, but you need to appeal to your audience’s emotions by focusing primarily on the benefits of using your product.

The best method for this is using the ‘So what’ technique, where you start with a feature and keep asking ‘so what’ until you reach your ultimate benefit to your audience.

It’s also important to note that you might have features with different benefits to different segments within your audience.

For example:

Water bottle with flip-up straw
(FEATURE)

↓

So what?

↓

Flip-up straw prevents leakage without compromising on convenience when on-the-go
(ADVANTAGE)

↓

So what?

↓

Less worried about leaking – more security
(BENEFIT)

↓

So what?

↓

Less anxiety and more confidence
(ULTIMATE BENEFIT)

Make them laugh

This is something that I wish more brands would do.

Humour is the great equaliser – we all laugh, and humour connects us.

It’s the ultimate goal of the marketer: to connect with their audience.

Some brands are brilliant at using humour in their marketing, like Old Spice.

Their tongue-in-cheek approach to marketing makes them stand out in a sea of other fragrances – I don’t even like Old Spice’s scents, but I sure love their adverts.

Even B2B brands should use humour occasionally – it showcases the human element of your business.

You don’t want to look as though you’re run by robots, you’re run by people, and you’re appealing to people.

As long as your humour isn’t offensive (unless that’s part of your brand), try it out.

It all comes from knowing your audience, knowing what makes them tick, what makes them laugh, and using that to show them how well you know them.

Those are my 21 top tips on how to use psychology in your marketing to get to your audience.

Try them out, and see which ones work well for your brand – I’d love to hear what you think.

If you have any other top psychology tips that you’ve found useful, let me know!