Partner Article

How to drive sales by understanding human nature

The art of selling a product is half psychology. The more you understand how a customer thinks, and how human nature affects customer response, the more you can draw them in. Sales can, to a large extent, be driven by a solid understanding of how people respond to different phenomenon including: color, human facial features, words, and emotional triggers.

The Use of Color in Marketing

It is generally well known that colors trigger emotional responses in people. Using the right colors on a webpage or ad design will draw people in, while using the wrong colors can send customers running. Red is the color of lust, passion, anger, and sales. It is the color that garners the greatest emotional response, and when used well, and in limited amounts, it boosts sales more than any other color. Orange is the world’s least favorite color, and should be used only sparingly, if at all. Purple is associated with royalty and religion, and is best avoided altogether in sales, unless it is related to a specific fundraising cause.

Yellows are the first color seen by the retina and are perfect for getting a customer’s attention, but when used in overabundance can make the eye uncomfortable and drive people away. Blue, green, brown, neutral, and pastel colors generate a limited emotional or physical response and can be used relatively freely.

The Power of Words

Words are what ads are built around. They can be used to create a sense of urgency, establish a need, hook interest, and more. There are certain words and phrases that can be counted on to create a buying frenzy, and improve sales. People love to believe they are getting things at a cut rate. They want things “free,” but they also love “gift opportunities,” “sales” and “low prices.” Strong adjectives are also great for boosting sales. Words like “amazing,” “absolute,” “miracle,” and “fantastic” help a product move before less praised competitors. Finally, use words that reassure the customer like “cash back guarantee,” “warranty,” and “recommended.”

Relying on Emotion

Perhaps the images that sell more products than any other are those of smiling, pretty people using the product or service that you offer. This is because people want to be happy, and beautiful. You are preying on their emotions. When trying to reach a new market, however, simply presenting the idea that you can make them happy may not be enough. According to Entrepreneur magazine, there are 10 other emotions that are also effective at driving sales. Making someone feel guilt, fear, trust, valued, like they belong, like they can compete, instantly gratified, like a leader in their field, like a trend-setter in their peer group, or like a product can save them time, will also increase sales. Create marketing that targets a single emotion for the most effective results.

When designing a marketing plan, keep in mind that marketing is, to a large extent, a study of human psychology. Human nature is multifaceted, and marketing must be also. Design your next ad campaign with this in mind: think about what emotion it will draw on, what it will look like, and what words can be used to generate the desired response.

Guest post contributed by Matthew Rayfield on behalf of Invenio Marketing. Matthew is a freelance writer and marketing consultant. He enjoys researching the ever changing field and he mainly writes for marketing blogs.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by steve hannigan .