Getting people to subscribe to your services or buy your products isn't just a question of providing excellent value. It's also about convincing them they're making the right decision, and to do that you'll need to use a bit of psychology.
Think about it this way – in many cases, people won't commit to making a purchase unless they know it's going to help them. Applying a few simple psychological tricks to make your products seem more attractive can help you turn those 'maybes' into customers, and increase your bottom line accordingly.
In this article, we're going to talk about three ways you can use psychology to increase conversions on your site, and why these methods work. Then we'll teach you how to implement them to improve your bottom line. Let's get started!
1. Use Social Proof
When someone you know or trust tells you about a good deal or exceptional service, that's an excellent example of social proof. In some cases, it doesn't even have to be someone close to you, as long as their feedback is believable.
Take reviews, for example. A lot of people who shop online rely on this type of social proof to ensure they're making a worthwhile purchase. That brings us to the key benefits of using social proof:
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It builds trust. Social proof helps you build trust with your user base, which may in turn make them more prone to converting.
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It provokes feedback. Feedback is critical to the continuous development of any product or service, and some types of social proof enable you to gather more of it.
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It re-engages past customers. Asking for feedback, reviews, or testimonials provides you with a perfect opportunity to reach out to past clients.
Now that we know how useful social proof can be, it's time to talk about how to implement it on your site. Let's go over a few tricks that will help you use social proof to maximize your conversions:
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If you have a new deal going on, reach out to past customers to ask for feedback and use the opportunity to inform them about your offer.
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Include photos of the users who leave testimonials to help increase perceived reliability.
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Place your social proof near your Calls to Action (CTAs) to make it more likely that visitors will convert into buyers.
Before moving on, let's elaborate on that first trick we mentioned. Requesting feedback from past clients puts you in the position of asking for a favor, which has been proven to help make people more open to doing business with you in the future. To put it simply, when you show trust by asking for something, people are more inclined to be reciprocal. In this case, it's a simple trick that might help you convert a user or two.
2. Create a Sense of Urgency
Creating a sense of urgency is one of the oldest tricks in the marketing playbook. The secret here is to make sure clients know they could lose out on an opportunity or a reduced price if they don't act fast.
This is also the reason why so many stores hold regular sales. To explain how urgency works, we're going to break down what makes it so useful:
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It encourages snap decisions. A time-limited deal forces people to make quick decisions. Someone who purchases your services during a promotion could have been planning to do so for a while, and you just gave them the perfect excuse to pull the trigger.
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It makes your products seem more attractive. Implying that something is limited – be it a service or a product – often helps make it look more appealing.
At this point, we know that creating a sense of urgency is effective. The question is, how do you go about implementing it on your site to increase conversions? Let's go over a couple of tricks that can help you:
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Run promotions often, but only for a limited time. If your visitors know they only have so many days or hours to make a decision, it'll push them to get there faster.
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Adjust the language you use on your site and in your CTAs to suggest urgency.
Keep in mind that your promotions are only as effective as the number of people who are aware of them. That means you'll need to reach out to your user base if you want to see real results, and that's where the likes of social media and email marketing come in.
3. Make Yourself Look More Authoritative
People are more likely to listen to you if they consider you to be an expert on the matter. It's a simple concept, but it can help you increase your conversions if you play your cards right.
First off, let's talk about why people are more willing to buy from you if they think you're an authority. It all comes down to two elements:
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Trust. If people believe that you're an authority in your field, they're more likely to trust your advice, and that extends to products and services too.
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Willingness to share your content. In a lot of cases, people are more likely to share your content if they trust you. By sharing it, they're essentially passing on a recommendation to their friends, who may then go on to convert.
Even if you're not an expert in your field, there are ways for you to make yourself look more credible and reap the attendant benefits. Here are a few tricks that can help you get there:
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Establish an optimal content publishing schedule, so people become accustomed to seeing new content from you at regular intervals.
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Make sure that your content helps solve user problems or answer questions. That way, you'll come to be seen as reliable.
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Engage with your visitors as often as possible to make you seem more approachable (and trustworthy!).
Remember, even if you're not an expert yet, nothing is stopping you from becoming one. In fact, running an authority website in your field can help you get there faster by giving you the opportunity to engage with an interested audience. Plus, it will force you to stay on top of the latest developments in your niche, which will only help you develop your skills.
Conclusion
If your website sells a product or a service, you're sure to have visitors you haven't been able to turn into customers yet. Using psychology to get through to them is an effective way to increase conversions without having to overhaul your site or spend a lot of money. Plus, you can also apply the information in this article to other marketing channels, such as email and social media.
To recap, here are three basic psychological tricks you can employ to increase conversions on your site:
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Use social proof.
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Instill a sense of urgency in your visitors.
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Make yourself look more authoritative.
Image credit: Pixabay.
