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Every day, our brain needs to make a series of decisions that are already predetermined and guided by rules based on behaviors. These decisions, which are unconscious, help people perform tasks automatically.
Thus, our minds make decisions based on a social and emotional context, and not on rationality. Reason comes later in an attempt to justify the action. Consequently, this is called a mental trigger, and when activated, it can awaken a good or bad feeling. Therefore, it is essential to use this technique in a detailed and goal-focused way responsibly. Thus, learn below the main mental triggers most used in the digital universe and see how to apply them to your business to achieve positive results in your sales strategies.
Now learn the main mental triggers to use in your e-commerce
1. Authority trigger
The mental trigger of authority is a powerful ally for any business, so that consumers perceive the brand as an authoritative company in the market niche where it is inserted.
This trigger makes companies have more credibility in what they say or do, making people much more susceptible to listening to and following those who possess this authority. But to become a reference in something, it requires a lot of work and dedication to be seen in such a way.
To understand better, let's assume the following situation: a new product is launched on the market, and since it does not yet have market knowledge, most consumers will prefer to buy this product if it is recommended by influencers or experts in the subject, rather than buying from a company or person that has no recognition or authority in the market.
However, it is not enough to be seen merely as an authority, but rather to earn it little by little in order to gain the public's trust and become a reference. And for this to happen, it takes a lot of work and dedication to achieve such an objective for a company or people, but it is fundamental and generates an excellent competitive advantage in the market.
Investing in promotional actions helps a brand build a positive position in the business world, educating its consumers in the best way, helping with solutions based on their pain points.
2. Scarcity trigger
This is certainly one of the most used triggers in marketing strategies, even before the internet was what it is today. The scarcity trigger goes directly into people's unconsciousness, conveying the message that everything is rare and valuable. For example, let's say an art gallery sells a certain painting and only has 3 units of this work, it is a rare painting, and people who have an interest knowing this, this work can reach millions.
And in your e-commerce it is no different. Show your customers that you have limited products, thus you will activate this reaction in your customer's subconscious, making them think that if they do not buy, they run the risk of losing the offer. And for our mind, this is not good, because it causes a feeling of loss and regret.
See how you can apply this trigger in your e-commerce:
- Free shipping for the first 30 orders
- Last units in stock
- Only 5 in stock. Get it!
An important observation is when using this trigger, use it in a real way so that your customer does not lose trust in your store.
3. Urgency mental trigger
Although we have already spoken a little about this type of trigger initially, let's better understand how it works and how it can be applied in your e-commerce.
It basically works like the scarcity trigger. Both are used
at the same time, the only difference is that the urgency one is related to time.
The mental trigger of urgency has the main idea of showing people that they need to make the purchase decision before the offer expires, because later it may be too late.
A good example is the promotions of a website that informs a certain deadline to end and is subject to the amount of stock, leading the interested person to buy immediately.
Check out some arguments for you to use in your online store:
- Last units, get it!
- You have until today at 00h to get it!
- Last day to buy with a discount!
However, it is important for you to know that this trigger is to be applied only with real promotions. The ideal is to use it in strategic campaigns for a short period and not all the time. It is no use talking about urgency if you offer the same offer tomorrow. If this happens, your customers may become suspicious and end up harming your business, so be very careful.
Check out some tips below to apply in your e-commerce:
- Use tools to your advantage that show your customers' satisfaction rate such as the Reclame Aqui website and Google My Business
- Use after-sales to encourage people to review your product or service and at the end repost on their social networks.
4. Social proof
As the name itself says, this trigger uses the opinion of the customers themselves to attest to the quality of a product.
This is a mental trigger that, many times, is more powerful than the authority argument we talked about earlier, since it is common to consider the opinion of other consumers more than a person who was paid to give their impressions.
One of the most practical ways to apply the social proof trigger in online sales is through the activation of the comments area on the product pages of your online store or even highlighting the comments and thanks regarding the quality of your products and the service provided on your social networks.
See below how to use this trigger in your e-commerce
- Use customer feedback
- Present real data about your customers' satisfaction rate (Google My Business and the Reclame Aqui website are excellent tools for this).
- Share all reviews on your social networks because it is an excellent way to gain people's trust.
5. Reciprocity
The mental trigger of reciprocity aims to attribute a return of what people receive, this emotional trigger as well as known, establishes more lasting relationships with consumers. By offering advantages that make sense for your target audience, see below how you can do this in your online store.
- Offer discount coupons on special dates
- Tasting of some product or service to learn more about the product over a short period of time
- Make free samples available
Conclusion
Mental triggers are powerful tools that help any type of business, through marketing and sales techniques to achieve their goals. We also follow the 5 main triggers most used today by big brands and how to apply them in your online store to further improve your results.
Given this, the use of triggers, work helping to generate an emotional connection with potential customers, awakening the interest and need of consumers to acquire a certain solution/desire during a period of time. However, it is important that you use them in a subtle and responsible way so that your customers make unconscious decisions in a subtle and assertive way.
Here at Check Commerce, we work with effective marketing strategies for each type of business, contact our sales team and discover how to boost the results of your online store with an agile and intelligent solution, 100% focused on your goal.
