How to Use Cognitive Biases for Marketing Your Brand

Cognitive biases are present in the human mind and often drive behavior without people being aware of it. These subconscious catalysts act impromptu whenever there is a decision that needs to be made. Hence, it is essential that your marketing team is familiar with these important cognitive biases which may already be impacting your lead generation strategy. If used correctly, cognitive biases can be used to influence purchase decisions which can lead to greater ROI on marketing campaigns. Here’s an overview of the important cognitive biases and how to use them correctly for marketing your business.

Utilizing the Band Wagon Effect

The ‘Bandwagon Effect’ invokes ‘group effect’ which makes people take an action or make a decision because everyone else is doing the same. When an individual is uncertain of how to act/react in a situation, he/she will mirror the behavior of others in the group. To take advantage of the bandwagon effect to increase your sales and build a better brand persona, it is crucial that you provide your customers with social proof of how successful and how effective your product/service is in terms of solving their problem. Get testimonials and reviews to get your message across that other people are opting for your product/service.

Anchor Yourself to Showcase Accordingly

The term ‘Anchoring’ means that humans always have this innate habit of making the first of everything a benchmark for all future interactions. Now this anchor may change if the previous one is replaced by an even better experience. Similarly, in commerce, no matter what your business or industry is, your product/service will always be compared to your competitors. If a consumer had a good first experience with a particular business, he/she will stick to it till there appears an even better option. As a business, you must ensure that you are always offering the best possible solution to your customer. Utilize the anchor effect by highlighting your unique selling point (USP) early on to your prospects and existing clients before they consider what your competitors are offering. This will get them anchored to you and make them inclined towards your business for all future purchases.

In-Group Bias Results in Building Trust

For ages, humans have had the tribal instinct that has helped them survive among other species as well as their own. Zooming down on this to a minute scale, we get ‘In-Group Bias’. This cognitive bias helps individuals within a group to look out for one another as they consider themselves to be similar in habits and preferences. For customers, in-group bias is even more evident as individuals of a particular group usually end up making similar purchase decisions as it is backed by friendly recommendations. Therefore, it becomes important for businesses to know and understand their target audience. If your business is delivering to a certain demographic, make sure you deal with them in a language and tone that is easily understandable and relatable. Use words such as ‘us’, ‘we’ and ‘our’ to make your customers feel like you are a part of their group.

Fear of Losing out Invokes Desire to Buy

The cognitive bias ‘Loss Aversion’ plays an important role for consumers and businesses. No one likes to lose at anything, and no one likes to lose anything. The fear of losing invokes the instinct to capture and gather as much as possible while the chance exists. Limited discounts and one-time offers can result in a desire to purchase despite there being no particular want for it. You can have your teams market these special offers and deals on your social media channels and through the live chat for website. Let your clients know that they are missing out on something special by not purchasing your products/services.

Frame It Right to Maximize Results

‘Framing’ is an essential aspect in marketing as it gives end users a reference point to base their sentiments and preferences on. People will make decisions based on how things are projected to them. For this reason, framing becomes an important catalyst to get the brand message across in an effective manner. If your business wants to make the most of its storytelling, ensure that your marketing campaigns are crafted in such a way that they touch customer sentiments. Make use of positive connotation, tone and vocabulary. Frame your viability through case studies of satisfied clients to attract more people towards your business.