Compel Your Audience To Convert With Powerful Psychological Triggers

by John McIntyre

psychological copywritingWhat drives your customers..?

To click.

To buy.

To act.

No, not your PPC campaign or your ingenious landing page.

That’s just scratching the surface.

Go deeper.

What’s really causing them to move through your funnel?

I’m talking about the psychology of the situation…

The ‘triggers’ that need to be activated for that purchase to occur.

Miss one of these, and you lose a slice of conversions.

Or..

You can work these into your existing copy…

And turbocharge your funnel into a unstoppable conversion machine.

Influence Your Audience With Psychology

Previously, we talked about entering the mind of your customer.

To create empathy and understand their innermost desires.

This is the other side of the coin…

How you can compel each visitor to take a specific action.

Here’s the key: Let the customer make the choice themselves.

Your copy is merely helping them come to their own conclusion.

This requires a bit of a mindset shift:

While most people write copy that “tells” the reader what to do…

It’s more effective to present a powerful value-driven offer…

And let your customer realize they NEED to purchase.

Classic case of push versus pull.

If you push, they push back. The impenetrable sales-barriers go up.

If you pull (correctly), the customer is compelled to act.

The “Triggers”

1) Reverse Psychology Copywriting

Most of your copy is probably focused on demonstrating value.

“You get benefit X, and benefit Y.. plus bonus Z! A $397 value for only $97..”

The customer perceives a certain value, and bases his purchase on what he stands to gain.

Have you ever thought about doing the exact opposite? It turns out, this is a very powerful (and underutilized) technique.

Tell your customer what they stand to LOSE by not purchasing. (Click To Tweet)

Think about it: Normally a prospect will weigh the perceived value of your product versus the cost. With the reverse, you demonstrate FAR more value, because the prospect needs to weigh the cost of your product against the opportunity cost of NOT purchasing.

People are a lot more receptive to losing a resource than they are to gaining it. When Washington, DC wanted to cut down on plastic bag usage (to be more environmentally-friendly), they tried paying people 5 cents for bringing their own grocery bag. It wasn’t effective. What was? Adding a 5 cent FEE for each plastic bag. That cut down bag usage by over 70%. (Source)

Think about how you could utilize reverse psychology to make your product irresistible.

2) Disrupt Then Reframe

Sometimes, being clever can help conversions (just don’t make it confusing).

Researchers, studying consumer behavior, happened upon a super-effective sales technique called “disrupt-then-reframe.” They found that displaying the pricing of their product in pennies, which is very unconventional… and then following it up with a reframing statement like “It’s a bargain.” produced overwhelming results.

The theory is that unconventional pricing disrupts the buyer’s normal thought process, causing them to reassess the situation, and the reframing statement influences and reinforces the final buying decision.

Take a moment to consider the “big picture” of your sales process. Diving deep into the psychology of your customers might be just the trick you need for that big conversion boost.

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