Psychology Behind Impulse Purchases

Understanding the psychology behind customers’ buying decisions can give you a significant edge over your competition, even illicit impulse purchases. You can then use the insights gathered to promote your brand and increase conversions.

By knowing what goes through the mind of Canadian consumers during different buying stages, you can anticipate their behaviour and provide them with what they need. In turn, it can go a long way towards building your brand and securing brand loyalty.

Let’s look at six psychological strategies to boost your sales.

The likelihood of impulse purchases.

We have all been there where we’ve convinced ourselves that there will be no more unplanned spending only to see something we liked and completely neglect our resolution. Reactively, we went ahead and bought that item, usually for the convenience it offers.

Businesses can take advantage of the compulsive behaviour in humans to increase sales by promoting impulse buying.

For instance, one clever way you do this is to use the word “now” in your advertisement. It creates urgency in the minds of the potential customers and causes them to think that if they do not act now, they will miss out on any deals. The FOMO (fear of missing out) is a legit concern with consumers.

Asking for small requests.

Keep in mind here that we are focusing on asking customers for a small request. It is essential because if customers agree to do something small for the business, they are more likely to agree to something else.

It is called the “foot in the door technique.”

By asking potential customers to sign up for a new trial, download a PDF or signup for a newsletter, they are more likely to agree to a more significant request, such as making a purchase.

Look at it this way, instead of going from step 1 to step 10, you take the customer through the various small steps until they finally purchase your products, knocking down barriers as you go.

And after all, there are five key steps to making a purchase. These are recognition, information search, alternative evaluation, investment, and post-purchase evaluation.

strategizing impulse purchases

Aesthetically pleasing marketing.

Naturally, our brains are better able to process video than texts. It is not surprising in this age of social media, as research has shown that posts that include video are 650% times more likely to result in reader engagement than those that only have text.

Secondly, it is essential to understand how the different colours affect the human psyche and buying decisions. Colours play a significant role in impulse decisions and purchases, so including the right colours in your products can make all the difference.

Another way to use visually stimulating marketing is by the use of language. Savvy marketers will use guaranteed, 100% original, certified, loyal and genuine words in their ads. It immediately generates trust and can encougage shoppers to make impulse decisions.

Using psychology to understand consumers

Evoke the right emotions for your customer.

Humans react strongly to feelings such as joy, sadness, and excitement. The clever marketer can use this to their advantage by crafting ads that stimulate strong emotions in favour of the business.

It can result in impulsive purchasing.

Secondly, self-esteem is essential to everyone. By boosting people’s confidence in themselves, you can make them feel empowered to make an impulse decision that they have been ultimately putting off or delayed until now. For instance, marketers can help customers feel worthy and supported. One easy way to do this is to promote memberships and then offer privileges and build a community for members.

Final word.

Marketing is about understanding customer psychology and what drives them to make purchases. The savvy marketer can then use this information to trigger impulse buying. Done the right way, it can significantly increase sales, conversions and improve your bottom line.