?In this post, you will learn how to use Digital Psychology to increase engagement and optimize your conversion rate.

Technology is rapidly transforming the Marketing industry. In fact, 86% of consumers will pay more for better customer experiences.

But which skill helps marketers deal with the digitally-driven evolution of consumer behavior?

Digital Psychology will do the trick.

It explains consumer actions by using consolidated knowledge from Psychology and Economics and can help marketers enhance customer experience and improve their success rates.

Why learning Digital Psychology will be a milestone for you as a marketer?

Because the deeper you get to understand the way your leads and clients behave, the better you engage them in conversations with your brand, leading to possible conversion.

There is plenty of data for marketers out there. But staring at your Google Analytics panel only tells about your clients’ actions, not why they did it.

? By learning Digital (Web) Psychology, you will be able to shape your efforts, increase efficiency, and speak the language of your audience.

What is Digital Psychology?

Also called Web Psychology, it corresponds to the interception between Psychology and Behavioural Economics:

Through the lens of a variety of well-known areas of study, we finally have answers about why customers behave in the way they do online. By applying the lessons learned from social science theory, we’re able to remove barriers to online conversion and increase customer spend and retention, as said by Andrew Nicholson.

Why should marketers master Web Psychology?

Scientists are finding that targeting the subconscious mind is the most effective way to lead people to purchase. Simply put: we are not in control of our own decisions.

For a better understanding of how irrational is our decision-making process, check out this fantastic TED talk from Dan Ariely:

Whether you are a marketer or are just interested in trends in Marketing, understanding this field will give you plenty of tools to improve your ability to influence consumer behaviour.

Advantages of using Web Psychology in Marketing Campaigns

✔️ Increased website traffic

✔️Make your content charming and delightful

✔️Build digital products that are engaging and intuitive

✔️ More leads / More sales

✔️ Loyalty. Fierce loyalty.

The 4 Main Aspects of Digital Psychology

Adapted from digitalpsychology.io

1) The Power of Scarcity

In simple words: Act now or live forever regretting.

➡️ It is based on the premise that humans don’t value what is easy to get.

However, the fear of losing touches us deeply. We appreciate the struggle to obtain something; it increases our desire.

Examples of uses for this concept have been successfully being used by marketers. Do you want to see an example?

• Wait – you say – so you are telling me that we are that easy to manipulate?

At some point, yes. In fact, the right message “filled out” with scarcity may rush us into purchasing something.

2) Social Proof (should be your favorite if you are a marketer)

As soon as you apply social proof to your business, your clients will become your actual promoters. It happens because people are more willing to buy if they see reviews of your current clients. In fact, it works better than offers or promotions.

Let’s say you are looking for a restaurant to dine. You find out there are two nearby. One has a massive line of people waiting; the other one is actually empty. In which one are you going to prefer to have your meal?

Certainly the crowded one.

And social proof explains why. We rely on others to help with our own decisions. In addition, we hate making wrong decisions, especially those involving spending money.

A few examples of Social Proof used for marketing purposes:

a) Customer case studies:

b) Reviews from clients

c) Influencer Endorsements

3) Anchoring (Visual Digital Psychology)

Digital Psychology found out that people love to compare prices when valuing products. What we often don’t notice is that they tend to take the very first piece of information they see as an anchor, a guide.

Candy Club, a monthly candy subscription, built its Pricing Page based on Anchoring.

How do we know that? Just notice that our eyes firstly notice the 2nd option, which happens to be the most expensive, highlighted with a DOUBLE THE FUN above it.

From a digital psychology angle, what really mattered was that:

• they offered clients a choice (the client feels it was their decision)
• anchored the high price option, moving the consumer towards the lower price.

#4) Loss Aversion (Great Conversion Rate Optimization Tool)

The fear of losing something terrifies people at a CRAZY level.

Think about it: would you rather gaining 20 dollars, or avoiding to lose this amount of money? The human tendency is to suffer the loss of something deeper.

Behavioral Economics called this automated response loss aversion. You can optimize your website conversion rate only applying this concept. Find below a few examples in real marketing campaigns:

a) The Power of Free Trials

Customers love the feeling of owning a product or service without spending money on that. That is also one of the main reasons why SaaS achieve such a great success using Loss aversion as one of its main strategies.

Clients may not be willing to pay the market price to try your product, but they may pay the market price to avoid losing it.

b) Using loss aversion to encourage people to share their data with you:

c) Influencing Your Leads Through Newsletters

We all want to “stay top-of-mind” for our target audience and newsletters are wildly known for that. But what most marketers don’t get is that, in essence, a great newsletter is undoubtedly about transcendent content. It should generate FOMO for the readers who missed it out (loss aversion).

Conclusion: what the future holds for Digital Psychology?

As Marketing becomes more and more saturated, consumer choice became more abundant. Selling experiences rather than products sound just perfect to describe the moment we are at.

Are you using applying this to your strategy? Please share it with us in the comments!

PS: Check out the free library of psychological principles and examples for inspiration to enhance the customer experience and connect with your users here. Written by Daniel Stefanovic.