How to tailor your marketing based on human psychology

Importance of consumer behaviour in marketing

When we say consumers, we mean people. We are all consumers of some products, services, platforms, etc. Each of us buys something on a daily basis, and very few people actually question themselves before each purchase.

Have you even thought about why you bought this candle that you didn't need and didn't even think about before you saw an ad or walked into the store? 

It's all about our buying behavior and understanding what drives our purchasing decisions. 

Your urge to buy could be easily explained by psychology and the basic fundamentals of consumer behavior. Most of marketing is built on human psychology and knowledge of what drives our purchasing intent.

Some companies might not understand exactly what they are doing from a psychological standpoint, but they still use these basic principles that were discovered many years ago. 

That’s why the knowledge about consumer behavior is so important. Your marketing strategies could be properly optimized to bring more value to the company and to your consumers. 

I think you also become more valuable as a marketer because you are not only setting up a marketing campaign but also explaining why it will work better with a higher probability compared to another campaign. That can increase your chances of standing out in the job market. 

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How to analyze consumer behavior?

To me, the best way to analyze and learn about consumer behavior is through books.

Why? 

I personally think that if the book is written by a trusted author and based on real research and data, it could explain human psychology and behavior in the best possible way, giving you particular real-world examples.

I also feel like books give you consumer behavior insights that are based on real research. At least, that’s how I do it. 

You might also study various research from trusted companies that analyzed the performance of their own campaigns and then published results with an explanation. There are various ways to learn. 

Today, I will mention 3 books that talk a lot about consumer behavior and explain what exactly drives our buying decisions. I will highlight some parts of the books that seemed interesting to me and then suggest how you could use them in your marketing or give an example of how somebody else already did. 

Are you excited to hear insights into consumer behavior?

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Hooked

Before I start talking about different psychological tactics, I wanted to highlight a very important thought from Hooked. That is an ethical aspect of designing and implementing habit-forming technologies and other marketing practices that I’m going to talk about. 

Before starting to market a product and putting all the efforts into selling it through different sources, you need to ask yourself, "Would I use the product myself?" and "Will the product help consumers materially improve their lives?"

If the answer to both questions is yes, you are good to proceed; if not, then you should reconsider. 

The author believes there are 4 types of creators: 

1. Facilitators: Build products they would use themselves and genuinely believe they will make users' lives better
2. Peddlers: Believe their product improves lives but wouldn't use it themselves 
3. Entertainers: Build products they would use, but don't necessarily improve lives in a meaningful way
4. Dealers: Build products they wouldn't use and don't believe improve lives

You should aim to be a facilitator. Ask yourself what your consumer needs are. 

People are already getting negative experiences from other companies, so please try to be the one who will bring only positive ones. That is not only helpful for your potential consumers but also increases your chances for long-term success. 

Now we are ready to dive into tips and insights. 

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1. The Hook model

This model explains how the most habit-forming products are built (mostly social media products), and it consists of 4 main phases:

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• Trigger: something that initiates the behavior (push notification, recognizable melody, or vibration)
• Action: The easiest action someone takes when they expect a reward (check if somebody liked the new post or answered a comment) 
• Variable Reward: Fulfilling a user’s needs but still keeping them curious for more (seeing new “recommended videos” every time you refresh a feed)
• Investment: When users add something meaningful to the platform, it makes them more likely to come back (uploading a useful post that a user spent some time on)

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The most popular social media platforms you know, like Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, TikTok, and others, use all of these phases to keep all of us “hooked” and wanting more. 

How can you use that

You don’t necessarily need to have an app to implement these strategies. It can be applicable to almost any product. Here are some ideas:

Trigger → send a short email with a lot of valuable personalized information for each one of your target audience when you publish a new blog post or when a special offer starts.

Action → prepare some helpful materials/brochures/guides for free and encourage people to get them by clicking the “Download” button.

Variable Reward → update fresh tips, bonus resources, or include unexpected freebies to “surprise” customers with each visit/interaction.

Investment → make it possible for users to create a simple profile, save favorites, or share their own opinion; it should be something they’ll want to return to update.

I know it might sound pretty basic, but all of these actions should be specifically tailored for your product and target audience. It might take you time and a lot of tries to figure out what suits your consumer's needs best. 

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2. How variable rewards can affect buying behavior

I think trigger and action are easy enough to understand, so let’s talk a little bit more about the actual reward that you can suggest to your consumers. 

It should be something unpredictable that keeps people engaged. Variability will help with driving up users’ engagement and motivation, because when we don’t know what exactly is waiting for us, we want to check on it again and again.

Think of a feeling you have when you update your Reels feed every time. 

Unpredictable rewards will activate our dopamine system and suppress areas that are associated with judgment and reason (at least that’s what the book says). 

The author divides rewards into three different types:

• Tribe: a feeling of connection or recognition from others/social proof (likes, comments)
• Hunt: the urge to find something valuable or useful (looking for advice on Reddit)
• Self: your own satisfaction of achievement or progress (finishing a task, mastering a skill)

Companies like Instagram (tribe), X (hunt), and Duolingo (self) use these reward types to keep users coming back. That’s one of the reasons why they are so successful. They are using consumer psychology to give people what they want. 

Tribe reward is very much related to community building, so creating a community around your brand could work pretty well. 

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How can you use that

I like the idea of gamification. 

Let me explain. Variable and unexpected rewards—that’s what a lot of computer games use to keep users engaged and keep playing. It sparks the interest, and you feel satisfaction when you get a reward, especially if it was hard to achieve. 

If you have a platform or a digital product, you could implement different kinds of rewards and make them unique.

For example, let’s say you have an online clothing store. 

What could be a reward there?

You could unlock rewards like “T-shirt Lover” (please don’t judge my creativity; it’s given as an example, but I hope you get the idea)—if you buy 5 t-shirts + a discount coupon for the next shirt.

Or “Queen of Flowers” if you buy 3 sundresses, etc. Again, I’m making this up, but if you spend more time on this and think it through, you could come up with some great ideas. 

Another idea is to create an avatar that you could dress and collect special items that this avatar can wear. It is hard to create from a technical perspective, but it could be interesting if you have time and budget. 

Don't get stuck with an idea that you only need to use digital marketing and social media campaigns to implement all of that. There are a lot of possibilities in the offline world, too. 

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3. Investments as psychological factors

After reward comes investment. I also want to talk about it a bit more. 

When we put our time and effort into something, we are more likely to return and interact more. If you ever made a post on Instagram or Facebook that took some of your time, you were likely checking the app more often that day or the following day to see how it’s doing. 

We can use different forms of investment:

• Time
• Data
• Effort
• Social capital
• Money

Other real-world examples would include LinkedIn's profile completion, Tinder's swiping mechanism, and Duolingo's learning streaks. If you encourage small investments from users, that will increase the chances of your users becoming returning users. 

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How can you use that

Give users the possibility to invest in your product/app/platform. Think of Pinterest boards or wishlists on retail platforms. It should be something simple, easily executable, and engaging. 

Create an option for users to share recipes, advice, stories, reviews, or whatever your platform or product is about. 

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Decoded

Here comes the next book. This was probably the first marketing book that I’ve ever read.  Some cool insights 😎 that I think are worth talking about. 

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How framing your product can affect purchasing decisions 

Interesting fact: consumers rate wine as tasting better when told it's expensive, regardless of its actual quality.

The framing effect is how we perceive and interpret information. Like with this wine, our brain makes us think it tastes better because, in our head, price = quality.

That’s how brands can establish higher prices and influence product experiences, even when the physical product remains unchanged.

It’s important to say that this perception in our head is controlled by Autopilot. This part is coming from the book “Thinking, Fast and Slow.” Our brain is divided into 2 systems, fast (autopilot) and slow (pilot); at least that’s how the author of the book explains it.

This concept is commonly used by many other people, so let’s stick to it. 

I will not go too much in-depth here; you can read the book yourself if you want (that’s great). The reason why I’m telling you this is that one of the main characteristics of the Autopilot is that it relies on past experiences. 

It doesn’t mean that you should expect people to spend 10K hours with your product, but rather that you should try to design experiences that help consumers become familiar fast to activate the autopilot mode. 

If you link it correctly with the framing (people perceive your product as something easy to use, helpful, high quality, pleasant, etc.), you have a great chance of your product succeeding. 

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How can you use that 

Build a mind map of how you want your product to be perceived and then how to achieve that. I’ll give you an example with a clothing store again. 

As you can see, such simple things as the unboxing experience can shape your brand perception. You can also use different product lines to frame the perception, as it might be hard to fit everything in one product. 

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2. Value-Cost Equation: The logic behind a complex buying behavior

Our brain perceives each purchase as an equation: net value = reward – pain.

The greater the net value, the more likely the purchase. Sounds simple enough. 

Neuroscientists tell us that purchase decisions are driven by the activation of reward and pain centers in the brain.

When consumers see a product, the reward center is activated because the consumer is thinking about the expected value. When a price is shown, another part of the brain that associates with pain is activated. 

The balance between these activations determines the likelihood of purchase.

If you maximize the net value your client will get, you will increase the chances of the purchase and basically affect the buying behavior. 

What can you do to increase your product’s value:

• Enhance product features
• Create emotional connections
• Change your product’s perception (framing)

What can you do to decrease the cost:

• Reduce the price (too obvious, but there are different pricing strategies that can work)
• Simplify the purchase process
• Frame price information differently

You can effectively do that by carefully considering how products are presented and compared to alternatives. Of course, economic conditions and purchasing power of your region matter here as well, but those are just other variables to consider. 

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How can you use that

Create a similar mind map as shown in the example above, with options for how exactly you can increase your product’s value and decrease the cost (not necessarily the price).

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How color affects your perception and purchasing decisions

Colors are extremely important to our perception. If you use it correctly, it’s a very powerful tool to frame your product. It’s important to mention that some color statements are still debatable and uncertain, but I’m sure that as you read, you’ll start to notice the impact of color yourself.

Colors can impact trust, excitement, and even how reliable we think a brand is, which directly impacts consumer behavior towards the brand. 

For example, blue. It can be considered the color of trust. Banks (Chase, Bank of America), airlines (Ryanair), and even Zoom rely on blue to make you feel safe. 

Red is one of the most emotionally charged colors. It is often perceived as urgent because it looks bold and it’s hard to miss. It can also evoke different emotions like excitement, love, passion, anger, hunger, etc. A lot of brands use it for various reasons. 

Let’s do a little experiment.

Here are some of the most popular brands that use red in their logo. Think of what emotion or feeling you associate with each logo. 

Now let’s compare. 

Did your feelings match? 

Some brands use contrasting colors. For example, FedEx uses blue and orange, which sit on opposite sides of the color wheel. This creates energy and focus. That’s kind of the right feeling you want to get from a reliable and fast delivery service. 

Green. This color is associated with nature, balance, safety, growth, etc. It’s often used for eco-friendly and healthy products. Think about Whole Foods. 

That being said, sometimes it's all just a matter of personal preferences 😂. 

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How can you use that

Think about how you want your brand to be perceived and find the colors that will be associated with that emotion. You can always ask Google or ChatGPT what color would fit best for you. 

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Contagious 

And last but not least, the book Contagious. It basically explains why things catch on. I gathered some interesting thoughts to share. 

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1. Emotions. "When we care, we share."

It’s true that when we care, we share. The emotion doesn’t necessarily need to be positive. 

The key factor here is emotional arousal. High-arousal emotions like awe, excitement, anger, and anxiety increase sharing. Low-arousal emotions like contentment and sadness decrease it.

How can you “evoke” emotions? Here are some suggestions: 

• Focus on feelings rather than just information
• Aim for high-arousal emotions like awe or excitement
• Use the power of storytelling to evoke emotion

One example that I loved from this book was Google’s video "Parisian Love" ad, which tells an emotional story through search queries. That’s a great example of how you can promote something extremely boring, like a search engine, through a very emotional and catchy story. 

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How can you use that

Think about what kind of emotions you want your customers to feel and how you can achieve that.

The best advice here would be to study a bunch of cases of how companies have done it in the past and find ideas that you could tailor for your brand. It’s important not to just copy somebody else’s idea but to take it as a base and adjust it to your brand. 

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2. How to tell your story to affect consumer behavior

People tend not to just share information but to tell stories. If you create a narrative about your product or company, it will help you with word-of-mouth marketing. Your story should be unique and attached to your brand's core values. 

You can ask me, what if there is no story? There always is. 

You just need to form it into the right words. I’d recommend reading a book called “How to Tell a Story.” This could help you with figuring this out.  

Here are some examples for inspiration:

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• Blendtec's "Will It Blend?"—how interesting can a blender be? This guy tests his blender with various objects to see if the blender is strong enough to blend them. Some of his videos gather up to a million views.  
• Dove's "The cost of beauty" video tells about one girl's story who started to have an eating disorder. The point of the whole campaign is to support people in the same situation and highlight the problem that we are now having with beauty standards.
  The commercial did not promote any of Dove’s products but had a huge impact and increased the brand’s favorability and awareness, as well as customer retention. 

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Telling your story will most likely also increase your customer loyalty and help you build stronger brand loyalty. 

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How can you use that

Forget about your product for a second here and think about what kind of message you would like to bring to society. 

How would you want to help people? 

How do you think they can change their lives for the better? 

How can you work with your product development based on that? 

What marketing messages can you use for that? 

How could I affect consumer behavior in a "friendly" way? 

Now ask yourself, how can your product help with that? Try to combine these two together.   

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3. Make private public

We all live in society, and our behavior is shaped by what is considered normal or abnormal in our particular circle. A lot of research was done to prove that point.

When we showcase that a significant number of people are doing X, Y, and Z, it tends to be repeated more often. 

That’s one of the reasons why people wear pink ribbon pins during Breast Cancer Month. It shows that people care, which directly affects purchase decisions and encourages people to buy more of these ribbons.

If people can't see what others are doing, they can't imitate it. This principle explains why some behaviors spread quickly while others don't.

Here are some strategies that are commonly used:

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• Creating visible symbols of participation (Breast Cancer Month)
• Share private actions digitally (Spotify sharing listening habits)

However, you should be cautious if you are publicizing negative behaviors, as this can sometimes normalize them.

For example, one anti-drug ad unintentionally suggested drug use is common, even though the point of the whole campaign was to decrease its use. So be very careful with how exactly you want to affect consumer behavior. 

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How can you use that

Showcase that your product or service is commonly used. Mention the number of clients you had on your website, make recognizable prints/designs if you are producing clothes, and make people share their experience with your product. 

Another great example here is Rhode’s phone cases, where you can put your lipstick. Everybody can see your phone case and that you are a Rhode’s customer. 

It’s not that easy to come up with such a great and contagious idea, because the company spent a lot of time on research about the target audience and their buying behavior to achieve that.

Try to do your own customer research and figure out what would be a solution for you.  

I want to encourage you to help people make informed decisions about the products, not just abuse this knowledge to affect consumer behavior to your needs.

I hope this article helped you to learn more about buying behavior, what stands behind it, how to think about consumer behavior from a marketing standpoint, and how to follow market trends that suit you. 

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