Marketing provides the opportunity to develop high-level, insightful strategies to make sales. As technology expands, the number of options available to today’s marketing teams continues to grow.

Of course, opportunity comes with responsibility and pressure. It’s a stressful job to drive sales. If you reach your desired results, your company will succeed. But, you need the right tools to get the job done. Fortunately, psychology is a valueable tool for marketers. It’s free, but requires a bit of exploration to work. You can boost sales if you leverage psychological triggers.

What are some triggers you should explore? Let’s find out.

Create Time Pressure

It seems somewhat counterintuitive to put customers in an uncomfortable, pressured situation. However, with this psychological trigger, it’s the essence of the plan. Marketing teams often use the phrase “for a limited time only” in their campaigns. This language tells customers to put aside doubts about making a purchase: customers are told, if you don’t move now, you will no longer have the option. Set up a time frame to hurry your audience into a purchase. Many supermarkets and fast food venues use this strategy.

Stimulate the Fear Of Missing Out

Fear of missing out (or FOMO) is a big psychological trigger for sales. You want to cause people to experience FOMO. Sell enough that folks are surrounded by people who have the thing you’re selling. You can also create the illusion of that scenario, in a way that is strong enough to trigger FOMO. In this instance, it’s really all about employing certain devices, like influencer marketing, for example. Influencers promoting products can encourage his/her audience that they should have it, too. Their audience may subsequently feel “left out” if they don’t have that thing.

Clothing-brand H&M leveraged influencer marketing to great success. H&M has one of the largest Instagram followings of any fashion brand on social media, due in large part to its influencer campaign with women who reflect H&M’s style all by themselves. Fashion blogger Julie Sariñana and model Ela Velden are two influencers with whom H&M partnered for its fall 2017 catalogue. Sariñana loved the clothing so much, she promoted it from her own Instagram account that has over 5 million followers.

Take Advantage Of Greed

Greed is a nasty-sounding word, but at its low levels, it’s a very human trait to have. For example, people enjoy a free gift with purchase. Imagine if you get free fries with any burger at your favorite fast food restaurant. That’s a good deal and one which you’d be wise to take. You’re motivated by greed to make a purchase. This same principle applies to marketing. Throw in something free; it can really make a difference to your sales forecast. Restaurants like McDonald’s do this all the time, especially through their apps these days. In the UK, McDonald’s ran a campaign named “Appy Days”, which sent push notifications to customers with the app installed. It was sent right around lunchtime to inform customers of the limited-time, today-only offer to get free fries or a free McFlurry with any purchase.

Support a Cause

Grab people’s attention aligning your company with a charitable endeavor. Toms donates one pair of shoes for every pair you buy. Teenagers often choose Toms over similarly-styled, cheaper, and more durable shoes because of this campaign. To date, Toms donated over 95 million shoes. They also host an annual #withoutshoes day. This spreads awareness of how many children currently go barefoot and also awareness of their brand. In recent years, you don’t need to buy Toms shoes to participate. Toms donates a pair to a child when anyone posts a barefoot picture with the hashtag #withoutshoes.

Provide Instant Gratification

It’s difficult to resist the temptation of short term personal gain, even when the cost in the long run is far greater. Clever marketing teams cash in on that, making it a big part of their psychological tactics to try and draw sales. In the battle against online shopping, it’s what gives physical stores an edge: Customers can hold products in their hands and know they could walk out of the store with something. But it’s also why a service like Amazon Prime, where a click and a guarantee of next-day (or even same-day) delivery, makes it novel and popular. It’s exciting for shoppers to get things right away. Use this key psychological quirk to your advantage.

Create a Sense Of Community

Humans are communal creatures. They feel happy to be part of something bigger than themselves. This is a big area to employ in marketing. The process of purchasing from your company should feel like joining a club. In fact, make your loyalty program a “club.” Members should feel elite and like they receive valuable benefits. Customers crave feeling valued by a larger group.

The British supermarket chain Co-op showcases local community causes that their own brand products directly support. They always end of their TV ads with “Co-op: it’s what we do.” The products are cheaper than those of their competitors, and customers feel good about buying from them.

Personal Values

Develop an angle for everything you sell. Use this psychological trigger to your advantage by aligning with a value you know many share. For example, the value of family is a strong influence on almost everyone. Align a product to family values and you’ll see an elevation in sales. Many businesses successfully use the idea of family to sell their products. China supermarket chain “FamilyMart” incorporates “family” into their name. “Family-sized” or “suitable for all the family” products are also common.

Conclusion

Psychology is a crucial part of marketing. The ‘triggers’ that can most impact your audience are valuable and worth exploration. Of course, it requires careful planning an execution. But if you can get it right, you’ll be able to boost sales.

Author Bio: Beatrix Potter has worked in marketing journalism for the last 5 years, writing primarily at Academized and UKWritings. Her writing focuses on creative marketing strategy for abnormal companies. Beatrix also works as a freelance HR rep at the Essay Writer portal.