What Are Mental Triggers and Why You Need to Learn How to Use Them in Marketing and Sales Now
Posted: Wed Dec 04, 2024 2:58 am
You are going to make a decision today . Yes, you are. As unlikely as this may seem in your routine, the reality is that, thanks to mental triggers, you will always be in a position where you have to choose between one option or another. Whether you like it or not, this is already making a decision about something.
According to research conducted by Roberts Wesleyan College , we make 35,000 decisions throughout the day. From the simplest ones about what to eat for breakfast or which shoes to choose to decisions related to consumption. That's where the mental triggers that will be discussed in this content come in.
Mental triggers are the automatic decisions that our brain makes, they serve as facilitators for our brain.
But, after all, how can we use these mental triggers to go beyond the most conscious layer of decision-making, reach the deepest depths of a subject and persuade them to choose a particular good or service?
Understand how this methodology can make a difference for Marketing professionals and start applying it in your experience now.
Keep reading!
What are mental triggers?
Now, if this process happens to you, it is possible to assume that it is no different for everyone else. Whether they are the ones who cross the street next to you, buy a snack at the same bakery, read the same magazine or even consume the same products that you usually buy.
This is because every human being is capable of making decisions about countless situations. And, even though the choices are not the same, it is undeniable that this is a behavior inherent to individuals.
Therefore, a simple preference for one product or another may be correlated to the triggers that each person receives and, above all, to the way in which, unconsciously, all of this is internalized.
Thus, the fact is that this process occurs based on numerous characteristics related to the individual.
These would be: your emotions, previous experiences, beliefs, level of education, your values, the time in which the event occurs and other indispensable factors, which occur subjectively , according to the complexity of the human mind.
In other words, every decision you make and don’t realize it is a mental trigger. Have you ever thought about how this can influence your Digital Marketing strategy?
How do we make decisions?
In his book “Thinking, Fast and Slow” , Nobel Prize winner in Economics Daniel Kahneman pointed out that making decisions is like talking : people do it all the time, consciously or unconsciously.
But, despite this being a simple and practical uk business fax list behavior, what is behind what leads an individual to make a choice?
This is the main point to be addressed in this article, with the aim of explaining mental triggers in a simplified way.
For authors such as Thaler and Sustein, the functioning mechanism of the human brain involves a clear distinction between two categories of thought: intuitive and automatic , and reflective and rational .
The first is responsible for a more direct and impulsive purchase, while the second would be responsible for reflecting on what is being acquired.
In turn, Francesca Gino, from Harvard Business School , differentiates between three categories that influence decisions.
The forces within the subjects;
The strengths of your relationships with others; and,
The forces of the outside world.
The reality is that, regardless of whether the purchase decision is made impulsively or thoughtfully, it is important to consider that both theories complement each other.
In this way, both unconscious and extrinsic issues are essential for the acquisition to occur and all of this will be determined, of course, by the trigger presented to the consumer.
Mental triggers and their use in marketing
Every individual has experienced a situation in which, when faced with a certain stimulus, they felt fear, anxiety, happiness, sadness, anger, among other emotions that were awakened by such a condition. Right?
For example, a dog can represent a feeling of complete joy for Maria, making her think of her childhood pet or a special moment.
On the other hand, this same pet may have a negative meaning for João, since he has been exposed to a previous experience with the animal, which was not nice.
Therefore, what is a trigger for one individual will not necessarily be a trigger for another , even if both are vulnerable to the same conditions and circumstances.
However, the trick is to take advantage of this strategy to make as many people as possible react positively to a stimulus or motivation, and that is what mental triggers consist of.
In this way, Marketing uses this entirely psychological concept as an essential tool to promote sales and, consequently, increase the consumption of its goods or services.
All of this attracts buyers with stimuli that can influence them to have positive reactions about the brand or company, so that this directly interferes with their purchasing decisions.
How does this affect the time of purchase?
To get to the bottom of this issue, research conducted by Wuhan University in China aimed to analyze people's purchasing behavior and psychological involvement.
In its results, the study proved that when an individual has a high level of involvement with a product, this can positively influence their interest and their decision to make the purchase, especially if it tends to be made in the distant future and not at that exact moment.
Thus, more expensive and durable items tend to have higher levels of involvement, making buyers think more before actually purchasing.
On the other hand, the consequences of making a bad purchasing decision are limited for consumer goods and low-cost products such as groceries, CDs, and books.
Therefore, consumers generally have low levels of involvement in these purchases and are carried away by impulse , as previously discussed.
And what does all this have to do with triggers?
Once you can convince the customer and use the correct stimuli, it is possible that they will engage in the same way with all the goods on display, detaching, for example, the idea of guilt that comes with consuming a higher value.
Or, making this feeling of immediacy apply to both situations, not just to the most routine items.
Application of mental triggers
If you've read this far, it's because you want to know more about how to apply mental triggers, right?
There are different ways in which a mental trigger can be applied to influence an individual to synthesize a certain response to a product, service, brand or company in question.
Discover 8 of them right now:
1. Reciprocity
The reciprocity trigger is the one that awakens the feeling of giving back for something that has been received. An organization cannot just receive without offering something in return. Therefore, it is a good idea to offer customers a series of free materials, such as online courses, webinars , spreadsheets, reports and other benefits.
A good example of how to activate this trigger is by investing in landing pages. On them, you can offer valuable content to your audience and, in exchange, ask for the contact details of those who want to receive it.
This not only increases your list of potential customers, but also further strengthens the relationship between your company and your target audience.
A good example of a company that invests in this trigger is Rock Content :
Reciprocity
2. Scarcity
The harder something is to get or the scarcer a resource appears to be, the more urgent its appeal and the more the consumer wants it.
Therefore, the idea here is to generate this fear in the consumer that they will miss out on an excellent opportunity, because the feeling that it is ending or that it is limited, makes our unconscious want to make that decision quickly .
This trigger is usually accompanied by phrases such as: “last in stock”, “limited vacancies”, “the first 20 to send a message”, “launch of only 100 units throughout Brazil”.
A good example of this is seen on sites like Educa Mais Brasil :
Mental trigger scarcity
3. Urgency
The third most commonly used mental trigger is urgency. Similar to scarcity, urgency uses the time factor to create the feeling that the consumer must make a decision as soon as possible.
The focus here is to create a feeling that the customer must buy now or they may miss out on the offer. This format is often used in promotional campaigns and is usually accompanied by phrases such as “don’t miss out!” or “for an unlimited time”.
With the growth of online sales and competition between companies, it is possible to follow several campaigns that use these triggers to attract even more consumers.
A good example of a website that invests in a sense of urgency to increase its sales is Americanas.
Mental trigger urgency
4. Authority
Have you ever noticed how health and wellness companies that sell supplements or weight loss products use recommendations from doctors or other prominent individuals to gain market clout? It’s called authority .
It is important to always think about this aspect when thinking about a marketing strategy, after all, more and more people are looking for companies that have credibility in the market.
A good way to apply this trigger is by creating a blog for your company and investing in SEO and content marketing . This way, you can demonstrate your knowledge about the niche in question and compete for the coveted first page of Google.
When searching for something on a search engine, do you usually visit the websites that appear in the top positions? The answer is mostly YES! Know that your target audience has the same practice and therefore, being well ranked is a good way to demonstrate authority.
Credibility
5. Social Proof
It is exactly that positive word of mouth about a certain product. Therefore, testimonials, comments and ratings from real people who endorse the benefits of the brand are valid here.
Who has never asked a friend or family member for a brand or company recommendation? The social proof trigger highlights how other people's opinions or experiences directly influence our choices.
You can apply this by publicizing your company's success stories, showing clients who trusted your brand and the results they achieved, this further arouses the interest of a potential client.
Humans have a very keen sense of social proof, and when there are a lot of people doing or buying something, we end up wanting it too. To use the mental trigger of social proof, you will need numbers or testimonials. Of course, they need to be real.
According to research conducted by Roberts Wesleyan College , we make 35,000 decisions throughout the day. From the simplest ones about what to eat for breakfast or which shoes to choose to decisions related to consumption. That's where the mental triggers that will be discussed in this content come in.
Mental triggers are the automatic decisions that our brain makes, they serve as facilitators for our brain.
But, after all, how can we use these mental triggers to go beyond the most conscious layer of decision-making, reach the deepest depths of a subject and persuade them to choose a particular good or service?
Understand how this methodology can make a difference for Marketing professionals and start applying it in your experience now.
Keep reading!
What are mental triggers?
Now, if this process happens to you, it is possible to assume that it is no different for everyone else. Whether they are the ones who cross the street next to you, buy a snack at the same bakery, read the same magazine or even consume the same products that you usually buy.
This is because every human being is capable of making decisions about countless situations. And, even though the choices are not the same, it is undeniable that this is a behavior inherent to individuals.
Therefore, a simple preference for one product or another may be correlated to the triggers that each person receives and, above all, to the way in which, unconsciously, all of this is internalized.
Thus, the fact is that this process occurs based on numerous characteristics related to the individual.
These would be: your emotions, previous experiences, beliefs, level of education, your values, the time in which the event occurs and other indispensable factors, which occur subjectively , according to the complexity of the human mind.
In other words, every decision you make and don’t realize it is a mental trigger. Have you ever thought about how this can influence your Digital Marketing strategy?
How do we make decisions?
In his book “Thinking, Fast and Slow” , Nobel Prize winner in Economics Daniel Kahneman pointed out that making decisions is like talking : people do it all the time, consciously or unconsciously.
But, despite this being a simple and practical uk business fax list behavior, what is behind what leads an individual to make a choice?
This is the main point to be addressed in this article, with the aim of explaining mental triggers in a simplified way.
For authors such as Thaler and Sustein, the functioning mechanism of the human brain involves a clear distinction between two categories of thought: intuitive and automatic , and reflective and rational .
The first is responsible for a more direct and impulsive purchase, while the second would be responsible for reflecting on what is being acquired.
In turn, Francesca Gino, from Harvard Business School , differentiates between three categories that influence decisions.
The forces within the subjects;
The strengths of your relationships with others; and,
The forces of the outside world.
The reality is that, regardless of whether the purchase decision is made impulsively or thoughtfully, it is important to consider that both theories complement each other.
In this way, both unconscious and extrinsic issues are essential for the acquisition to occur and all of this will be determined, of course, by the trigger presented to the consumer.
Mental triggers and their use in marketing
Every individual has experienced a situation in which, when faced with a certain stimulus, they felt fear, anxiety, happiness, sadness, anger, among other emotions that were awakened by such a condition. Right?
For example, a dog can represent a feeling of complete joy for Maria, making her think of her childhood pet or a special moment.
On the other hand, this same pet may have a negative meaning for João, since he has been exposed to a previous experience with the animal, which was not nice.
Therefore, what is a trigger for one individual will not necessarily be a trigger for another , even if both are vulnerable to the same conditions and circumstances.
However, the trick is to take advantage of this strategy to make as many people as possible react positively to a stimulus or motivation, and that is what mental triggers consist of.
In this way, Marketing uses this entirely psychological concept as an essential tool to promote sales and, consequently, increase the consumption of its goods or services.
All of this attracts buyers with stimuli that can influence them to have positive reactions about the brand or company, so that this directly interferes with their purchasing decisions.
How does this affect the time of purchase?
To get to the bottom of this issue, research conducted by Wuhan University in China aimed to analyze people's purchasing behavior and psychological involvement.
In its results, the study proved that when an individual has a high level of involvement with a product, this can positively influence their interest and their decision to make the purchase, especially if it tends to be made in the distant future and not at that exact moment.
Thus, more expensive and durable items tend to have higher levels of involvement, making buyers think more before actually purchasing.
On the other hand, the consequences of making a bad purchasing decision are limited for consumer goods and low-cost products such as groceries, CDs, and books.
Therefore, consumers generally have low levels of involvement in these purchases and are carried away by impulse , as previously discussed.
And what does all this have to do with triggers?
Once you can convince the customer and use the correct stimuli, it is possible that they will engage in the same way with all the goods on display, detaching, for example, the idea of guilt that comes with consuming a higher value.
Or, making this feeling of immediacy apply to both situations, not just to the most routine items.
Application of mental triggers
If you've read this far, it's because you want to know more about how to apply mental triggers, right?
There are different ways in which a mental trigger can be applied to influence an individual to synthesize a certain response to a product, service, brand or company in question.
Discover 8 of them right now:
1. Reciprocity
The reciprocity trigger is the one that awakens the feeling of giving back for something that has been received. An organization cannot just receive without offering something in return. Therefore, it is a good idea to offer customers a series of free materials, such as online courses, webinars , spreadsheets, reports and other benefits.
A good example of how to activate this trigger is by investing in landing pages. On them, you can offer valuable content to your audience and, in exchange, ask for the contact details of those who want to receive it.
This not only increases your list of potential customers, but also further strengthens the relationship between your company and your target audience.
A good example of a company that invests in this trigger is Rock Content :
Reciprocity
2. Scarcity
The harder something is to get or the scarcer a resource appears to be, the more urgent its appeal and the more the consumer wants it.
Therefore, the idea here is to generate this fear in the consumer that they will miss out on an excellent opportunity, because the feeling that it is ending or that it is limited, makes our unconscious want to make that decision quickly .
This trigger is usually accompanied by phrases such as: “last in stock”, “limited vacancies”, “the first 20 to send a message”, “launch of only 100 units throughout Brazil”.
A good example of this is seen on sites like Educa Mais Brasil :
Mental trigger scarcity
3. Urgency
The third most commonly used mental trigger is urgency. Similar to scarcity, urgency uses the time factor to create the feeling that the consumer must make a decision as soon as possible.
The focus here is to create a feeling that the customer must buy now or they may miss out on the offer. This format is often used in promotional campaigns and is usually accompanied by phrases such as “don’t miss out!” or “for an unlimited time”.
With the growth of online sales and competition between companies, it is possible to follow several campaigns that use these triggers to attract even more consumers.
A good example of a website that invests in a sense of urgency to increase its sales is Americanas.
Mental trigger urgency
4. Authority
Have you ever noticed how health and wellness companies that sell supplements or weight loss products use recommendations from doctors or other prominent individuals to gain market clout? It’s called authority .
It is important to always think about this aspect when thinking about a marketing strategy, after all, more and more people are looking for companies that have credibility in the market.
A good way to apply this trigger is by creating a blog for your company and investing in SEO and content marketing . This way, you can demonstrate your knowledge about the niche in question and compete for the coveted first page of Google.
When searching for something on a search engine, do you usually visit the websites that appear in the top positions? The answer is mostly YES! Know that your target audience has the same practice and therefore, being well ranked is a good way to demonstrate authority.
Credibility
5. Social Proof
It is exactly that positive word of mouth about a certain product. Therefore, testimonials, comments and ratings from real people who endorse the benefits of the brand are valid here.
Who has never asked a friend or family member for a brand or company recommendation? The social proof trigger highlights how other people's opinions or experiences directly influence our choices.
You can apply this by publicizing your company's success stories, showing clients who trusted your brand and the results they achieved, this further arouses the interest of a potential client.
Humans have a very keen sense of social proof, and when there are a lot of people doing or buying something, we end up wanting it too. To use the mental trigger of social proof, you will need numbers or testimonials. Of course, they need to be real.