Using psychology to next-level your writing
How can we know how to inspire people to take action, without a good understanding of the cognition behind decision-making?
There are zillions of psychology-driven copywriting tips, but today we’re going to concentrate on cognitive bias.
These are fundamental ‘flaws’ or mental patterns that make our actions more predictable.
And if you can predict how someone might act, you can predict what might make them buy.
The Bandwagon effect: ideas, fads and beliefs grow and become more powerful and persuasive, the more people that adopt them.
Notice, if you’re in a new neighbourhood, you always want coffee from the place with the longest queue?
So, if we can show that other people love our business, potential clients will be more interested in doing business with us.
That’s why testimonials and case studies are so important. Even a ‘waiting list’ can really help keep people interested - don’t lie though.
Another cognitive bias is ‘Anchoring’: We rely heavily on the first piece of information introduced when making decisions. We anchor our comparisons against the first one.
We talked about this last week, you can use this bias to strategically position your pricing. Don’t always go low to high, as people will achor to the lowest
The last cognitive bias we’re going to talk about is Confirmation bias: The most famous of the biases.
We tend to find and remember information that confirms our original beliefs.
If you get to know your audience well, you can confirm the belief they have, particularly objections to your service in your copy to really make them see how much you ‘get’ them and that therefore you’re the right person for the job
This isn’t trickery or sleazy sales tactics, we’re not forcing people to buy something they don’t need. But helping them solve a problem, they may or not know they have.
