A lead has just landed on your website.

They hop from one page to the next, examining visuals, reading words, and whatnot—spending more time on some pages than the others. 

In split seconds, they decide to buy or not to buy. 

Say they decide the latter.

They log out of your website and tap into a similar website offering similar products or services. They browse through, spending less time than they did on yours, and then boom, they are ready to buy what your competitor is offering.

Why did they choose another brand over yours?

Better prices? Maybe. Maybe not.

Sleeker website? Maybe. Maybe not.

More aesthetic visuals? Maybe. Maybe not. 

My best guess is there is more to the sales and marketing process than meets the eye.

For this reason, many marketers are turning to behavioral sciences to understand why people act the way they do—like why they react more or less to specific details and why they take actions in certain situations and not others. 

Most times, it’s all psychology.

If you stick around to the end of this blog post, you’ll learn a few things you may not have known about the psychology of sales. 

What is behavioral science?

Behavioral science entails studying human behavior through observation and systematic experimentation.

Think of the person you know the most— your child, partner, parent, or even yourself.

How do they behave when they hear exciting news?

Do they do a happy dance when they are served their favorite food?

Are they excited when it rains?

If you have watched them long enough, you may not know why, but at least you can tell how they would behave under different circumstances through observation. 

It’s the same with behavioral science. 

Behavioral scientists observe how people act to understand why they behave the way they do. Behavioral science seeks to understand the why. 

4 ways to apply behavioral science to marketing

Behavioral science is not only good for disciplines like medicine. It’s also applicable to marketing in several ways. 

Let’s explore a few.

1. Social proof

Do you know why you feel more comfortable buying from a brand that showcases evidence that other real people have gotten results from the same products or services you’re interested in?

It’s the same reason 93% of consumers read online reviews before buying. 

Ever heard of herd behavior theory—or herd mentality?

It explains the behavior of humans acting a certain way not because they decided to act that way on their own but because it is how other people like them act under the same circumstances. 

Your audience is like that, too.

They will most likely mirror the behavior of others who, in their opinion, have first-hand knowledge and can influence their decision to buy from your brand. 

Take this as your cue to use social proof on your website—lots of it. 

Got a client who is excited about their results? Ask for a review.

Remember that one client who has a testimonial? Write a case study detailing their success story. 

This is how you get potential leads to join your herd.

2. The customer journey

A lead embarks on a journey from the first contact with your brand to conversion or otherwise, which ultimately forms their experiences. 

Every detail, however minute, matters. 

Behavioral science gives insight into what your leads might perceive as a good or bad experience. 

Let’s examine a few examples.

• User interface and design: Several aspects of a website evoke different behavioral responses. These aspects include fonts, imagery, and color. A user-friendly, easy-to-navigate user interface and design equals a good experience rather than a complicated design. The latter is likely to produce confusion and loss of interest. 

• Load time: Our psychology as humans is opposed to the idea of waiting—we hate to wait. A little delay, and you can expect to see restlessness, tapping, yawning, sighing, and whatnot. When your website load speed is slow, it activates the natural inclination of your audience to grow impatient, increasing the likelihood of them logging off. 
• Security and trustworthiness: With the growing number of spammers on the web, you can bet the security or otherwise of your website can influence a person’s decision to stay or leave. Two ways to prove your trustworthiness are using authentic reviews and producing high-quality content that showcases your thought leadership. 

Can you see how these details can influence your audience to behave in a certain way?

3. Freebies and reciprocity

Freebies and reciprocity work hand in hand. 

Here’s how.

When a lead lands on your website, and you offer them something valuable for free, like a downloadable book, this gesture triggers a natural inclination on their part to reciprocate. Now, they feel like they owe you something. It could be their loyalty, time, contact details, or money.

It’s human nature to reciprocate a kind gesture where possible.

It’s one of the reasons free trials and coupons work. 

Statistics show that:

• 70% of consumers love receiving coupons.
• Online coupon users spend 24% more than regular shoppers.
• 66% of consumers would make an unplanned purchase if they had a coupon.
• 80% of consumers will try a new brand if it offers a discount.
• 48% of people will avoid brands that don’t offer deals.

It’s also the reason lead magnets work. 

With lead magnets, you give your audience something for free in exchange for their contact details. The more value you drop in their mailboxes now and then, the more they warm up to you and your brand. Before long, they act on their sense of obligation to give back.

Be sure to find ways to give value to your audience for free. 

Think of it as a means to an end—a trigger for your audience’s human sense of reciprocity.

4. Nudges

There is a concept in behavioral science called the nudge theory. 

This theory suggests that by making small changes to how you present your audience with choices, you can influence their decisions without restricting their options. 

People like to feel in charge of their decision-making. 

So, how do you get them to make the decisions you want and still make them feel in charge?

You alter the way you present the options. 

For instance, in a bid to get you to reuse towels, hotels these days typically place fancy cards in bathrooms encouraging you to reuse your towels to help the environment, like the majority of their other guests doing the same.

Here is what they are saying in essence:

“Hey, human, you can request a change of your towels after one use. But wouldn’t our planet be a better place if you reused that almost-good-as-new towel again? Pretty please? And oh, look! Other guests like you are doing the same.”

I don’t know about everyone else, but I suddenly feel the need to save the environment by reusing my hotel towels after reading those signs. First, they want you to know you can request new towels or reuse the ones you already have. But to nudge you to choose the latter, they tell you you are helping the environment by saving 50 liters of water, like all their other guests.

Remember the herd mentality?

The average human would want to join the movement with the rest of the hotel guests to save the environment. And like that, the hotel would have nudged a guest to make the more convenient decision.

Here’s another example of the Nudge Theory in practice.

Years ago, nothing seemed to be working to make people dispose of their cigarette butts properly—the streets of London were full of them. Not until they set up two bins encouraging smokers to vote for the best football player between Messi and Ronaldo, using their cigarette butts.

Guess what?

They recorded a 46% drop in cigarette litter in twelve weeks.

Amazing, innit?

Using The Nudge Theory in your calls increases your chances of influencing your audience to make the right choice.

Behavioral science in marketing: A game changer.

You may have tried everything else and not gotten the desired results for your brand. Behavioral science may be the game-changer you need. 

Now will be a great time to get more social proof on your website, improve your customer journey from first contact to conversion, give away value for free, and give gentle nudges now and then.

One of the ways to give away value for free and showcase the security of your website through thought leadership is to make your blog page vibrant with valuable insight—just as we have made ours. And to do that, you need copywriters who would love your brand as much as you do and create well-researched, high-quality blog articles for your audience.

This, right here, is where we come in.

At The Fourth Writers, we understand the role of behavioral science in marketing, and we are committed to contributing our quota to help brands like yours thrive.  

Feel free to check out our range of copywriting services and reach out.