To show you how you can use science-based psychology for your next business move, I would like you to imagine a situation.

You are walking a beautiful street in Brussels and notice two chocolate shops next to each other. Their difference is clear at first sight – the right one is very crowded, and the left is almost empty. You recognize the brand of the right shop. Without thinking, you decide to enter a chocolate shop on the right-hand side. At the entrance, you see a smiling chocolate maker giving out pralines. You take one and engage in a very pleasant conversation, about the chocolate-making process. Afterwards, you are informed about the special offer of the day, with a piece of advice from the expert to use the code: “Especially for me” to get a discount for extra sweets.

Before you realize it, you leave the shop with a big bag of chocolate and less money in the bank account. But you are happy and very satisfied with your choice. The visit was a very enjoyable experience!

Priming

What did happen during your visit to the shop?

Let’s break it down.

First, you are in Brussels – the capital of the chocolate country. This connection itself makes you more suitable to spend some funds on chocolate. This psychological phenomenon is called priming. By psychologists, priming is defined as a process in which one stimulus influences our reaction to the next one. In simple words, prior situations (being in Brussels) influence your current actions/thoughts (buying chocolates). Interestingly, priming can occur even when the stimulus is not consciously perceived (Gray Peter & Bjorklund David, 2018).

Let’s go back to our “chocolate walk”. Yes, you were primed to buy chocolates in the capital of Belgium.

Robert Cialdini 7 Principles of Influence

But why did you choose the shop on the right? Or was it even your decision? Maybe you were made to choose this shop?

For starters, “we like things, that we already know”. When you saw a brand that you had known before, you were automatically prone to choose it. This is a basic rule behind the effectiveness of product placement. In the moment of hesitation, we will go towards what is known. Second of all, you were influenced by the crowdedness inside the shop. The principle of “social proof” worked just as it should. According to the guru of influence psychology Robert Cialdini, human beings are more likely to follow and repeat the actions of people that are alike, especially when they don’t have a grounded opinion or knowledge in the area. Looking at our walk, you and the people you are surrounded with are alike – you are all tourists with an intention of buying a sweet souvenir, and you are likely to follow them.

When you finally entered the shop, the chocolate expert gave you a valuable conversation, smile, and gift. You were surrounded by influence techniques. The expert followed the rules of authority, liking, reciprocity, scarcity and commitment & consistency.

It’s a lot, I know. Let’s analyze them one by one.

The expert shared their knowledge with you and ensured you with your choice of the shop (the principle of authority). Further, free, tasty chocolate was offered, which connected you to a brand – you become engaged in the process of buying, even before deciding to do so. It made you a part of the brand and as you want to be seen as a consistent person you stick to your commitments and explore the chosen shop (the principle of commitment and consistency). Additionally, you were offered a gift which made you eager (maybe unconsciously) to repay yourself (the principle of reciprocity). The conversation and the piece of advice itself also follow these two rules – you developed a feeling of connection with the expert that represented the brand. After a nice conflab, you can’t let down your new “friend”. Here the shop caught you one more time! Perhaps, you simply liked the host? We are more likely to follow the request of the person that we simply like. That’s why the smiling host was so important in the shopping process (the principle of liking). Finally, you were presented with a “daily offer” designed “especially for you”. Simple, but successful – “forbidden fruit is the sweetest”. You must try the special offer today – tomorrow it might be gone (the principle of scarcity) (Cialdini, 2018)!

Conclusion

As you can see even the simple situation of buying chocolate is filled with influence techniques. What is crucially important to understand is that all of this is a well-planned marketing strategy.

Do you see any space in your business to add those techniques, and keep clients close to you to increase your sales?

Implementing those principles in your marketing strategy is essential for your improvement. They might still feel very abstract and confusing, but online space is ideal to make smart use of them all.

That’s what Mind for Business does – we take science-based techniques and add them to your marketing strategy. By juggling with the text, placement, visuals and more, we add extra value to your message and increase your sales. Important – it is not about being fake –it is about emphasizing your authentic side with an effective twist!

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