3 Tactics to Drive Purchases and the Psychology Behind Them

In today’s cashless world, leveraging convenience and gamified payments can boost spending, but using these strategies responsibly is vital to maintaining customer trust.

You can explore three powerful purchase psychology tactics to attract customers better:

1. The Human-Likeness Effect

2. The Cashless Effect

3. The Labour Illusion Effect

The Human-Likeness Effect

The more human, the better…

A research paper from 2016 shows that a print advertisement that features faces or facelike images:

• better captures consumer attention

• are more frequently recognised by consumers

• increase brand recognition

Why? Entities that look more like humans elicit more positive feelings :)

The Rolex Case Study

When you look at Rolex's ads and displays, the time is always dialled to 10:10. In fact, it helps Rolex sell more! Whether it’s the Sky-Dweller, Sea-Dweller, or Air-King, every model is presented at its most flattering angle — elegant, balanced, and emotionally appealing.

2 Reasons:

• Allows Rolex to showcase all the different aspects of the watch, especially its name and branding.

• Setting the dial to 10:10 makes the watch resemble a smiley face.

10:10 has become the optimal time setting for enhanced positive emotions and increased intention to buy, as people are more likely to see a human-like smiley face.

But HOW can marketers apply this tactic to impact consumer perceptions and conversion rates? Adding relevant faces to an ad or website can increase conversion rates by up to 95%!

1. Add faces where possible 👉🏻Add an icon of the author on your blogs

   👉🏻Add an image of humans interacting with your product on your LP

2. Get creative when you can’t add faces

   👉🏻Use Pareidolian Advertisement, like TWIX and Kmart do.

The Cashless Effect

Whipping out a piece of plastic is so easy

Casinos use chips. Arcades use digital credit. And Apple (at least in some stores) no longer has a payment counter. It starts with convenience. But ends in psychology.

Why? People are less willing to pay, even for smaller payments like laundry, when they have to pay with cash. People are willing to pay more when they cannot see the money!

So, HOW are we going to use this insight to help our businesses? 

1. Portable payment stations/ Go credit cards only💳

   👉🏻Use credit cards only if the business would benefit from tips/ donations

   👉🏻If you run a low-ticket shop, keep that billing counter planted in the corner

2. The gamification of money💰

   👉🏻Gamify the spending process to decrease the pain of paying. For example, the claw machine game for everyday items

3. Implement a Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) system

   👉🏻A good way to boost conversion rates for high-ticket products or services, because it breaks down into smaller, interest-free instalments
   

4. Leverage subscription services

   👉🏻The first payment is cashless, and every payment following is automatic, reducing the pain of paying individual invoices each time

The Labour Illusion Effect

Make customers wait less, and you will sell more

A little wait can increase trust. Your customers will associate that wait with more effort—as long as you visibly demonstrate that effort.

Why? Companies use this idea both online and offline. We tend to see more effort as more valuable, even if the result is the same. This is known as the "labour illusion."

So HOW can we leverage the labour illusion to bring depth to a great product?

1. Show the production/ creation process immediately

   👉🏻If the price is premium, show them how it’s made! Display of labour=⬆️Quality

2. Add operational transparency elements to your page

   👉🏻Websites with loading animations indicate work being done on the back end.
   

3. Highlight the effort you put into development

   👉🏻The product should have a narrative and a story that engages the audience. Also, share behind the scenes!

If you’re managing content for the brand, sprinkle in some behind-the-scenes content, development stories, low points, and hard work whenever you can. Additionally, relatable images, such as faces, create stronger connections and better recognition.

And when the holiday season rolls around again? You're ready to maximise conversions with these 3 helpful tactics!

References:

1. Effects of Face Images and Face Pareidolia on Consumers' Responses to Print Advertising

2. Do Human Photos Increase Website Conversions?

3. The Effect of Payment Transparency on Consumption: Quasi-Experiments from the Field

4. The Labour Illusion

5. Science explains why watch hands are set to 10:10 in ads

6. Starbucks Used This Marketing ‘Hack’ to Build a $1.61 Billion War Chest