Being a psychology undergraduate who has done her master’s in marketing, I have always been connecting and creating links between the two. There are a lot of principles in psychology that marketers usually tap to sell their products, to create campaigns, and even get deep into the consumer’s psyches. After my majors in marketing, I realized there is so many frameworks that are used by marketers, are very useful. Here I have used some of the frameworks, that is used by marketers to tap the buying behavior of consumers.

1)Scarcity Principle

We often see marketers use this basic and much-known principle called the “scarcity principle” behind their marketing tactics. Almost every e-commerce channel like- Flipkart, Amazon, and eBay, use this major principle to drive sales and make consumers buy the products.

For example, you visit amazon’s site to buy a dress, and just below your favorite dress you can see “two dresses left”, and just a sentence can make a consumer buy. Because the scarcity increases demand and hence a consumer’s psyche is completely tricked into buying a product.

2)Exposure Theory and Repetition

Have you ever wondered, why marketers spend lots of money on advertisements! One might say to create brand awareness, others may say to differentiate from their competitors. But why even popular brands like Coca-Cola, Nestle, Apple, Samsung allocate heaps of their revenue to marketing and advertisement.

The answer is to create more exposure. Every brand has its competitors, and every loyal customer needs to be reminded, of why they need to buy that particular product or even a service. The more they see a product, or a service, the more reliable it becomes.

3)Information Gap Theory

In this era of technology, almost everything is happening on our fingertips, even a minute delay in extracting an information can be really frustrating. That’s when information gap theory comes into play. If your consumers cannot find basic info regarding your products and offerings, they wouldn’t think twice to buy from your competitors.

Hence, it’s really important to highlight your products and offerings, what are your offerings? What are your USP? and What differentiates you from your competitors? That is the reason, the websites need to place “Call to action” at the correct places. Correctly placing the CTA’s can greatly impact in collecting innumerable datapoint about your consumers.

4)Social Proof

Have you ever imagined, why big brands associate with celebrities, sportspersons, film stars? The reason behind is that we all want to be associated to people with power, status & recognition. Being associated to products having ambassadors as celebrities gives the consumers the trust, validity and most important – the identity. Because at the back of our minds, we know if a superstar is promoting that product, then it’s definitely worth using and worth the money for.

For example, If a sportsperson is looking to buy shoes, he would definitely look and buy a product that is promoted by Ronaldo, or Nadal, on the other hand if a woman is looking to buy a makeup product they solely go for products may be promoted by their Favorite actress.

5)Consistency

We all know the branding used by several products.

For example: Mc Donalds use “red & yellow”, Pepsi use blue widely in its packaging & logo, Maggi uses Yellow. And somewhere, all of us related to those colors. 

Consumers associates consistently with a products offering. Having different guideline can seem confusing and tacky. Hence a consistent offering with consistent branding is very much essential for brand identity and recognition. Just imagine how confusing it would become if every time we order Mc-D french-fries and it comes in a different packaging or colorbreeding is not only limited to colors, or packing style but also an organizations vision, culture and how they treat their employees.

For example: Apple is known for its innovation, Walmart has always been known for affordable products, Southwest – as the most affordable and cheap airline. Hence a consistent offering that differentiates as well creates a consistent identity is very much essential.

The above frameworks clearly dictate how psychology is interrelated to marketing. Delving into the consumer minds is not only necessary but is the first step towards a successful marketing strategy. We might think consumers as rational, we might think that they think twice before buying, but the truth is that consumers are highly irrational.

We as humans are impulsive in making some decisions, hence finding how consumers behave and buy is what brings psychology and marketing together.