As ecommerce evolves, as technology to support and complement it gets more advanced, the psychology behind convincing and converting, essentially, stays the same.

The key to successfully converting your users is basically anchored on how well you understand customer behaviour and their mental process. Making an effort to do so gives you insight into how you can better streamline and manage your conversion strategy.

Let’s start by understanding who your audience is—

1. There are 3 types of buyers that will define your marketing approach

A study conducted by Carnegie Mellon University describes three main types of buyers:

The Tightwads

• Comprises 24% of customers
• Characterized by their desire to avoid buying
• Associates spending with guilt and shame

The Spendthrifts

• Comprises 15% of customers
• Money is no object, regardless of financial capability
• Associates spending with thrill and excitement

The Average Buyers

• Comprises the bulk of buyers (61%)
• Characterized by more balanced spending habits.
• Associates spending with equal parts practicality and flash

Each group will require a different marketing approach to ensure conversion. For instance—

• Marketing to Tightwads means you have to suppress the feeling of guilt for spending, which means your content has to be skewed towards the benefits of your product of service that will thus justify the cost.
• Reaching to Spendthrifts may be easier given that they are more willing to spend, but they will look for affirmation in terms of quality, luxury and even brand name. It’s also advisable to offer easily understood and mangeable financial options.
• For average buyers, a clear balance between what makes a product practical and exciting is a good draw.

With these general audiences in mind, let’s now look into what will make them trust a product or brand…

2. Don’t paint a too perfect picture of your product or service

Reviews are a great way to build credibility for a particular product or service that you are offering; and great reviews, are obviously, important. But nobody is perfect, and your customers know that.

Reviews, even negative ones, serve to add credibility to your product or service. Don’t shy away from low ratings or bad reviews–address them. That’s what your customers will be looking for.

Psychologically, potential customers are more willing to trust a brand that are also willing to own up to their shortcomings. It’s not so much that you got a bad review—that’s normal, it happens—it’s how you handle it that’s more important to them.

For example, if you’re selling a particular service that a client wasn’t too happy about and ended up giving you a single star review on your site, don’t delete it or ignore it. Instead, address it. Ask what exactly their concern is, inquire as to how you can help, and offer to provide additional support.

3. Creating a sense of urgency to drive conversions

It’s so obvious it almost goes without saying but conveying your message in a way that expresses urgency, whether by highlighting the limited nature of a product or by focusing on a one-time only deal, creates a sense of importance for your product or service.

Build up your customer’s fear of missing out. Slap a timeline for your offers to spur conversions.

There are numerous ways to approach this—

• Flash sales
• One-time only coupon codes
• Seasonal products
• Exclusive content
• Limited-time incentives

–all drive the point that they have to take action to get a particular perk. It activates this fear of missing out.

4. Don’t just sell for the sake of selling

Customers that you seek to convert will likely do so if your company stands for something.

Think of every other blue-chip company and the values they espouse—Nike and their brand image of perseverance with “Just Do It” or Coca-Cola’s thrust of highlighting happiness among their loyal customers.

For this brand, it’s all about convenience and wholesome goodness–and they’re owning it. This psychological technique helps build relevance between customer and brand.

Get to know your customers, find their niche and take pride in what makes them different from the general demographic. Push the values that make your product or service relevant to them, and don’t be afraid to express it in your content.

5. Use social proof

In as much as people would like to think that their purchase decisions are driven by individual preferences, the truth is, in this day and age, customers have access to additional information that highlights relevance for a product anchored on similar interests and needs.

Nike prominently shows how many others share the same preference for a particular product.

The easiest way to do this is via social proof. Facebook presence is a must, Yelp reviews are reliable, Twitter offers insight into the company, LinkedIn builds business credibility, Instagram showcases aesthetic lifestyle value and so on…

Make it easy for customers to share what they love about your product or service through social sharing.

Building credibility via social media is essential. And in the same way, allowing your customers easy social media options to share a particular post or a product is also important to reinforce that they are making a good buying decision.

These are but the basics of what drives conversions for users. If you have more ideas and have insight into more, feel free to leave a comment below.