📦 DTC Newsletter: 10 Psychology Principles For Marketers

Guilty as charged. 🥸

In this newsletter, you’ll find: 👇

📦 10 psychology principles that will make you a better marketer

📦 Cutting-edge tech and dedicated research expertise from Attest

📦 The five tips you NEED to level up your next product photoshoot

📦 Elevating your UGC for conversions with minisocial

Read till the end to got your very own DTC hat. 🧢

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The root of marketing is psychology. There’s no denying it. Knowing how your consumers may react or how to influence buyers to make a purchase is vital to your business’ success. 🧠

Psychology in marketing is not about tricking your customers. It’s about instilling emotional responses that encourage them to make an opinion or decision.

Like most marketers, we spend a loooooot of time on Twitter. We recently noticed that Chase Dimond, a $100M marketer, shared his tips on “10 psychology principles that will make you a better marketer” and we thought they’re too good not to share.

Buckle in. This is some heavy-hitting knowledge. Let the thread begin! 🧵

This one may seem obvious, but shoppers are more likely to buy when they see that other people are already loving a product. Major FOMO alert!

Ask your customers for testimonials, case studies, shoutouts, and reviews.

Take that social proof and dangle it front and center. Include it on your website, product pages, social accounts, and emails!

Did you know that people presented with two options to buy will have different opinions than people presented with three?

Here’s what Chase suggests: if you’ve already got a product that has two pricing options, add a third! If you already have a third option, increase the price!

Check out this example:

It’s no secret that shoppers LOVE exclusivity. Limited edition drops, limited quantities, VIP groups, and special products are a great way to make customers feel unique.

As Chase said, “The rarer the opportunity, content, or product is, the more valuable it is.”

With the amount of information online these days, people need something to hold on to. A north star or source of truth can be the element shoppers need to push that ‘buy now’ button.

If you’re running a sale, make sure that shoppers aren’t only seeing the sale price. Clearly show them what the price was THEN vs. what it is NOW.

‍PSYCHOLOGY – PART 2

Psychology has taught us that humans are more fearful of losing out than they are excited about gaining something.

We often think it’s best to show customers all the cool benefits they get from using your product, but switch up the angle and show them what they could miss out on!

Here’s an example from Einstein Marketer on shifting your language to play into loss aversion:

Colors are linked to feelings, emotions, brands, and products. Ultimately, the colors you choose to showcase in your marketing could greatly impact the way people think of your brand (and whether or not they choose to make a purchase)!

Check out how brands use colors, and the emotional responses attached to them, to connect with customers here!

Sure, if you’re a math wiz, you can put pen to paper and solve an equation… but most people would choose to use a calculator instead. Why? People are constantly seeking the simplest solution.

In marketing, the law of least effort is most compatible with your checkout process. Ensure the steps needed from choosing to buy to order confirmation is as simple as possible for shoppers to reduce friction.

Another great use case? Make sure customers can easily find the answers to their most common questions. Have answers to questions that arise about products or processes on your product pages or present a link to your FAQ page!

How many times have you walked into a store to buy a piece of clothing, been overwhelmed with the decision process, and left with nothing? We’re definitely guilty of this one! 🙋‍♀️

It feels like there’s so many options, but nothing seems to completely check all your boxes.

The more choices shoppers have to choose between, the less likely they are to actually choose one!

Check this out:

Shoppers are less likely to ummm and ahhh on a decision when they feel like their time to make a decision is limited. Even if purchasing your product doesn’t have to happen today, sometimes instilling an artificially created urgency play is the best way to go!

Chase suggests using “deadlines, countdown timers, and price increases to add urgency to your product.”

We all like free stuff. When a brand gives you a free perk, you’re more likely to remember the effort they put in and return it!

The same works for conversions. Give shoppers something upfront and hope they return the favor. This could include providing a discount code, a free e-book, a website audit, or a guide.

‍CREATIVE

If you’ve run the creative juices dry or are just looking for some fresh new ways to spice up your product pictures, you’re in the right place.

We chatted with some studio masters and pulled their five best tips you need to be implementing in your next session.

Steal these secrets and let us know how it goes! 👇

1️⃣ Integrate patterns and repetition

Patterns in photography are used to introduce:

Eye-catching repetition

Strong composition

A well-defined theme

Colors that bring life to an image

Patterns are found where strong geometric shapes repeat themselves. They do not always need to be precise — they can be loose and organic to create a more relaxed aesthetic.

Looking for some inspo? Check out Essie and Bombas for more examples of patterns in product photography.

2️⃣ Leverage monochromatic color schemes

Monochromatic colors refer to all colors from a specific hue. Monochromatic color schemes are created by taking a single base hue and using its shades, tones, and tints to build a color palette. ColourPop knows all about this! 👀

Designing an image where all components are different shades of the same color makes it easier to make background elements less distracting. Less distractions = more focus on your products!

Hard light is a focused, bright light that casts a harsh shadow on a subject. Use hard lighting to draw attention to a specific part of the photo and create a dramatic mood.

How do we do it? The use of high-powered strobe lights.

Other interesting examples: Bite and Greats both use hard lighting in their website product photography.

Capturing motion completely changes the look and feel of photos. Motion or movement in stills creates visual interest that’s hard to ignore.

Use movement to direct a viewer's eye strategically through an image.

For more examples, check out how Outdoor Voices and Allbirds use movement in their website photography.

As a thank you to our DTC readers, Pilothouse Studios is offering the first 10 brands who mention this newsletter 50% off studio content production.

Ad creative, lifestyle shoots, Shopify PDP images, demo and unboxing videos, Amazon A+ content, and more! Use coupon code studios50% !

We know we’re not all geniuses with a camera… 🤷‍♂️ but that doesn’t mean your product pictures have to suffer!

‍QUICK HITS

🚨 OPPORTUNITY ALERT! Motion is hiring! Wanna work for an awesome company with some fresh funding and are growing fast? Check out their current openings across sales, marketing and customer success. *

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DTC Newsletter is written by Rebecca Knight and Jordan Gillis. Edited by Claire Beveridge and Eric Dyck.

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