When we were kids, Saturday mornings were the only time cartoons were on and one of my favourites was He-Man. Prince Adam would call upon the power of Grayskull and transform into the beloved hero.
Now, you might not have the Sword of Power, but there are other ways that you can turn yourself into a digital powerhouse using 7 different “psychology hacks”.
They’re really not hacks. It’s more like mental short cuts and Robert Cialdini goes into far more detail about these in his book, The Psychology of Persuasion.
1. Scratch My Back, Please
It’s why samples at the grocery store works so well. Online, this is where your lead magnet comes into play or “freemium” versions of software. Everyone and their uncle are doing this. Unless they’re trying to be “new” by going back to the days of “join my newsletter”.
2. Remember when the world shut down and decided toilet paper would save them?
Scarcity. And it drives human fear. You’ll see this with limited time colours in makeup or timers on sales page or the “only 1 seat left at this price” when you’re looking at airline tickets. You’ll even see this on pop up windows .. YES I want this amazing thing in big bold letters, and No, I want to keep sucking at this in small letters. It all makes you feel like you’re missing out.
Here’s an example from my own site:
3. The GOO-ROO Trance
I can’t count the number of times I have to remind my kid and nieces that not everything you see online is 100% accurate. Or even 1%.
When you associate something you trust (the YouTuber) with something else, it instantly has authority. Even if the content lacks substance, the authority is going to carry over.
We do this by using “as seen in” sections of websites or featuring your big-name clients or with celebrity endorsements.
4. Take The Hint | Give Me An Inch
In any relationship, whether it’s your best buddy or your significant other or even your coworker or your kid, what happens once is bound to happen again. The more that something happens, the more likely it’s going to continue to happen. You need to take the hint because past behaviour is absolutely a prediction of what their future behaviour is going to be like.
The second half is all about getting that first yes. If you can get someone to say yes to the first ask, the subsequent asks are always going to be easier to achieve. If the vacuum salesman can get mom to say yes to having the in-house demo, everything beyond that becomes easier.
This is a two-part hack because they go hand-in-hand. If you can get someone to say yes to something small, the next ask will be easier to get AND we start developing a pattern of past behaviour.
The more micro-commitments that you can get someone to make, the more established the pattern of behaviour and the easier the yes will become.
One of the easiest and least obtrusive ways of doing something like this is by using a 2 step opt-in.
Instead of seeing the entire form, you display a button that once pressed pops up with your form.
Here’s an example from Digital Marketer. There’s a million tricks to unpack in these 2 small images but let’s stick to the one we’re talking about here.
Below is the second step after someone clicks the button.
The first yes is clicking the button. The second yes is filling out the form.
Then I guarantee you there will be something in the email that will ask the reader to do something (reply, or I’ve got more over here on this topic). Those are ALL yesses that develop a pattern of past behaviour and make it easier for the new lead to stick out their initial commitment of signing up for the PDF.
Okay, I lied. I need to unpack just a little bit of what’s happening in these forms, but I’ll make it quick.
{see, I told you I love this stuff. I. Just. Can’t. Help. Myself.}
The top line – “You’re So Close!”. As a society, we tend to have the attention span of a gnat. When you click the first button and get to step 2 you might be feeling a little let down. It’s easy to say – Screw it! – and digitally walk away. By telling people that they’re close you close that down. Another way you’ll see people do this is with a status bar at the top of the second section showing 50 or 75% complete. Same concept.
The original headline – Want to Save This Guide For Later? Again, gnats. But also really busy gnats. The reality is that people do NOT consume most of the information that they signed up for even we feel obliged to do so. This headline gives them permission to save it for when they have time but even more so – it gives the initial impression that this thing is BEEFY. You’re going to NEED to save it for later Bubba.
Best Email Placeholder – most businesses will just leave “email” as the placeholder for this but if you’re savvy, you’ll change that to “your best email”. Again, gnats. And when gnats are doing what they do and they’re busy gnats our minds go on autopilot. We do what we’re told. We’re told to use our best email. So that’s what we do. And again, it leaves the lead feeling like this is something important enough to make sure that they use a good email address.
5. You l-i-i-i-ke me … you wanna k-i-i-i-s-s me.
I’ve told you before about how people buy from people they like, but what does that really mean? And how easy is it?
Liking can be anything from a physically pleasant appearance to sharing similar interests or even being complimentary or having a sense of familiarity.
The About Page on most sites is completely overlooked as prime space to create that familiar, likable personality. It’s also why I never suggest writing in the 3rd person on that page.
People do that to sound bigger than they are or more professional but you completely lose the opportunity that’s sitting there for you.
6. They like me! They really, really like me!
Social proof has a two-fold effect. First, it shows that other people actually like you and therefore you must be OK for me to like too. Second, when people can see themselves in the information from your social proof it’s a double whammy.
I’ve talked a lot about testimonials before. Probably until I’m blue in the face. There are right ways and really, really wrong ways to use those.
The point is when someone can see themselves as similar to the person who’s leaving the testimonial the testimonial will carry more weight with them.
