Have you ever noticed that most medical offices and hospitals are typically blue or green? Psychology research has determined that these colors tend to evoke trust, security and a soothing effect.

Although most marketing professionals don’t have a degree in psychology, many recognize that a deep understanding of consumer psychology is important for business success, especially in the digital age.

Applying certain psychological principles to your marketing strategy can help you engage with and retain customers in a whole new way.

So, what are the best psychology principles to apply as you are developing or refreshing your marketing strategy?

Here are five tips we believe can help get you started with marketing psychology:

1. Use social influence to your advantage.

Research shows that 84 percent of customers trust recommendations from family and friends. Social influence is an easy way to get new customers in the door.

In the marketing world, we call this "social proof" and it means that if we see that others like your products, services or business in general, it's safe for us to like it too.

So, ask customers to tell a friend about your business.

But, don’t stop with just referrals. Add evidence of this social proof in your digital marketing materials.

How to Use Social Influence in Your Marketing

• Change your social media settings to display followers and shares, as high numbers will influence others to follow and share, too
• Add reviews to landing pages so people can see how much others like your products and services

2. Set the right tone by utilizing the framing effect.

The framing effect is an example of cognitive bias. It means that the way we perceive something affects how we react to it. (Is the glass half empty, or is it half full?)

Here's an example:

When discussing the success rate of a skincare product, you can see this in two ways:

Positive Frame: This skin care product has been proven to be effective in 70 percent of cases.

Negative Frame: This skin care product has failed to work in three out of every 10 cases.

Which frame would you choose? Even though you probably realize that both frames represent the same percentage, studies show that consumers typically opt for the positive frame because it highlights a positive rather than a negative. So, the best takeaway here is to always highlight and frame your content positively!

How to Use the Framing Effect in Your Marketing

Put the positives of your service or product at the forefront of marketing messaging. Even if you are an emergency service that people might associate with a negative, let them know that you are here to help and your service is quick and efficient.

3. Give your consumers a “good deal” by using the anchoring effect.

Everyone gets excited when they see that the product or service they are shopping for is discounted. The anchoring effect simply means to show the original price (high price) next to the sale price (low price) when offering a sale or discount. When the consumer sees the original price, they will be happy and recognize the savings.

How to Use the Anchoring Effect in Your Marketing

Any time you have a sale, display the product's original price near the sale price so that customers know how much they're saving.

4. Use fear of loss to generate more sales.

Maybe you’re planning your upcoming vacation and you’re looking online for a good deal for a hotel. Often, we will see on the right side a countdown that states “only two rooms left at this discounted offer.”

What does this do? This prompts you book today, as opposed to three days from now. If we fear that we won’t be able to get the same discount three days from now, we see the special promotion as being more valuable.

How to Use Fear of Loss in Your Marketing

To use this principle properly, always remember to associate a specific timeline (Sale - 24 hours only!) or a specific number of products that are remaining. (Only 3 left in stock. Get them while they last!) Also, try to stay away from using “limited time offer,” as this angle isn’t as specific and doesn’t create a sense of urgency.

5. Cluster your content and products together.

Since we tend to have a limited amount of space in our short-term memory, we find that we often group similar pieces of information together with hopes of remembering the information longer. So, you should be focusing on designing and arranging your content and products in a way that will have an increased chance of memory retention.

How to Use This Psychological Principle in Your Marketing

One way to accomplish this is by grouping together similar services and products. You can do this in end cap displays in-store or on landing pages.

And, when writing content, utilize bullet points or numbers with different font and header sizes, as this makes it easier for our brain to retain the information.

Now that we have highlighted some of the best psychology principles, it’s time to put them to use. If used properly, you just may be surprised how your bottom line will reap the benefits over time!

For more on marketing psychology, check out this article to learn how color psychology can improve your marketing strategy.