Incorporating Psychology into Your Marketing – Get Inside Their Heads!

Sometimes it is hard to get into your customer’s head. Sure, you can track user journeys, A/B test functions, and follow best practices. But how do you know what a customer is really thinking? What’s going on beneath the surface – in the unconscious mind?

Cognitive processes guide our behaviour. Our brains are hardwired for processing, learning and problem solving, and they help guide our memories and emotions. We can use our knowledge of these facts to help marketing and design. Creating attention-grabbing ads, clever and engaging branding and persuading and influencing people to remember your message, brand or product can all be achieved with some simple psychology.

The Von Restorff Effect

The brain remembers the odd one out. The Von Restorff effect occurs when certain patterns are broken, and something stands out – in a different colour, shape or size.

How can I use this in marketing?

Calls to action should not blend in with their surroundings. A striking colour or unusual shape could help draw the user’s attention.

The Gestalt Effect

Human beings make assumptions about what they see, based on the proximity of two things. When things appear close together, the brain will automatically group them, or can interpret them in several ways.

How can I use this in marketing?

When designing pages, any buttons, menus and content that relate to one another should be grouped together or sited within close proximity. Images will automatically be associated with nearby content and, if they aren’t grouped well, the user may get confused or misinterpret your content.

Colour Psychology

Various colours are associated with certain moods and states of mind. Sight is one of humanity’s most evolved senses, and the first thing your customer is going to do is lay eyes on you before the mind begins to form a perception.

Blue is said to encourage productivity and red draws a more emotive response. While colour psychological interpretations vary from source to source, always consider how colour can have an impact on a user.

How can I use this in marketing?

Your website’s colour can affect your user’s mood and the picture that they form of your brand. Do research into what colours and styles your target audience respond to positively. In addition, colour can affect brand recognition, so unique colour palettes will be more memorable and can have more influence on potential customers.

Want to get some help from a social media and usability optimisation team? Let us get into your user’s heads and improve your advertising and on site conversions.