7 Cognitive Biases and How to Use them in Marketing & Sales

As individuals, we think that we are rational beings. The reality, however, is that our actions are far less logical and reasoned than we think. The bad news: we are all fallible and subject to countless cognitive biases. The good news: the same is true for all other people.

Consumer behavior is shaped by the same cognitive biases that most people share. As marketers and salespeople, you should take notice of these phenomena that are part of the discipline of neuromarketing.

Because of this, below I describe 7 fascinating, psychological phenomena and the awesome tricks that they make possible.

This is the tendency to see oneself as less biased than other people or to be able to identify more cognitive biases in others than in oneself. People are blind to their own stupidity. Deal with it.

RevelX lesson

Even the most intelligent people are susceptible to the suggestions of a smart marketer. People generally think that they see things well. Do not confront people with their own “shortfalls,” they will not accept them, find workarounds.

This is the tendency to remember one’s choices as better than they actually were.

RevelX lesson

Clients are only humans, they love compliments and affirmation rather than continuously being challenged and corrected.

If your customer makes a choice, praise them. They will forever think that they made the right choice. Pepper your conversion funnel with affirming messages, and email them to congratulate them on their purchase.

This is the tendency to search for, interpret, focus on, and remember information in a way that confirms one’s preconceptions.

RevelX lesson

You will have a hard time changing your user’s preconceptions. Instead, cater to them on an emotional level. Search for peoples’ preconceptions and adhere to these; take these as the starting point for your offering, advice, project plan, etc.

This is the tendency to view two options as more dissimilar when evaluating them simultaneously than when evaluating them separately.

RevelX lesson

Side-by-side product comparisons are perfect. If you are working against a competitor’s similar product, create a comparison chart to help users understand the pros/cons.

This is the tendency to seek information even when it cannot affect action. People love to feel like they have information to back up their decision-making, even if it’s extraneous.

RevelX lesson

The more information that you can pile on to a product description, the greater assurance a user will have that the product is a high-quality and good-value product.

So, provide lots of back up information, underlying data, charts, research, etc. But do not let this blur the overall message. Do this in appendices or otherwise separately.

This is the psychological phenomenon by which humans have a greater recall of unpleasant memories compared with positive memories.

RevelX lesson

Emotionally negative content is more likely to go viral, and it will have higher levels of sharing. Physiological arousal drives virality, and the negative emotions have higher levels of such arousal.

So communicate what could – or even better, will – go wrong when not working with you or using your advice.

This is the tendency to like things to stay relatively the same (see also loss aversion, endowment effect, and system justification).

RevelX lesson

Don’t upset the apple cart. If you’re dealing with a group of customers who like things “just so,” don’t try to alter their worldview or introduce information that could make them uncomfortable.

In the past, neuromarketing was limited to multinationals with huge budgets. Using EEG, fMRI, and eye-tracking technologies just weren’t cost-effective for regular businesses. Today, that has changed. We now understand enough about neuromarketing from previous case studies that any business – large or small – can leverage the way the human brain works.

So, you can deploy this method, too! If you need more information about this subject first, you can read an interview here that I conducted about neuromarketing. You can also contact me right away!