Joe Sugarman Triggers: “Psychological Triggers That Influence Consumer Behavior”
Hey there, Sourabh here. Joseph Sugarman, one of the best copywriters in the world, published a book titled Advertising Secrets of the Written Word a few years ago.
It was renamed the “ad week copywriting manual,” however, in section 2 of this book, he lists 24 psychological factors that influence consumer behaviour. I was astounded when I read this part since it was absolute gold. Here is a comprehensive list of Joseph Sugarman’s psychological triggers as a tribute to the great Joseph Sugarman, whom I frequently mention.
The Top 6 psychological triggers are listed below. There are 24 of them, so let’s start with the first.
1. The feeling of involvement or ownership
People are much more likely to buy when they feel invested or like they own something. When someone walks through the television aisle and fiddles with the buttons, knobs, and remote controls, Sugarman quotes a successful TV salesman he once knew as saying, “I know they are significantly more invested in buying a TV than someone just strolling along the corridor and not touching anything.”
When you pass a mall kiosk where people are trying to sell you something, like a hair straightener or lotion, they will frequently try to engage you in a lengthy conversation about the item after they have given it to you to get you to hold it and use it. In this way, they hope to persuade you to make a purchase.
2. Honesty
When Sugarman ran his mail order catalogue, he claimed that honesty was the most critical factor. People trusted his comments because he would be the first to call out the drawbacks of a product.
He once advertised an efficient and unattractive thermostat; the advertisement’s tagline stated that it had a foolish name, an ugly location, and no digital readout.
He was so forthright about the product’s drawbacks and persuaded people to trust him when he spoke of its numerous advantages that it almost made us ill.
3. Integrity
Are you constantly exaggerating while describing the integrity of your goods or service as a psychological trigger?
Do you make any difficult-to-believe claims? If you continue to exaggerate in your marketing, it will be more difficult for people to remember you, especially when deciding whether or not to give you money?
Therefore, if you consistently lie by using high-pressure techniques, scare tactics, exaggerated claims, or fake scarcity, this is how people may perceive you, making them hesitant to believe you. As a result, uphold integrity in your marketing; it will benefit you greatly in the long run.
4. Credibility
Honesty and integrity, according to Joseph Sugarman, equals credibility.
People automatically trust you once you’ve built credibility, which makes it much easier for you to sell goods.
When Sugarman appears on QVC, the home shopping channel, viewers automatically believe him when he is on an infomercial since QVC enjoys high credibility with their audience. Sugarman uses this as an example of how selling things on QVC is simple.
5. Value and Proof of Value
According to Sugarman, comparing your products to those of your competitors is a terrific approach to demonstrate their value.
The consumer is aware that there are alternative items available. It’s your responsibility to bring this up and demonstrate to them that your product is, in fact, the best value. To that end, here is a photo of a variety of mops, showing both the competition among them and the superiority of our mop.
You provide evidence of the worth by contrasting your items with those of competitors. You may further highlight value by contrasting it with another often purchased product.
I like this approach, so you could say, “There is a pizza for $12 versus this healthy recipes book that you also spend $12 on.” For example, the book of pizza recipes is only $12, but so is the pizza. By making this comparison, you’re essentially saying to the consumer, “You probably don’t think twice about buying a $12 pizza that lasts for an hour, so why to think twice about paying $12 for this book that could potentially have a massive impact on your life.”
6. Justify the purchase
Sometimes people want to buy expensive products, but they have to go through the process of rationally justifying the price in their minds. This means that while they may want a product emotionally, you must provide them with reasons to justify spending the money rationally.
Therefore, if someone claims that I’m planning to buy a pricey Mercedes Benz in secret, they really mean to say that I want to look at the ladies, so I’m buying a Mercedes.
Sugarman explains that sometimes you have to give people practical reasons to buy an expensive thing so they can justify it in their heads differently than like, hey, I want to look, and there’s Mercedes. However, the actual price justification logical part is I’m buying this Mercedes instead of a practical Toyota Camry because it has rack and pinion steering, a great suspension, and a high safety rating.
I hope that’s helpful, and I strongly advise you to acquire this book, once known as advertising secrets of the written word but now known as the ad week copywriting guide.
One of the top three books I’ve ever read, it’s one of my favourites on copywriting, and I probably refer to it more than any other book.
Please support Joe Sugarman and buy this book because I created this post because I refer to it so frequently that I have to look it up in the book each time a post about it is determined to be made. Because so many marketers were shady and offered bizarre medications and other odd things that I didn’t believe were beneficial for the planet, I suppose Joe Sugarman was one of the marketers for this fantastic, phenomenal book.
Nevertheless, Joe Sugarman created and marketed top-notch goods. My name is Sourabh, and I’ll chat with you later. I thought it was terrific, and I hope you enjoyed this list of psychological triggers.
