Copy That Sells: An Intro Guide to Sales Psychology
Lil Key Takeaways: This Blog at a Glance
Ever been obsessed with a brand even if you haven't bought from them? Yeah, I bet that’s sales psych in the mix.
Sales psychology is what gets inside our brains and makes us feel like brands get us (so we buy from them).
Brands tap into emotions, logic, and instincts to help us decide—usually emotionally, then we justify logically.
Sales psychology connects us with customers, helps us understand buyer behavior, and fuels better sales strategies.
Selling doesn’t have to be sleazy—done right, it’s about understanding and ethically guiding decisions.
Principles like storytelling, scarcity, social proof, and authority make sales psychology click with our brains.
Sales psychology in your copy helps you connect with your audience, tap into their emotions, and guide them to make decisions—making selling easier and more effective!
Be honest with me. Have you ever caught yourself fully obsessed with a particular brand– even if you don’t own anything from them? Everything they do just *hits* with you. Their words play back in your head.
Their brand voice sticks in your mind. You feel like they know you, and you know them. (And as a major bonus, you really like them, too).
Every time something comes up related to their industry, your brain immediately flashes to that brand. It’s embarrassing–but you actually think about them pretty often. Then one day, you sit back and say to yourself, “You know what? I think it’s time to buy *this thing* from *that brand*”–whether you need it or not.
You head to their site, peruse for a second (like you don’t know what you want, right?), and click the add to cart button as happy as a clam. You’ve got a hot jolt of dopamine and something in your brain feels itched.
If you peel yourself away from the emotions and satisfaction of it all, you might find a moment to ask yourself…why. Why did this particular brand have such a chokehold on your silly lil brain in the first place.
I can’t know for certain, but I’m willing to bet that the brand that slowly but surely convinced you to buy their stuff probably has a solid grasp of sales psychology. And honestly? Hats off to them for knowing how to worm their way into your cute lil brain.
Things like sales psychology and neuromarketing are the new waves of how we connect with our people and inspire them to take action. And to be honest? It’s not really all that new.
The truth is, really good salespeople have been using psychology in their selling techniques for hundreds of years (even if they didn’t really know what they were doing). And there are decades of research with eye tracking, brain mapping, and all sorts of consumer behavior studies to back it up.
So, why should you–a business owner–care about all that fancy, new-fangled psych-fused marketing? Because it’s actually not as wild as it might sound–and it’s absolutely crucial to sell better.
Sales Psychology & Why It Matters in Your Copy
Before we dive in, I want to make a QUICK promise to you about this particular blog.
The problem with trying to read up on marketing stuff like this is that it’s usually written in really intimidating lingo. Often to the point where business owners who aren’t plugged into the world of words and marketing end up feeling completely lost when they’re walking through it.
I promise I’ll always give you the lingo so you know what we’re talking about in business terms.
Then, we’ll break it down to make it easy. Because, hi, I was terrified of the word “messaging” for 5 years and all it took was stepping away from the buzzword to understand it.
Let’s dig into sales psych, shall we?
Sales Psychology: Your 101 Guide
Sales psychology is the process of fine-tuning your marketing efforts by considering the psyche of your dream people.
In other words, it’s a way to get into the brains of your dream clients and focus on their wants and needs rather than overtly shouting at them, “Hey! You need this! Buy this!”
Sales psychology is all about understanding your dream people, what makes them tick, and trying to put a finger on their behavior. Think about sales psychology as a way to tap into your dream people’s emotions to better understand what motivates them and what drives their (buying) behavior.
Unless you’re selling to robots (which, if you are, how very cool of you), you’re dealing with human emotion, human instinct, and human logic while you’re selling. That means the best way to connect with people and inspire them to take action (sell) is to tap into their brains to appeal to a certain area of their brain.
If you’re a neuroscientist and reading this blog, you’re probably like, “Well, it’s more complicated than that!”
That’s true, but for business owner purposes, we’re going to simplify it to these three areas of the brain:
The Limbic Brain (Emotional)
The Neo-Cortex (Rational/ Thinking)
The Primitive Brain (Instinctual)
If you asked any of us (I’m including myself in this) why we buy stuff, we’d be inclined to tell you because we thought it through rationally and it made sense to purchase.
And sometimes that is the case–sometimes buying IS rational. But it’s also a lil emotional and instinctual, too.
We like to identify with our conscious, rational mind. But our unconscious, emotional, and instinctual brains play a part in our buying decisions, too.
A neuroscientist named Antonio Damasio studied several people over the course of multiple years and determined that, in most cases, people who couldn’t “feel emotions” due to brain damage were actually unable to make purchasing decisions.
Damasio did something similar to brain mapping or scanning, where you can actually track which parts of the brain light up and process certain information. You’re probably not surprised to hear it, but brain mapping has shown us that we tap into our emotional brains (experiences and feelings) to evaluate brands.
That doesn’t mean the only things that matter are emotion and instinct, though. You also have to consider the rational brain. Why? Because all three parts play a part in decision-making.
Here’s the rule: people decide emotionally, and then they justify logically.
There’s a line I love from a Harvard Business Review article that sums this up pretty perfectly:
“Not a second goes by that our ancient dog brains aren’t conferring with our modern cortexes to influence their choices–for better and for worse–and without us even knowing it.
All that to say: our rational brain, primitive brain, and emotional brain are all duking it out–and they all sort of win in the end.
So, we adjust how we sell to appeal to each brain.
Why Sales Psychology Matters in Your Words (Website, Social Media, Emails, & Beyond)
Here’s the thing–we can’t fully understand our people or sell to our people without acknowledging the importance of emotions and instinct in decision-making.
That means we’ll never sell at our highest potential if we don’t try to understand our buyers’ brains and fuse that understanding into our web copy, our blogs, our emails, our social media, etc.
Here’s what tapping into solid sales psychology (with our marketing, words, and more!) does for our businesses and brands.
Connects You With Your People
Sure, on the surface, we want to sell to our people. But take that even a millimeter deeper and you’ll realize a lot of that is rooted in connecting with people. On the flip side, we don’t want to buy from people or brands we don’t connect with.
Building and strengthening a connection is all part of the process. We’re using sales psychology to create positive associations between our brand and our peoples’ brains. You’re more capable of creating those connections if you understand your people and what makes them tick.
Helps You Understand Buyer Behavior
And that can help you sell better. Notice I didn’t say more. Don’t get me wrong, if you have a solid understanding of what sells, you’ll also be able to sell more. But it’s less about quantity and more about quality (at least, for Boundless it is).
When you understand your people, you know what matters to them. When you know what matters to them, you can sell more effectively. When you sell more effectively, there’s a lot less of an ick factor and a lot more satisfied people.
Fuels Better Sales Strategies
Imagine just knowing what was going to work when you talked to your people. Picture it: you put together a marketing campaign, an email to your list, or even a post on your Instagram, and because you get your people, you know what’s going to *hit* and convert.
That’s exactly what sales psychology can help you do. No, nothing is a guarantee–but the better you understand your people and what motivates them, the clearer and more effective your sales strategies can be.
If you have a thorough understanding of all the parts of your peoples’ brains and then know what’s going to click with them, you have a far better chance at higher-quality selling (which can translate into higher quantity selling, too).
The Elephant in the Room: The Sales Ick Factor
OK, here’s the deal–selling gets a bad rep. Hear me out. Most of us think of some kind of icky and slicky used car salesman-esque person when we start talking about “selling.”
Or worse, we hear the phrase “sales psychology,” and we instantly flash to some kind of pyramid-schemey MLM where we’re all buying endless boxes of product, and then we have to push it onto someone else.
And, of course, those associations give us all the ick really fast. (They should). And that’s because when it comes to selling, we’ve got a couple of obstacles standing our way.
For one, we don’t want to come off sleazy. This is a big ol’ mental barrier for everyone. But also, we don’t want to be rejected after putting ourselves out there to do something vulnerable (like sell our services, products, or expertise!).
But selling doesn’t have to be or feel icky.
As a matter of fact, sales psychology doesn’t have to be or feel icky, either.
And if you’re doing it ethically (with the right intentions), you can tap into the power of sales psychology without making your people (or yourself, honestly) feel gross about it.
There’s this misconception that sales psychology is all about tapping into someone’s brain and manipulating them to buy things they don’t want or need. Like it’s teaching us how to be mental manipulation ninjas that bully people into spending their money or something!
But honestly, sales psychology–when you’re doing it ethically!–isn’t actually about bullying people into buying. It’s about understanding your dream peoples’ brains so that you can communicate to them in the best way possible.
There’s no denying sales psychology is about selling–but it’s about selling better and more. Selling isn’t just about making money–it’s about finding your dream clients, helping them, getting feedback to make your services or products better, and changing their lives.
Your dream people have desires. They have problems. You can help them reach those desires and solve those problems. But you can’t do that unless you sell to them, you dig? Also–and I’m just throwing this out there as a messy afterthought but we should all know and believe this–making money isn’t a bad thing.
A Few Principles of Sales Psychology (For a Little Context)
Before we roll into this list with all the excitement in the world (because that’s how I feel about sales psychology principles, too), I want to be so clear with you– this is not a comprehensive list of principles.
Maybe I’ll get to that someday (and you have my solemn vow that I’ll update this blog and add more over time), but for now, this is a great foundational start for any sales psych newbie!
Storytelling: really good stories we resonate trigger oxytocin, endorphins and dopamine in our brains that help us remember, connect with us, and inspire us. Microstories in your web copy, storytelling on your IG, spinning a tale in your email newsletter–telling stories for your people is a must!
Behind the Scenes & Exclusivity: Did you know our brains love a BTS moment? If we can pull back the curtain, we can create an exclusive experience for our people–and everyone loves to feel special. BTS and exclusivity make our people feel like they’re watching the director’s cut of a movie–they know the ins and outs, so they know us.
Priming: Priming is how we use subconsious stimuli through senses, environment, experience, etc. to influence our conscious decisions. In other words, it’s under the radar marketing that nudges our unconscious brain to make a conscious decision. Think of it like this. Let’s say you’re a restaurant owner and you over-ordered French wine. You don’t want to get in your customers’ faces and scream about your wine selection to move product. That’s pushy, instead, you hang French art and play French music–your people are suddenly feeling a little more inclined to give that French wine a go.
(Lack of) Reactance: What’s your first thought when someone tries to force you to do something? “Absolutely the hell not” is mine. And that’s not unique to me. Reactance is a sales tactic that usually doesn’t work–which means your people are more likely to respond to a lack of reactance tactic. Don’t make it feel like you’re pressuring your people–the decision belongs to THEM. The ball ins THEIR court. They are free to do what they please and what’s best for them. That kind of lack of reactance strips away the pressure (and the ick!).
Compare & Contrast Advertising (Transformative Principles): Have you ever looked at those before and after photos from some weight loss company and just thought, “Damn! I’m convinced!” Whether weight loss is on your list of to-dos or not, you probably played out that full transformation of yourself in your mind. Right? That’s because our brains love to see a full transformation clearly spelled out for us. It’s not enough to just show us the before or the after–we need to see the full possibility, the full scope of transformation, to get the picture. Don’t force people to guess about the transformation you can offer–show them.
Loss Aversion: Listen, gaining something is great–but we’re far more motivated to keep what we have than gain something new. In fact, as humans, we’re terrified to lose what we have. That’s why speaking to things your people don’t want to lose is a powerful way to inspire them to take action. Let’s say you’re a Pinterest manager marketing to moms who run businesses. You know they love their biz, but they also want to spend more time with their kids. Promising them a boost in their income might work–gaining that cash might inspire some of them to take action. But ultimately, they feel like time is a thief–and the more time they work on their pinterest (instead of letting you work on their business), the less they have with their kiddos. They’re terrified to lose that time. See the difference?
Question & Answer Callbacks: Our brains get an absolute kick out of asking questions that apply to us. Then, when we can answer that question with a “yep! That’s me!” we get a wave of dopamine. Why? Because we’re a little bit self-involved–we love when things are about us. And we like feeling in control of our purchasing decisions. This principle works really well with CTA buttons where you ask a question, then the CTA button is the answer. For example, instead of “create social media strategy that saves you time,” you could ask “Want an IG strategy plan that doesn’t include having your phone glued to your hand?” then answering it with a CTA button that says “I needed that yesterday,” you’re more compelled to inspire action.
Price Anchoring: This principle basically creates bias for our customers. Instead of just listing a price ($75), we anchor the OG price at $100–then put the product on sale for $75. Giving our people a reference point connects the dots for people–showing them how good the discount really is instead of making them guess.
Nostalgia: Tapping into nostalgia basically means tapping into the ooey-gooey experiences and good feelings that make us feel happy, inspired, and, well, good. That happens when we open up to our people, share personal experiences, and create memories with and for them–that’s a positive connection, and they’re associating you with a positive feeling.
Reciprocity: This is considered one of the basic principles of sales psychology. Essentially, in most social situations, humans are inclined to pay back what they received from others. So, if I do you a favor–you might feel obligated or nudged to return the favor. That’s why so many people share freebies with their audience. You give them something (free value!) before you ask for something in return (to buy from you).
Unity: As humans, we all have an urge for community. Humans have this built-in desire to belong and be part of a much bigger purpose. When you include your people and make them feel like they’re part of something bigger than just buying, you fill in that desire to belong (and can likely convert easier).
Scarcity: Honestly? We want what’s almost out of stock. We want what other people have. We want to get our hands on something before its gone. (Um, hello, Black Friday). We assigne higher value to things when we think they’re less available.
Social Proof: We want to see things with our own eyes! But more than that, we want to know other people di something so we can do it, too. We’re sort of assuming the actions of others to reflect the correct behavior. In other words, you’re easily convinced to eat at a restaurant that 3k people gave 5 stars to, but it’s a harder sell to eat at a restaurant that 3 people gave 5 stars to.
Liking: People want to buy from people. But it’s not always that simple. People want to buy from people they like, vibe with, would get a beer with, trust, would ally with on survivor. Liking plays a huge role in whether or not someone buys from you because ultimately, if they don’t like you, the ick factor keeps them from pulling the trigger.
Authority: This principle suggests that people are more likely to purchase from you if you’re an authority in your industry. Why? We tend to think that if someone has more knowledge in an industry than we do, it’s cool to trust that person. Implicitly, we just kind of view people who are “industry experts” as having more knowledge than us–therefore, we’re more likely to listen to them (and buy from them).
Choice Paralysis: Also called the paradox of choice. Essentially, our brains get overwhelmed really easily. And science tells us an overwhelmed brain will likely choose to not take action to protect itself from the feeling of “Um, IDK what to do, I’m a failure.” In other words, more options = more effort. The fewer options you can offer, the easier the decision is–instead of THIS or THAT or THAT or THAT, it’s yes or no. That’s it.
Words That Sell: A Must for Every Business Owner
I hate to do the I’m pitching you thing but I do want to make this super clear–if you’re just sort of throwing spaghetti at the walls with your words and hoping something sticks, you could be missing out on sales.
At Boundless, we blend sales psych into every little thing we write–your sales pages, your web copy, heck, even your blogs! Why? Because sales pysch (when it’s done right) helps you understand your people so well that selling to them is easy and effortless (and doesn’t feel icky).
You want to chat about how we can work together? Click the let’s chat button, fill out our form, and I’ll schedule a call with you to see what we can do for your amazing brand.
