Neuroselling is a marketing concept aimed at using neuroscience in sales. Simply put, this is a marketing strategy that uses neuroscience to influence buying decisions. The good news is that salespeople do not need an MMedSci in neurology to apply these principles — a reasonable understanding of sales psychology is usually enough.
Besides, there is a close link to Robert Cialdini’s seven principles of persuasion — and you probably heard of these effective sales techniques before. If not, we will explain the connection between neuromarketing and persuasion principles, giving some actionable tips on using both to drive more sales.
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Link Between Neuromarketing & Sales Psychology
Both Cialdini’s psychological principles of persuasion and neuromarketing, with its focus on neuroscience, are aimed at influencing buying decisions. But while neuromarketing is more concerned with studying how the brain physically responds to stimuli, Cialdini’s techniques focus on sales psychology incentives that make buyers say ‘yes’ and make that purchase.
These two strategies support and supplement each other, so it makes sense to analyze them side by side. Let’s take a closer look at Cialdini’s seven sales psychology principles to see which neuroscience facts back them up and how this knowledge can help drive sales.
7 Principles of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini
Reciprocity
Cialdini’s principle: People feel obliged to return favors.
Neuromarketing link: Neuromarketing studies show that the brain’s reward center, aka pleasure center, activates when people receive something.
How it works in sales: Free ebooks, trial subscriptions, discounts, and all other sorts of freebies imaginable are not just ‘test drives’ to show how good your product is. Our brain loves the free gifts; these freebies become ‘reciprocity hooks,’ urging people to give something in return — pay for a full-scale subscription, leave a good review, refer a friend, etc. Eventually, freebies translate into purchases. But, of course, you should not fail the ‘test drive’ either — faulty products are not seen as ‘favors,’ so no one will bother reciprocating.
Commitment and Consistency
Cialdini’s principle: Once people decide to support something, they stick to their ideas.
Neuromarketing link: Making decisions — simply put, choosing — is not easy for us. Too many choices are stressful for the brain, so people start making decisions/new choices only when absolutely necessary.
How it works in sales: brands taking small steps to build loyalty always win in the end. Since decision-making is tough, commitments should be nurtured slowly, too — you can’t rush decisions on customers. But when a committed connection is made, customers tend to stay loyal. Avoiding new choices saves us a lot of time and effort — no matter if we’re shopping for tech or groceries. By building (and keeping) trust with their regular customers, brands can secure a steady source of revenue.
Social Proof
Cialdini’s principle: People trust things endorsed by others, especially in uncertain situations.
Neuromarketing link: The first connection is that we dislike choosing and welcome any help we can get; second — social validation activates the reward/pleasure center in our brain through dopamine release.
How it works in sales: We usually believe people when they praise us (because it feels good, thanks to the reward center in our brain). So, we are ready to believe other people praising goods and services. The more positive testimonials, the better. Brands should encourage customers to share positive feedback, which eventually attracts more leads.
Authority
Cialdini’s principle: People are more likely to take action when told/inspired so by an authoritative figure.
Neuromarketing link: The decision-making process does not activate any pleasure centers in our dopamine-addicted brains, which is why we avoid choosing at all costs. When the choice must be made, we would rather follow someone we trust and spare ourselves the decision-making trouble.
How it works in sales: Pretty much the same as it works with social proof, but with a focus on credibility rather than numbers. Influencer marketing is such a powerful advertising channel because it combines authority and social proof, sparing our brain most of the decision-making effort.
Liking
Cialdini’s principle: We are more likely to buy from people we like.
Neuromarketing link: Emotional connection is the cornerstone of neuroselling. From a purely biological perspective, our brain’s limbic systems are open loops that ‘catch’ moods from other people. Laughter, in particular, can physically make our brains switch from the logical left side to the emotional right.
How it works in sales: Emotional intelligence in sales has many applications, from creating stories that appeal to emotions and inspire social sharing to reading the non-verbal cues in direct communication and making them serve the seller’s benefit.
Scarcity
Cialdini’s principle: Rare and exclusive things have greater appeal.
Neuromarketing link: The amygdala, part of our brain responsible for generating fear, is activated by stress and anxiety. Missing something valuable or limited activates the amygdala and results in the Fear of Missing Out (FOMO).
How it works in sales: FOMO is one of the effective approaches in marketing that can skyrocket sales. Exclusive releases, limited-time offers, and product scarcity force people to act — that is, to buy.
Unity
Cialdini’s principle: People want to be a part of the community.
Neuromarketing link: Connection and a sense of belonging generate dopamine — a primary hormone that activates our brain’s pleasure center. Besides dopamine, the feeling of social belonging generates oxytocin, a.k.a. the love hormone.
How it works in sales: Think of Apple fans waiting in line for hours to get a new iPhone, people driving the same luxury car make, or even vegetarians — they are all part of their respective communities. Careful targeting, understanding of your audience’s needs, and basic insight into their consumer behavior can influence buying decisions in a salesperson’s favor.
More Examples of Neuroscience in Sales
Despite a clear connection between sales psychology and neuroscience, there are a few tricks the brain responds to almost unconditionally. Usually, this unconditional response is so quick that the conscious level does not even have the time to ‘kick in.’ Here are some of the most efficient strategies to activate this subconscious decision-making process.
Neurologically Powerful Words
Wording is a powerful tool for conveying your message and appealing to the right, emotional side of the brain. Most often, neurologically powerful words are used to create the feeling of scarcity and activate FOMO. For example:
- Free
- New
- Exclusive
- Limited
- Proven
- Guaranteed, etc.
Personal pronouns — especially you — can help build an emotional connection. It is also possible to use we to create a feeling of community and belonging. Depending on the industry, neurologically powerful words may also include innovation, results, instant, etc.
Anchoring
In sales, anchoring means creating a price point that customers can later use as a reference. To establish this pricing point, marketers usually set a high price and gradually decrease it until reaching a value acceptable to the target audience. If used wisely, this strategy can activate a couple of other neurological drivers, too.
A gradually diminished price (especially when advertised as a limited-time offer) appeals to our fear of missing out, and snatching the deal inspires the feeling of reciprocity. So, when marketing new goods, one can kill a few other birds with the same stone before reaching that acceptable price point.
Visuals and strategic placement play a huge part in using anchoring to influence consumer behavior. Think about any time you paid for a subscription — the best deal is always in the center and is carefully highlighted, just like in the example image above.
In e-commerce and SEO, eye tracking is used to analyze the best spots for strategic ad or CTA placement, along with other elements, such as color and contrasts, that catch the website visitors’ attention.
Comprehensible Offer Personalization
Personalization can be a very powerful tool when clients understand the logic behind personalized offers. For example, when a store sends suggestions based on previous purchases — similar products, add-ons, etc. On the other hand, an offer from a suitcase-selling store after a single Google search for plane tickets can put off even the least paranoid of people. Often, such cases are sheer coincidences and have nothing to do with the sharing of user data between different parties. This, once again, strengthens the need for careful targeting to ensure consumers understand why they received this offer and trust the seller who makes it.
Takeaway
Neuroselling is a powerful concept that applies to absolutely every industry — and will remain so for as long as we do not re-assign our shopping to AI. But even if that happens (which is no longer such a distant possibility), neuroscience in sales will still retain most of its decision-influencing power — because the human brain runs on hormones and can feel very good. The release of pleasant hormones, like dopamine and oxytocin, leads to a kind of drug addiction that urges us to pursue enjoyable experiences further and further.
And since the hormone-generating process happens unconsciously, appeal to neuroscience in sales and marketing is a perfect example of hidden, unobtrusive advertising that does not alert the rational ‘critic’ in our left-side brain. Depending on the product specific, marketers should try to engage as many subconscious sales techniques as possible — from creating a sense of exclusivity and belonging to stimulating human emotions with colors. If you would like to learn more about that, you can read our separate post on the use of color in email marketing. The principles described there work for all digital marketing channels, not just email!
