3 Non-Conscious Motivators that will Boost your Conversions

I’ll never forget:

I’m curled up in my friend’s trunk, 32 degrees outside, on route to the beach. We’ve just finished our last high school exam and it’s celebration time! Suddenly, my phone rings: Mom. She gets the ‘congratulations’ and “be safe” out of the way and proceeds to tell me that our cat, Millie, has just had a kitten! Even in that trunk, I could hear the deep excitement in her voice. Named Tiger, because she looks like a tiger (creative bunch, my family), she and my mom have been inseparable ever since. They sleep together, they watch movies together, my mom even got her a passport so they could travel together! It’s a beautiful thing. Anyway, the other day was Tiger’s 12th birthday. In their most recent development, Tiger and my mom started a design page on instagram called @tigerdoesdeco - it’s incredibly cute. If you’re into kitties, design, or arts & crafts, definitely check it out ??

Everything written above is true.

But, according to Persuasion Theory, it’s also something called “Liking”. In just a few sentences, I’ve humanized myself, my mom and Tiger while creating some common ground with any pet lovers reading this article. Studies have shown that “Liking”, or embodying a trait that your audience identifies with, is a powerful way to make them like you. As it turns out, (perhaps not surprisingly) we like people who share our interests. Even more clear in Persuasion Theory, is that once a consumer likes you, they’re much more likely to buy what you’re offering. As a result, Liking is a widely-used marketing technique for non-conscious motivation. 

In recent articles, I’ve talked a lot about catching your audience’s attention - be it in sales emails or on your personal website. Today, I thought I’d share some tricks (like Liking) for making the most of the attention you’ve captured. Whether it a sale, a donation or a job interview you’re after; here are 3 Non-Conscious Motivators that will Improve your Conversions:

(As usual, I’ve kept it light for easy reading. If you’d like to dive further into this theory, I recommend looking up Robert Cialdini’s 6 Rules of Persuasion, which include the 3 mentioned today (my favourites), as well as ‘Scarcity”, “Reciprocity” and “Consistency”. Moreover, please feel free to leave a comment to discuss further!)

#1 Liking:  “We’re just like you, and you’re great!”

As explained above, Liking is based on the idea that we are influenced by those we like, we trust those we like and we buy from those we like. This is why your realtor compliments your shoes, or your taste in kitchens as she shows you around a property. What is perhaps most interesting of all, is that even though I’ve spilled the beans, her doing this will still be effective! Studies have found that even compliments we know to be insincere still make us statistically more likely to buy. Bunch of softies I tell ya! 

The takeaways here? First of all, be nice! Find common ground with your audience by showing them that you share similar values or interests. If that’s hard to do, compliment them! Secondly, make sure to do this early. If you hide your “liking cues” too deep in your website or ad, they’re less likely to be seen. 

Example: PetSmart employees don’t have a picture of themselves on their nametags, instead they have a picture of their pet. “We’re pet-people too, we’re just like you!”

#2 Social Proof: “Everybody’s doing it, don’t you wanna be cool?” 

One of the most commonly-used techniques, particularly in the digital age, is Social Proof. By showing you how many others use a product or service, marketers are creating trust at a non-conscious level. Most commonly, you see these cues in forms like, “More than 50,000 love-seekers use our dating app” or “Our educational videos are seen by millions of people every month” but you can apply Social Proof in a variety of ways. 

Example: The tax department in Austin, Texas was struggling to get citizens to pay their taxes on time. They tried a variety of changes to their copy, including threats of penalty, incentives and other persuasive language. What had the biggest effect?

“Most Austin citizens pay their taxes on time.”

This simple, one-line social proof was powerful enough to cause a 9% increase in on-time tax payments. It’s funny how badly we want to fit in!

Amping Up your Proofs: There are proven ways to get the most out of social proofs. 1) Use specific numbers. If you have 12,833 subscribers, say so! The temptation to say 12K is understandable (for fluidity and visual aesthetic) but has actually been proven to dampen trust, relative to specific numbers. 2) Use emotive language. When working with non-conscious motivators, building emotional ties is critical. Instead of saying ‘9 thousand doctors use our tool’, say they ‘prefer’ it. Instead of saying they “subscribe” to your service, say they “enjoy” it. Lastly, 3) use pictures and videos! Visuals are always more impactful, but this is especially true in social proof. Throw the customer’s picture next to their testimonials to heavily amp up the effect! 

#3 Authority: “Trust me, I’m wearing a lab coat”

While Social Proof prompts you to follow the masses, Authority prompts you to follow the experts. You may have seen the actor in your favourite orange juice commercial wearing a lab coat and safety goggles. The psychology here is that we are subconsciously trained to put people (and things) into categories based on immediate clues. Hacking this system allows marketers to build influence with you simply by suggesting that their orange juice actor is a scientific expert. Because who doesn’t want scientifically-perfected OJ in the morning? 

Authority can be created in a variety of ways. Do you have a happy customer that is an expert in the field? Ask them for a testimonial! Even if they say no to a full testimonial (people are busy these days), include their logo on your website or promotions! Simply seeing trustworthy logos will make your audience more likely to trust you. How about awards? Has your product won an award? Feature it in your message! I’ll bet many of you reading this don’t know much about JD Power & Associates, who they are, how they operate, or what criteria they base their decisions on. I’m in this field, and I didn’t even know. What I did know though, was that the Ford truck in the commercial won 3 JD Power awards, so it must be good! 

The power of Authority is all around and us and is incredibly influential to our perceptions and decision-making. If you don’t have any credible customers, awards or willing endorsers, you have to build your own authority. 

Example: A funny, but very true example of building authority, is Brian Massey; a conversion expert who literally wears lab coats to every talk. He states that his content is so effective and scientifically-based that he is essentially a scientist. Though whimsical, this approach does create a memorable experience for his audience and a subconscious cue that he is worth paying attention to. 

Successfully attracting your audience’s attention is no easy feat - so congratulations! Keeping it however, and creating a lasting relationship, is another battle altogether. We’re often tempted to plead to logic, leaving emotional or subconscious triggers exclusively for the “attention-grabbing phase” - but this is a mistake. Keep up the emotive language! It’s the same emotional brain you are targeting even after you’ve captured their attention. By leveraging Cialdini’s Non-Conscious Motivation Principles, you can continue the emotional connection and ultimately improve your conversions. 

If you find this content interesting, please feel free to comment or message me to discuss it further! As I continue my CXL Digital Psychology mini-degree, I will be pondering these concepts and writing weekly articles on the subject matter.

Until next time friends! Don’t forget to give @tigerdoesdeco a follow on instagram - much love!