The Psychology of Black Friday
Hello All,
Many of us (often in spite of ourselves) are at least somewhat interested (and often excited) about Black Friday and Cyber Monday without, perhaps, even knowing why. I thought it would be interesting to (superficially) explore the psychology behind this phenomenon.
According to this article , there are 3 main “mental blindspots” namely loss aversion, restraint bias and the bandwagon effect that make BF/CM sales deeply compelling. To expound - we feel the pain of loss far more severely than the pleasure of gain, we are more impulsive than we think we are and we are inclined to rally to the majority opinion or “jump on the bandwagon” or engage in mob mentality.
Then there is FOMO (as the kids like to refer to the fear of missing out). This is tied into the regret of either buying something impulsively or not buying it and watching the price go up later. Of course, the very act of making a desirable purchase increases dopamine which is our pleasure activating hormone. It is akin to eating a delicious meal or having a great conversation. The desire to increase our dopamine levels is very useful to, among others, gambling establishments and drug peddlers.
Marketing has become significantly more sophisticated in recent years as they mine psychological research and come up with techniques that seduce consumers into buying their products and services. For example, FOMO is activated by creating a “limited time offer” (how often have you seen this?) so that if you don’t act fast you might be feel the regret of not buying the thing much more keenly. However, if you are able to grab a deal, you might feel a sense of empowerment and success.
Interestingly, the colour red is used overwhelmingly in sale marketing due to its association with passion, love and energy. It accesses our feelings rather than our intellect which is useful when making impulsive purchases.
Marketers harness the bandwagon effect which is tied in to wanting to belong by indicating that other people like you are making the same decision.
Anchor pricing is a simple, yet highly effective pricing strategy. A shop might have many items which are expensive with a small selection that are reasonably priced. To customers, these cheaper items are a bargain which triggers their “getting a deal” instinct and are more likely to make a purchase.
It can be unsettling to realize that we are not as rational as we sometimes want to believe and that there are a host of psychological techniques that can be used to disarm our critical thinking. Often our decision to buy is driven by an emotional and/or hormonal impulse, helped along by crafty sales techniques that are often very subtle yet deeply powerful at the same time.
