A cognitive bias, the framing effect plays a significant role in the world of marketing and is not taken lightly by marketers. It works on the basis that human brains respond to the context of the information being presented to them and not just the item or product per se. So there needs to be more emphasis on how something is being conveyed, than what is being conveyed.
Marketing is all about creating a need with the target audience and making them wish for the brand’s product or service. With the right keywords and taglines, customers can be coerced into picking your brand and your product over the competitions’ product offerings. Or it can be used to divert attention from something sensitive like price. For example, retailers highlight features like Free delivery, Free product etc. to divert attention from the price of the product.
How to use Framing Effect to boost conversion rates?
Framing effect can be thought of as inducing shortcuts into customers’ thought processes to make them take actions faster, and in particular to choose your products over your competitors’ offers. An average customer is not aware of their cognitive biases. They feel their decisions are logical and carefully thought out.
Hence, using the framing effect, customers can be made to react to your products. Even though the information may be the same, human brains can be coerced to choose in favour of your brand.
Customer purchase decisions can be maneuvered towards your brand by telling them that only a certain amount of products are remaining. Immediate purchase is more likely than if they get to know of discounts for the same products. Hence the fear of missing out is a stronger influencer than discounts.
If your stock is low, convey that they would miss out if they don’t buy now, instead of saying they would be the last few to get the product.
Include a feature where you tell customers how many others are looking at the same product. This would create a sense of urgency and make people want to buy your product before others get their hands on it or before it runs out of stock.
Set a definite end date to vouchers and deals you may be offering so that customers feel pressured to purchase right away, rather than keeping it for later. When faced with an urgent deadline, customers will feel like taking action on a decision immediately.
When you talk about your rewards program, talk about what customers would lose out on if they don’t opt for the program instead of what they would gain. Financial loss can make customers take notice of something that they probably won’t as in the case of a financial gain.
Marketers have to walk the thin like between influencing and misleading, and ensure the information presented to target audience is such that it resonates with them. Framing taps into the inherent biases that people have and works on these to compel them to take actions favouring brands.
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