At the most basic level, the key motivator of all human behavior is the question of avoiding pain and seeking out pleasure. In literally everything you can think of, this is the case. Even in cases where someone is running a marathon and enduring unimaginable pain, they associate this pain with the pleasure of completing the race.
The same goes for childbirth with the joy of bringing life into the world and nearly any other painful endeavor that ultimately leads to pleasure. With that in mind, it becomes much easier to figure out what people want and how they will behave.
With all of this in mind, one of the most effective techniques is the A to Z technique. You take a person from the starting point and get them further along by providing them with an actionable way to achieve pleasure in the shortest amount of steps possible.
So, if you were to provide a free sample of your service without the need for a credit card, your leads will be at point Y and will only need to take that last step into step Z where they buy your service.
Novelty
As humans, we are hardwired to like novelty. New things trigger the release of dopamine in our brains, which is the feel-good chemical associated with love and happiness. This is exactly why phone and car manufacturers constantly roll out new models every couple of months.
We all know that these new versions are barely superior to the previous models, but we still buy the new versions, mostly out of the novelty of them. This is the same reason why you’ll see something new being sold for a limited time only. Manufacturers could easily release the new item and have it available all through the year, but this would take away the feeling of novelty and scarcity.
Explain Why
As human beings, we’re constantly creating stories and movies in our heads. These are stories and movies in the form of thoughts and descriptions about the past, present, and future. The one core thing that all stories have in common is that they make sense. In essense, they’re making meaning out of chaos.
Making meaning out of chaos is exactly what people do on a daily basis, answering questions in their minds and figuring out new information. It’s by incorporating this knowledge into your ad copy that you can increase sales.
You can directly ask the question why the lead would want to choose you and then answer that question directly and succinctly. If people are given the answer to questions, even if they didn’t ask those questions, they’ll be more likely to take you on. The reason for this is that you’ve just made meaning out of chaos for them.
Tell a Story
As we just mentioned earlier, people are constantly making stories and movies in their heads with thoughts. It’s best to work with this natural process than against it in your sales.
Don’t be afraid to take a leap of faith and start telling a story with your service or product. The story could be only tangentially related to it, it doesn’t matter. Hearing stories triggers the same emotional part of the brain that’s activated when people are making a purchase.
There’s almost no limit to the power of stories when you look into the effects that they have over people. Telling a story essentially puts the listener in the world of the story itself, which will allow them to better identify with you and what you’re trying to sell. It seems like magic, but it’s just simple psychology.
At the most basic level, the key motivator of all human behavior is the question of avoiding pain and seeking out pleasure. In literally everything you can think of, this is the case. Even in cases where someone is running a marathon and enduring unimaginable pain, they associate this pain with the pleasure of completing the race.
Just as we’ve seen with this key motivator, so have we seen the effects of other motivators as well. Don’t be afraid of novelty, asking why, and telling a story on your way to success.
