How Buyer Psychology Helps Increase Conversion in an Online Store

The popularity of marketplaces is steadily growing year over year, and competition among online stores is rapidly increasing. Nevertheless, opening a business and making good money through online trading is still possible.

To stand out and thrive, it’s not always about spending more; it’s about thinking smarter.

So, how can sales be increased without extra investment, even in harsh competition conditions? How can you start selling online without fear of going broke?

Those who understand the basics of consumer behavior psychology always have an advantage. Let me detail how to use this knowledge to your business’s benefit.

The basis of any marketing strategy is interaction with the buyer. It is a misconception to think that studying only the technical side of online trading or hiring a white label SEO Philippines to boost your visibility is enough. One must purchase a product, place it on a popular trading platform, and make a profit.

In reality, everything is not so clear-cut. Even identical products may sell well for one seller but lead to losses for another. The key differentiator is an understanding of buyer behavior and the psychological mechanisms driving sales.

Understanding your audience and their needs can help you build relationships, craft personalized offers, and influence purchasing decisions more easily.

First, let’s look at the concept itself. Sales psychology is a science that emerged at the intersection of psychology and trade. It studies effective communication strategies for selling goods or services, psychological techniques for convincing clients, and the factors that motivate a person to buy something.

A purchase is more than just acquiring a product; it is driven by deeper motivations. Some buyers seek status and belonging, while others prioritize convenience and are willing to pay a premium. Others may focus on efficiency, aiming to save time for self-development.

In 95% of cases, we make a purchase decision unconsciously and then find a rational explanation. That’s how our brain works. Marketers have long used this feature to manage sales.

There are no ideal models of consumer behavior that you can take and use for your business. Economic conditions change, trends change, and people themselves change, too. Study your audience constantly, and you will have an advantage over your competitors. This will allow you to:

• Choose the best promotion channels.
• Make advertising campaigns more effective.
• Predict fluctuations in demand.
• Adapt products to customer needs.

In designing product cards for websites, it’s common to place images on the left and accompanying text on the right. This layout aligns with many cultures’ natural left-to-right reading patterns, facilitating a smoother user experience. The notion that this arrangement is based on the left hemisphere of the brain processing visual information and the right hemisphere handling text is a misconception. In reality, both hemispheres collaborate in processing various types of information.

Therefore, the preference for placing images on the left and text on the right in product cards is rooted in optimizing user experience based on reading habits rather than interpreting hemispheric brain functions.

Since buyers cannot physically touch the product, high-quality images should help them visualize it. Object placement plays a crucial role in this process. For example, if displaying a garden tool, ensure the handle points to the right, as most people are right-handed – this triggers the unconscious desire to reach for and own the item. Similarly, appealingly demonstrating products enhances their desirability.

For instance, showing the juicy filling of a pastry or the golden crust of freshly baked bread, making it irresistible to potential buyers.

Putting information on a picture helps to catch attention, but do it carefully. The quality of the font and the content of the text are key. Both should not cause negative emotions, especially a feeling of pressure. The text on the picture encourages you to go to the description, get more information, make sure you made the right choice, and buy.

Here’s an example representing a product within an infographic:

Placing a logo on a photo with a product is an additional plus for well-known brands. The buyer trusts a familiar brand and makes a purchase decision faster. It’s advisable to place the logo on the left. Psychologically, this better focuses attention on the product image.

Its influence on human mood and behavior has been well studied. Each shade evokes specific emotions that should be strategically used in product design. For instance, blue conveys calmness, making it ideal for sleep and relaxation products, whereas red stimulates energy and should be used sparingly to avoid overwhelming users. To discover the psychology of colors in marketing and branding, you may find this resource helpful.

In most cases, buyer behavior before purchase fits into the classic model, which consists of five stages:

A person understands that he or she needs a particular product or service for various reasons. These may be important events or new life circumstances, such as the birth of a child, a job change, a new hobby, upcoming holidays, etc. Sometimes, a person does not realize this need due to a lack of information, but an advertisement or article about a new product or service can form this need.

After realizing the need, the future buyer begins searching for the most convenient, simple, and profitable solution. He reads reviews and other people’s comments and consults with friends and acquaintances. As a result, he makes his choice. Do you want to know what is in great demand right now? Turn to web analytics services that collect search query statistics.

When the buyer clearly understands what he needs, he compares different offers. And here, the price is not always in the first place. Convenience of ordering, speed of delivery, the ability to refuse a purchase, and other important little things form the product’s value. Therefore, it is so essential for successful sales to create offers that distinguish you from competitors. Read reviews and conduct surveys to understand what is valuable to your customers.

The most crucial moment is that you can fail if you do not understand what is essential for different types of buyers. Below, we will tell you more about this. Statistics show that an online purchase process should be completed in no more than five steps. Guiding buyers with clear call-to-action buttons such as ‘Continue,’ ‘Choose,’ and ‘Pay’ can improve conversion. Most abandoned purchases result from complex navigation, unexpected costs, or insufficient product information.

This critical stage directly affects customer loyalty, as buyers purchase not just a product but also status, emotions, and a new image. Therefore, a person should not regret the money spent, and interaction with the buyer does not end at the moment of payment. For instance, poor packaging, which can damage the product, or excessively long delivery times, especially when the order becomes irrelevant (e.g., a gift), can spoil the impression. Conversely, attaching a small gift or offering a bonus for the next order makes the purchase even more pleasant. Consequently, the client is more likely to return to you again.

The online shopping process is slightly different from what we are used to offline, but it is also determined by consumer psychology. Knowing the types of buyers and understanding how to interact with them will help increase sales without additional costs, only through content and the correct presentation of information in product cards.

Buyers with high price sensitivity. They monitor all possible stores and choose based on cost. Or rather, based on the optimal price-quality ratio. To attract such clients, hold promotions, sales, and implement a system of incentive bonuses.

This category of buyers attaches great importance to visual information: beautiful photos, videos, and infographics. For such customers, use high-quality pictures with lots of details, video reviews of how to use the product, and reviews with photos in product cards. The longer they stay on the site, the higher the purchase probability.

Buyers who know what they need – a specific product of a particular brand with specified characteristics. They need to find a suitable option quickly. To bring such a client to a purchase, provide them with a simple and convenient search for the desired product. Make convenient navigation, filters, and recommendations for search queries in the catalogue.

This category, on the contrary, does not know what it wants. Such buyers need to understand the issue well, get as much information as possible, and learn from someone’s opinion. Attract them with quality content: valuable articles, detailed reviews, feedback, and links to authoritative sources.

People for whom social status is very important choose recognizable brands with a good reputation. Such buyers are attracted by emotionally charged advertising, high-quality service, and the most understandable and shortest way to purchase the desired product in a few steps. Provide them with this in your store and get loyal customers for whom price is not of primary importance.

Online shopping has become a form of entertainment, just like scrolling through a social media feed. And not every visitor to an online store becomes a buyer. According to Fogg’s behavioral model, three factors motivate a person to make a purchase:

Understanding your audience allows you to influence this factor through content, advertising, and the correct product presentation in the catalogue.

The ability to perform a target action implies whether a person has all the necessary capabilities: skills, time, and finances. The simpler and shorter the path to purchase, the higher the conversion. Many online stores offer installments for some categories of goods to attract less solvent customers.

A factor that pushes a person to buy here and now. Without it, the second step does not work. A clear call to action, tooltip buttons, notifications about promotions, social proof in the form of reviews, and a time limit increase the likelihood of a purchase many times over.

How can you use this knowledge to ultimately get your online store visitors to buy something? Here are some tips.

Lack of information often leads to doubts about the correctness of the choice. To avoid this, it is necessary to:

• Take atmospheric photos of good quality from different angles; the more detailed they are, the better.
• Implement a function on the website to enlarge the image when the cursor hovers over it.
• Supplement the cards with a video review to better demonstrate the properties and characteristics of the product.
• Use 360° photography, which allows you to rotate an object along a horizontal axis and view it from all sides.

Study what customers need and tell them how your product satisfies these needs. The buyer should find all the comprehensive information in the description. Then they will not look for an alternative and will be more likely to buy from you.

Conclusion

To develop your online store, you must first pay attention to potential buyers’ psychology. Study what motivates them to buy and what needs are satisfied. Use the information obtained when creating a store website and product cards. Make the path from getting to know the product to purchasing it as convenient and straightforward as possible. Then, you will have steadily growing sales and loyal customers who will recommend your online store to others.

About the Author

Passionate about crafting engaging content, building opportunities, and staying ahead of social trends. I love exploring new ways to connect and share stories with the world.