the best psychological triggers to use in marketing

Marketing has a lot of moving parts.

But 1 thing never changes:

Psychology.

Nobody's ever bought something because of clean logic.

They feel it first.
Then the logic shows up after to make them feel smart about the decision.

Like when you buy the $40 candle because it smells like your childhood,
then tell yourself it's basically home decor.

Good marketing plays to the feeling on purpose.
Bad marketing skips straight to a discount code and hopes that's enough.

There's a specific list of triggers behind almost every purchase decision, whether the brand meant to use it or not.

Here are 9 of them, and how to use each one without it feeling sleazy:

1️⃣ FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out)
↳ People fear losing out more than they value gaining.
↳ Use deadlines and limited stock to make hesitating feel riskier than buying.

2️⃣ Curiosity
↳ People click when there's a gap between what they know and want to know.
↳ Tease the insight but save the answer for the click, comment, or DM.

3️⃣ Social proof
↳ People trust what other people have already validated.
↳ Use ratings, press, and reviews.

4️⃣ Authority
↳ People follow brands that sound like they know what they're doing.
↳ Back every claim with a specific number, a client result, or a named source.

5️⃣ Trust
↳ People buy from brands that lower their risk first.
↳ Guarantees and verified reviews do this.

6️⃣ Belonging
↳ People want proof they're joining something others already trust.
↳ Show the numbers so joining feels like catching up, instead of taking a risk.

7️⃣ Reciprocity
↳ People feel obligated to engage after getting value first.
↳ Lead with something useful, e.g. a free audit or a calculator they didn't have to ask for.

8️⃣ Familiarity
↳ People buy from brands they've seen before, instead of the brands they just found.
↳ Say the same message the same way across every channel, until it stops sounding like an ad and starts sounding like something they already knew.

9️⃣ Aspiration
↳ People buy the outcome, not the product.
↳ Show the transformation, instead of just the features.

Use one per campaign.

Throwing all 9 into a single post just reads like a used car ad.

Pick the one that matches what your customer needs to feel in that moment.

Which one does your brand lean on the most?

♻️ Repost this if your team needs a refresher before the next campaign.
And follow me, Jacob Rokeach, for more on how growth gets built.