“We, as humans, love decision-making shortcuts. We’re hardwired to rely on them. The reason is we can’t possibly weigh every bit of information before we make a decision, or we’d just never get around to making any.”—Nancy Harhut
In this #ContentChat recap, Erika Heald is joined by Nancy Harhut, co-founder and chief creative officer of HBT Marketing, to discuss how to tap into psychology to create better content marketing. Nancy explains three psychology principles that are proven to help you drive opens and sales, including plenty of insights from her book Using Behavioral Science In Marketing (which is one of our must-read books for marketers).
Watch the entire conversation on YouTube or read through the highlights below.
Unlock the Psychology of Persuasive Content Marketing
Nancy is versed in behavioral science, which studies what drives actions.
“When I say behavioral science, I’m talking about the study of why people do what they do. And then, from a marketer’s perspective, how can we increase the chances that they do what we want them to do?”—Nancy Harhut
Most decision-making happens subconsciously, but people will provide rational reasons for their actions.
“Behavioral scientists say that up to 95% of purchase decision-making takes place in the subconscious mind. And what’s interesting is, if you ask somebody why they did what they did—why they bought something, why they didn’t buy something, why they liked something, why they didn’t like something—they will give you a legitimate answer. They’ll point to something that makes a lot of sense and say, well, that’s why I did it, or that’s why I didn’t do it. But the truth is, very often, there’s more to the story. Very often, there are other factors at play that influence people’s decisions, and they’re not even aware of them.”—Nancy Harhut
Marketers can use these hardwired behaviors to their advantage to drive action from their buyers.
“What’s so cool about these decision-making shortcuts is we know that the human brain craves them. We know that people rely on them. We know that often they’re not aware of it. And as marketers, we can start to get out ahead of that and say, well, all right, since this is happening, what’s the best way for me to use that to inform my content? How can I use some of these decision-making shortcuts to make sure that people are more interested in my content, more likely to pay attention to it, and that they’re more likely to understand it?”—Nancy Harhut
Blend Rational and Emotional Appeals for Maximum Impact
Emotional appeals in content can inspire action.
“People make decisions for emotional reasons, and this is true in B2C and in B2B. We make decisions for emotional reasons, and then we justify those decisions with rational reasons.”—Nancy Harhut
“We need to resist the urge to just pummel people with the facts and all the technical information that we feel people need in order to make a decision, because while that helps, it’s not really what’s driving them. We really need to think about that higher level emotional need that’s going to be answered when they decide to buy our product or to subscribe to our service.”—Nancy Harhut
Subject Line Secrets: Make Your Emails Stand Out with the Von Restorff Effect
Making subject lines stand out can increase open rates.
“The Von Restorff effect is this idea that people notice and remember things that stand out from their surroundings, things that are different from their surroundings.”—Nancy Harhut
“From an email perspective, one of the first things we look at is the subject line. We look at the sender, and we look at the subject line. And there are things that we can do to our subject lines to make them different from most of the other subject lines that are going to show up in that inbox.”—Nancy Harhut
Use parentheses or brackets at the beginning of your subject line…
“We can enclose the first word or two of our subject line in brackets or parentheses, and World Data finds you can get a 28% lift in opening rates when you do that. And of course, the reason is most marketers aren’t doing that. If every marketer were, they’d just all blend in.”—Nancy Harhut
Use relevant emojis or special characters…
“Same thing with emojis. World Data is finding that you can get a 20-30% increase in open rates, B2C and B2B, using an emoji.”—Nancy Harhut
“You want to match the emoji you choose to the content you’re delivering, but emojis stand out.”—Nancy Harhut
“If you don’t want to go the emoji route, you can use what we call special characters. So it could be like the backslash, an asterisk, an exclamation point, some of the characters that are on the keyboard.”—Nancy Harhut
Selectively use all caps…
“We used to think, oh, we dare not all cap words. It’s going to make it seem like we’re shouting at our customers. And we certainly don’t want to all cap everything. But research shows that if we all cap fewer than 50% of the words in a subject line, we can actually get a 21% lift in opening rates.”—Nancy Harhut
“We want to all cap a word that’s going to be particularly meaningful. Maybe the word is new, maybe it’s the phrase last chance, or the word is final, or the word is you. You is what I call an eye magnet word. It attracts the human eye like a like a magnet. We’re all interested in ourselves. And when we see the word you, we go to it.”—Nancy Harhut
Or use numerals.
“Use numbers in subject lines, but making sure that we use the numerals and we don’t spell out the word. That’s another great way to activate the Von Restorff effect because a numeral will stand out in a sea of letters.”—Nancy Harhut
“You can get a 16% increase in open rates if you start your subject line with a numeral.”—Nancy Harhut
Harness the Power of Rhyme to Boost Memorability and Believability
Rhymes are easier to remember and seen as more truthful.
“Behavioral scientists tell us that not only are rhymes easier to remember, but people actually judge rhyming phrases to be more truthful, more accurate than similar phrases that basically say the same thing, but that don’t rhyme.”—Nancy Harhut
“In tests, behavioral scientists have found that it’s the rhyming phrase that people judge to be the more truthful, the more accurate. And the reason is, it’s easier for the human brain to process phrases that rhyme. And if something is easier for the brain to process, it feels right. And if something feels right, it’s not a big leap to assume that it is right.”—Nancy Harhut
Nancy shares a few examples of rhyming in marketing messages. Listen to the full recording for more.
“It’s interesting when you start to look at the categories that have successfully used rhymes. Think about health remedies. Alka Seltzer, years ago, did ‘plop, plop, fizz, fizz, oh, what a relief it is.’ They’re starting to bring it back.”—Nancy Harhut
“Paxlovid, the medicine that you take if you’ve had COVID. Now, COVID is a serious thing, right? We’re talking about a health concern. But they used, ‘if it’s COVID, Paxlovid.’”—Nancy Harhut
“It could be your call to action. Don’t delay, register today. If it’s a webinar that you want someone to sign up for or a sales meeting you’re trying to get them to book, maybe you’re running a contest, the call to action could be ‘I’m in it to win it’ as opposed to simply saying enter me or sign up.”—Nancy Harhut
Tap into Autonomy Bias and the “But You Are Free” Technique
People like to think they’re in charge and have control over their situation.
“We want to think that we are making our own decisions and forging our own path. But that’s actually, again, another kind of psychological bias we have that comes into play when you’re looking at content.”—Erika Heald
“We all like to say we know why we do what we do. We make up our own mind. We’re not influenced by advertising. But study after study after study has shown that that’s not always true.”—Nancy Harhut
“Humans have this deep-seated desire to feel that we’re the ones in charge, that we have some kind of control over ourselves and our environments. A psychologist would call it agency; We want agency.”—Nancy Harhut
Presenting options instead of one choice appeals to this desire to choose, which is proven to drive action.
“In marketing, we like to make things easy for people by whittling down their options. Saying, here you go Erika, I’ve picked this just for you. I’ve made it easy for you. You don’t have to do all of the research. And we think we’re really being helpful. But as marketers, we’d be better off to put a couple of things in front of you.”—Nancy Harhut
“If I came to you and said, based on the survey that you took or based on our previous interactions, I think these are the two that are going to be best suited for you, you’re still in the driver’s seat. You still have the opportunity to choose between those two. And behavioral scientists have found that you’re more likely to make a choice than if I just put one thing in front of you.”—Nancy Harhut
“If I put two things in front of you, the question goes from do I or do I not want this, to which of these two do I want? And it’s almost like a foregone conclusion. You’re going to choose one of them.”—Nancy Harhut
“Anytime we can give people choices, anytime we can use language that reminds people that they’re in charge, that we’re offering something that’s going to put them in control, that’s going to give them power; that is like psychological gold. People love that. It really appeals to them.”—Nancy Harhut
Saying ‘but you are free to choose’ or something similar can double the likelihood people will do what you’re asking them to.
“Behavioral scientists have found that you can tell someone what you want them to do, you can ask them to do it, and then if you follow that request with a phrase such as, but you are free to choose, or the choice is yours, or it’s up to you, or it’s your call, you can, on average, double the likelihood that people will do what you’re asking them to do.”—Nancy Harhut
Labeling and Social Proof: Subtle Ways to Influence Behavior
Labeling people or identifying them in a group they aspire to be in will influence them to behave like members of that group.
“We want to be like we’re forging our own path, and all of these things that are ingrained, but they’re at conflict with also wanting to live up to these labels.”—Erika Heald
“Calling somebody a savvy shopper or savvy saver… What happens is, even if you hadn’t necessarily thought of yourself that way, once you’re labeled that way, you start to behave like the other people in that group.”—Nancy Harhut
“There are some limits, of course, to the study. If you label somebody in a way that they find distasteful, that’s offensive to them, it’s not going to change their opinion.”—Nancy Harhut
“But if it’s a, you know, a neutral term, or an aspirational term, research shows it can really impact your behavior. If you use a term that someone would like to be or thought of—they’d like to be thought of as a savvy saver, they’d like other people to think of them as savvy savers—and you label them that way and then say, other savvy savers choose to bank with us, you’re much more likely to to get them to say, maybe I better bank with this particular group.”—Nancy Harhut
Stay Human in an AI-Driven World: Tips from a Behavioral Science Expert
Test your different approaches to see what resonates. The results may surprise you, so be open to embracing whatever the outcome is.
“We can always test. Not every test turns out the way we think it will. We always learn something from a test. The test is always beneficial. We always learn something from it, but it doesn’t always confirm what we think.”—Nancy Harhut
“There’s no one thing that works all the time for all the people, but there are certain things that often work, and those are the things that that we want to start to incorporate into the development of our content.”—Nancy Harhut
Appeal to the human desire to avoid pain or loss (loss aversion).
“We focus too much on benefits. And I know that’s going to sound crazy, because, you know, we’ve been, you know, taught when we study marketing that benefits sell. But what behavioral scientists have told us is that people are actually twice as motivated to avoid the pain of loss as they are to achieve the pleasure of gain.”—Nancy Harhut
“And it could be as simple as changing ‘take advantage of’ to ‘don’t miss out on.’ Don’t miss can be enough to just heighten that loss aversion.”—Nancy Harhut
Use accessible and easy-to-understand language.
“Cognitive fluency is kind of a mouthful of a phrase, but basically it means that people prefer things that are easier to think about and easier to understand. And not only do they prefer them, but they judge them to be more accurate, more truthful, and—this is the most important thing—they feel more confident in their ability to make a decision about them.”—Nancy Harhut
“And yet what we do is, very often, we put out content that is a far cry from cognitively fluent. We jam lots and lots of information in so people get overwhelmed. It’s like this word salad coming at them. Or we have these really thick, thick paragraphs, so it’s this wall of words that’s almost impenetrable.”—Nancy Harhut
“Sometimes we forget that when something looks hard to read, people think that what they’ve just read about is going to be hard to do. We need white space, we need short sentences, we want to make language accessible again.”—Nancy Harhut
Listen to the full recording to learn more, including:
- Why email unsubscribes often go up at the end of the year, and why that’s a good thing (10:08)
- How to choose effective images for social media posts, blog content, and web pages (19:20)
- Whether you should misspell words in subject lines (25:15)
- Examples of when “It’s up to you” can drive your desired behavior (43:30)
- Why language should be accessible, even for highly educated audiences (47:55)
- How to be more human in the age of AI (52:44)
