You may think it’s all about a quick, direct sell. But today’s best Marketers are no stranger to the more nuanced approach of adopting psychology into their campaigns.

It’s almost like a dark art and here we are revealing this esoteric knowledge so that you too can develop a more sophisticated selling machine.

DARK ART ONE: They leverage the roller coaster of emotions

Marketers make you feel. Perhaps you never cried at Titanic, but these creatives can tug your heartstrings whether it’s to strike fear into your core, and at the very last minute lightening the mood so you feel elated, or showing you a story that starts happily and ends up making you depressed.

LESSON: Create stories that hooks people in by including highs and lows. Show a sad scenario that can be fixed by your product or service.

DARK ART TWO: They leave things unfinished…

…for now, at least.

Great marketers know not to give everything away straight away. We need to see what’s next. This is something called the Zeigarnik effect and explains why we binge watch Netflix more than we care to admit.

LESSON: Start with one offer that leads to something even better. Give something away for free so people can try out your product, see it has value, and then offer them something even better that they need to purchase.

DARK ART THREE: They know just the right amount of choices to give us.

Experiments have shown time and again that we can’t cope with too many choices. Iyengar and Lepper proved this in 2000 with their well-known jam experiment. They recorded supermarket sales between a counter offering 24 jams on certain days compared to sales on days where only 6 jams were displayed.

When the supermarket counter exhibited just six jams, sales increased.

Marketers know we need to home in on a few choices instead of lots of choices, which makes us more likely to buy.

LESSON: Less is more. Keep your offers focussed and don’t confuse potential customers by telling them every deal you’ve got going on. Decide what actions you want them to take and prioritise that.

DARK ART FOUR: They manipulate us by offering us the unknown

Marketers have discovered we love novelty and surprises, and they use this against us. The motivating uncertainty effect means that if you offer us a choice of a known prize and an unknown one, we are likely to opt for the mystery prize.

LESSON: Add an element of enigma into your campaigns by offering an unknown free gift with an order or a campaign where customers get to choose between prizes.

DARK ART FIVE: They make us feel special

They know how to massage our ego by offering us something exclusive, not for all customers, only for special customers. We’re in that special club. Now we feel all fuzzy inside, how can we not jump right in and enjoy our privileges?

LESSON: Don’t forget your loyal customers who’ve stuck with you. Companies can be guilty of giving away too many introductory offers to win people over, but you should know that the AOV of repeat customers is between 5x and 7x that of first-time buyers (eConsultancy).

DARK ART SIX: They deploy the safety net

Marketers know how, despite our love of mystery prizes, we love to play it safe. In fact, they trust their product so much, they are willing to place a guarantee you’ll feel so great about it, or else you can have your money back. They will also offer you trials so you feel sure you want to stick around before you submit your credit card details.

LESSON: Give people a way to try out your product or service without commitment so they can see the value.