How the Psychology of Liking Can Increase Sales
Understanding the principle of liking and knowing how to use it in your marketing and on your website can give you an unfair advantage over the competition.
Commitment and Consistency Principles
The best way to earn the loyalty of customers and prospects is to make them commit to something. That’s because people prefer to be loyal and consistent with a choice they previously made. These are the principles of commitment and consistency.
Here’s everything you need to know about the principles of commitment and consistency, plus all other important principles and theories that can supercharge your marketing and influence people to buy your products or services.
What are the principles of commitment and consistency?
As a psychological principle, commitment and consistency refer to the choices people make to believe more strongly in the decisions we’ve already made in order to avoid cognitive dissonance (a situation where you have conflicting beliefs or behaviors).
How can you use commitment and consistency to drive sales?
The best way to earn the loyalty of customers and prospects is to make them commit to something. That’s because people prefer to be loyal and consistent with a choice they previously made. This is known as the principle of commitment and consistency. This happens because we use mental shortcuts to simplify the way we make decisions. And because we make so many decisions every day, we subconsciously (and sometimes, consciously) look for ways to reduce the number of decisions we have to make.
The foot-in-the-door technique...
One way to accomplish this is called 'foot in the door.' The premise is simple: someone will agree to a larger request after they have first agreed to a smaller request.
Cross-selling...
Another way to accomplish this is cross-selling. Often incorrectly confused with the term up-selling (selling of a different, high-end product), cross-selling is selling items in addition to the item already in hand.
Cross-selling has a greater chance of follow-through because the consumer has already purchased or committed to one product in their shopping cart.
Let’’s say a customer has decided to purchase a new iPhone. After selecting which iPhone is right for them (with some shiny up-selling techniques), they are greeted with AppleCare warranty options, accessories that are designed for the chosen iPhone, and lastly other products Apple offers that integrate seamlessly with iPhones.
Wishlists...
Yet another effective way to use commitment and consistency in your business is wishlists, similar to what Amazon does. With more than 12 million products available, Amazon wish lists allow customers to create and organize lists of products they desire and/or intend to buy.Amazon allows customers to create multiple lists and share them with others and on social media. Price drop alerts sent to customers are also integrated into this well-oiled machine.
When a customer puts an item in a wish list — psychologically they are committing to purchase it at a later time. Wish lists serve as a midpoint between forgetting about an item in a shopping cart and completing a purchase. The reach they provide goes beyond just improving the customer experience. Wishlists provide an inside look into consumer preferences, drive customer engagement and reduce shopping cart abandonment. And here’s another benefit: wish lists require a customer account or profile to be set up, which in turn adds their e-mail (assuming they opt-in) to future marketing drip campaigns.
Can marketing psychology help create stronger brands?
Yes. Building a strong brand identity involves a combination of research, understanding, and important branding elements. These brand identity building blocks include typography, color palette, forms and shapes, and composition. Many principles of marketing psychology influence the choices you should make when building your brand identity.
Read our comprehensive Brand Identity guide 
What are the core principles of marketing psychology?
There are many important principles, theories, and concepts used in marketing psychology. These include:
- the principle of reciprocity
- information-gap theory
- scarcity
- social proof theory
- and loss aversion marketing
You can research each of these principles, plus dozens of other key principles of marketing psychology, via the links below.
Marketing Psychology Principles and Theories
- Action Paralysis Principle
- Anchoring Effect Principle
- Calls to Action
- Color Psychology
- Commitment and Consistency Principle
- Decoy Effect
- Emotional Marketing
Need a custom business name or logo?
Tell us what you need
Choose from 30+ categories, complete a project brief, and pick a package that fits your budget.
Creatives submit designs
Collaborate with dozens of creatives, give feedback and score, and get revised custom designs.
Choose your favorite
Work with the winner to finalize your favorite design and get print/web-ready files and full IP rights.
Not into crowds?
Pick a creative and work 1-on-1
Frequently Asked Questions About Marketing Psychology
by JCarlos
Loved by over 60,000 businesses and agencies around the world
crowdspring is rated 4.9/5 from 3,260 customer reviews.
"I had over 100 entries that were creative, unique, and specific to my design ideas. I would absolutely recommend crowdspring to any professional who doesn't have an in-office creative team."
"This was my first time using crowdspring and it was a fantastic experience."
"I felt I was leaping into the unknown, since there are a few crowd-sourcing options out there, but I was pleasantly surprised by the engagement of the creative community and the quality of the designs. The crowdspring experience was very positive, and I would certainly use the service again."
"Crowdspring's army of creatives generated thousands of ideas for naming our company. Now, Zello is the most popular walkie-talkie app with more than 100 million registered users."
"I've had great success with crowdspring, using the website to both redesign an existing website and to create a website from scratch. Both projects produced a large number of high quality design options."
"This is our second time using crowdspring and would use it again and will continue to recommend it to people."
"I love everything about crowdspring. The network of creatives is vast and provides great diversity in the results."
"I started with a small budget and some boring content, and within a short time, I had some amazing designs to choose from. The hardest part was choosing one."
Popular Articles About Marketing Psychology
Marketing
Use Reciprocity to Grow Your Business
Reciprocity is a powerful psychological principle that can help you to grow your business faster.
Marketing
Level The Playing Field With Scarcity Marketing
Here’s how you can level the playing field and get an advantage for your business, using scarcity marketing techniques.
Marketing
How Commitment and Consistency Can Increase Sales
The best way to earn the loyalty of customers and prospects is to make them commit to something.
Marketingy
Scientifically Proven Ways to Increase Sales
What makes emotional marketing powerful and how you can use emotional marketing to increase sales.
Marketing
10 Loss Aversion Marketing Tactics
Here’s what you need to know about loss aversion and 10 proven loss aversion marketing tactics that can help amplify your marketing efforts.
Marketing
How the Anchoring Affect Can Grow Your Business
The anchoring effect can work for you or against you. It’s one of the most important effects in cognitive psychology.
Brand Identity
The Psychology of Logo Design
How fonts, shapes, lines, colors, and composition can affect how a logo can influence purchasing decisions.
Design
How Psychology Influences Great Product Design
By understanding the emotions, human behaviors, and people’s motivations, you can significantly impact the success of the products you design and sell.
Marketing
Neuroscience Marketing Secrets
Neuroscience can help you to make better marketing decisions and can help you to improve your marketing strategy.
Design
How Psychology Influences Great Packaging Design
Knowing how to get people to respond favorably to your packaging design will help you sell more products.
Marketing
Fundamentals of Marketing Psychology
7 fundamentals of marketing psychology that you can implement today to help your business succeed.
Real people, real support.
A team you can rely on.
Our award-winning dedicated customer support team has a 99% satisfaction rating, and can help by phone, mail and chat.
Questions? Just ask.
Need help deciding?
We're happy only when you are.
Our support team is always ready to help you with a free, no obligation design consultation.
by lolalovesyou