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.
Liking Principle
We are more likely to be persuaded by people we like and those we want to be like. The more you like someone the more inclined you are to say yes to them. This is the principle of liking.
Here’s everything you need to know about the liking principle, plus all other important principles and theories that can supercharge your marketing and influence people to buy your products or services.
What is the liking principle?
We like people who are similar to us, who pay us compliments, and who cooperate with us towards mutual goals. This is the psychological principle of liking.
We trust those who are like us
Who is your client, and how can they relate to you? Remove any walls that divide you, in order to improve their trust.
Consider Apple stores. It is no coincidence that this high-end, high-tech store is staffed with reps in jeans and a t-shirt instead of traditional suits and ties. Apple uses the liking principle to its advantage. This strategy says: I am a human being and I am like you. I am casual and approachable. My products are for you.
Research shows that successful reps are 10x more likely to use collaborative words like 'us,' 'we,' and 'our'. Why? Because people are drawn to a sense of belonging. Prove to your client that you are 'one of them' too, and you will gain their trust (and their business).
This works even for celebrities. Celebrities like Kim Kardashian are not like typical people who follow her, but she does have a substantial amount of credibility from her followers in certain market segments, including cosmetics. In fact, celebrities often use they key elements of social psychology to gain a bigger audience and more influence.
A strong 'About Us' page shows people you are like them
Create a powerful 'About Us page' to leverage the liking principle to your advantage. One way to achieve this on your business website is through your 'About' page. This is an excellent way to put a face on your business. Psychologically speaking, when we put a face to a name that person becomes more real, more likable. Clients are much more likely to say yes to someone they 'see'.
Let your clients 'meet' you and your team. Doing so brings a human aspect to the relationship — you are no longer connected by price tags and characters on a screen but by images and personal information. And, this also helps you with conversion optimization by increasing people’s trust for your products and services.
Putting a face on customer support puts people at ease
Put a face on customer support. Reaching out to a company for support can be intimidating and infuriating at times. According to research by the Temkin Group, after having a positive experience with a company, 77% of customers would recommend it to a friend. So, embrace the advantages of the liking principle and consider putting a face to a name, some personal information on that name, and approachable language that assuages a client’s apprehension of reaching out.
Remember that your company’s brand identity includes everything visual about your company. Your support team is on the front lines of communicating with customers and prospects. People like dealing with real people, not faceless companies. Be sure you’ve done everything you can to help the customer relate to your team.
Complimenting and flattering customers and prospects creates loyalty
Compliment people. Flattery will get you everywhere. It is not surprising that we like people who like us - that’s the core essense of the liking principle. This is especially true if those people go out of their way to compliment us. This timeless idiom has some weight behind it. Personally, flattery can be heart-warming. Professionally it has the opportunity to turn into solid gold as a principle of persuasion.
Flattery has many benefits. It can improve the mood of a person because compliments make us feel better. Complimenting clients and prospects, when done genuinely, can affect their willingness to buy a product, follow you on social media, or sign up for your e-mail list.
Flattery can also improve confidence. When customers feel confident, they’re more likely to follow through with purchases. When you time your flattery right, you can instill enough confidence in a client to get people to follow through with their purchase. This can help a business struggling to convert visitors to customers, despite a large number of visitors to their site.
Finally, flattery creates persuasion by identity. Many clients exercise brand loyalty regularly, and consider it a marker of identity. Flattering a customer can further develop this loyalty, making the client more likely to be persuaded. These principles of persuasion are powerful principles many companies leverage to successfully grow their businesses.
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
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Frequently Asked Questions About Marketing Psychology
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