We tell and show how companies use customers’ fears, the desire to feel part of society, and the desire for beauty to increase sales.
What is a trigger in marketing
Types and examples of triggers in marketing
Tips on How to Use Triggers in Marketing
Expert advice
What is a trigger in marketing
Table of Contents
A trigger in internet marketing is an incentive that pushes a person to perform a target action. The main task of a trigger is to motivate the user, to make him do something needed by the company faster: look at an offer, sign up for a consultation, book, buy.
Conventionally speaking, a trigger is a psychological hook that companies use to catch buyers, a button that starts or accelerates the conversion of user interest into leads. Using triggers increases sales and company profits.
The ideal marketing structure: an offer, i.e. a proposal of a product or service, a Call to Action, i.e. a call to action, and a trigger, which seems to push the user, launching the purchasing process.
A fitness studio’s invitation to sign up for a trial lesson is an offer. If you add a call to call or write to it, it’s a CTA . If you promise everyone who signs up a free workout mat, it’s a trigger.
If the offer hits the client’s deepest need and there is a suitable trigger, the combination will in most cases lead to the desired result. For example, the company “Fitness World” sells sports leggings for women. They know that the need of their audience is not just to buy comfortable clothes for training, but also, firstly, to like themselves in these leggings, and secondly, to be noticeable in the gym. Therefore, in the advertisement they use the message “Feel noticeable with our leggings”, in the offer they suggest leaving a request for selection or fitting, and as a trigger they use the benefit and promise to give a stylish headband to match the leggings.
You can practice making marketing and product decisions on the course “Market Analysis and Assessment” . Students learn to work with trends and launch experiments that will help the business develop and increase profits. Special analytical or marketing skills are not required for training, the main thing is to devote about 10 hours a week to studying.
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Types and examples of triggers in marketing
Let’s look at the main types of triggers in Internet marketing and give examples of using these tools:
Benefit
This is an indication of a benefit or advantage for the client, usually a discount or promotions like “1+1=3”. This is an eco-friendly trigger that matches the values of those companies that want to create a friendly and pleasant image. However, if you use it often or minimize bonuses for the client, they may perceive the benefit trigger negatively. Such cases are typical for Black Friday promotions, when users notice that the price of a discounted product is higher than it was before the sale.
Time limit
Works well in the field of online sales and services that involve consultations and appointments with a specialist. An artificial time limit and a counter with the number of remaining free places motivate the user to quickly take what seems to him to be the last place or buy a product whose discounts are about to end.
The trigger can be strengthened by adding a time limit and a countdown – for example, “Discount only on February 20”. The time limit trigger is actively used in the mechanics of Black Friday promotions and other sales.
Deficit
An artificial shortage of goods is a trigger that affects any audience: users from the USSR still remember empty store shelves and attempts to “get” what they need, and younger buyers are still ready to stand in line for top gadgets. Shortage helps sell faster – after all, there is so little left, what if I delay and don’t get it!
Fear and the need for security
Works well in areas that closely relate to a person: health, home, family, finances. These are complex topics that can be difficult to quickly understand, such as buying real estate, life and property insurance, repairs, investments. The trigger plays on the user’s ignorance, sometimes on his unwillingness to understand the nuances.
For example, such a trigger will affect people who have never done repairs themselves and do not understand how materials differ from each other, how to choose a good specialist and correctly calculate the estimate for apartment repairs. The Vasilich company, which is engaged in repairs, can offer its clients to calculate the estimate in a minute, specifying the basic data, and immediately place an order on the exchange of craftsmen. Of course, the final cost of the work will most likely change several times, but the user will get the first idea of the price range.
Social approval
This trigger is especially popular now. Appealing to society, exploiting the message “You are part of the whole” plays on a person’s perception of themselves as part of society. Behind them lies the desire to lead a socially approved lifestyle, to support common undertakings. If you use this often unconscious desire as a trigger, business can get good results.
For example, a coffee shop offers to buy coffee, 10 ₽ of the cost of which the company will transfer to charity – this is a way for the buyer to feel good without additional investment on his part. Various schemes are possible here: transferring part of the cost of the goods or services to various aid funds, a promise to plant a tree for every X rubles in the check.
Gratitude
“You to us, we to you” – this is the scheme of this trigger. For some action in favor of the company, the buyer receives his gratitude – a gift, bonuses, cashback. A nice little thing allows you to part as friends and later return to use the gift – even if the user initially had no such plans.
Beauty
This trigger works well in the food and beauty industries: we show a beautiful picture of food or a “before and after” diagram of using a product or cosmetic procedure. Visualizing a wonderful result, such as a delicious breakfast, a manicure, a slim figure, makes a person strive for it.
Other areas of use of this trigger are vacations, tour sales, hotel bookings. The idea of a “bounty”, a luxurious paradise life, for example in the tropics, is reinforced by an image of a white beach, azure sea and carefree vacation – and the client falls for this demonstration.
Provocation
Provocative triggers work better on a younger audience. A company that wants to work on provocations needs to track newsbreaks and the agenda, monitor viral creatives. Playing up topical events, viral images, variations or quotes from them attract the audience’s attention to advertising. However, sometimes playing on the edge can offend users, and the company has to apologize – but nevertheless, this is also a way to attract attention and be remembered.
Memes
Another way to hook the buyer is to use popular memes in advertising. Just like provocation, this trigger is a game of hot water, it requires a good knowledge of the audience’s preferences and interests, tracking the current agenda and understanding the timeliness of creatives.
Proof
Confirmation of the value of a product or service by other buyers. The trigger is activated by laudatory reviews, a counter of satisfied customers, information about the number of people who bought the product, awards, quality certificates. It plays on the crowd effect – if several thousand people use something, it means that the product or service is really good and the new user will also like it.
Membership in a group
This is an appeal to the user as a member of a certain isolated group, exploitation of the message “We are of the same blood”, singling out the client based on his compliance with certain rules or conditions. These include “only for our own” discounts, privileges for premium card holders.
Exclusive or individual offer
The trigger of an individual offer, exclusivity of the offer works in financial and premium spheres: elite real estate, investments, other significant investments. This technique is also suitable for advertising services related to health and beauty: aesthetic surgery clinics, medical centers – those areas where privacy and a personal approach are important to a person.
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Tips on How to Use Triggers in Marketing
To ensure that triggers are beneficial to a company, there are several principles to consider:
1. Any trigger works better than none
Many specialists do not use triggers in advertising campaigns, which leads to a significantly higher cost per conversion. The right trigger can reduce the cost of a lead by half.
2. Knowing your audience is the key to effective triggers
To accurately select a trigger that will work for the audience of a specific company, you need to know and understand your target audience well.
3. Testing is an important part of working with triggers
Just like advertising creatives, triggers need to be tested: a few A/B tests are enough to get an initial idea of the results of a future advertising campaign. It is also extremely important to test different trigger options and measure the difference in results in numbers.
4. Consistency works better than chaos
You can use several triggers in one advertising offer, provided that they are consistent. It is not worthwhile to collect several hooks chaotically: the user may get confused, get confused in the conditions and go to the seller with one, but clear trigger.
