Wanna boost sales and win more customers?

Auction psychology might be a powerful hidden tool you are looking for. In this whitepaper, we

would like to present 5 psychological buttons which the most successful sellers want to understand.

WIN CUSTOMERS

BY AUCTION PSYCHOLOGY

Thursday, July 16, 2015 2

Auctions push a number of our

psychological buttons which are

social occasions, with lots of

other people around, and this

tends to increase the

physiological arousal.

As the adrenaline pumps,

customers’ heart beats

faster, and reactions

quicken. This is ideal for

something like sports, but

makes cool rational decision

making harder.

For example, the very rich often send delegates to auctions, and as well as avoiding the paparazzi.

This is a strategy to combat the over-excitement induced by being physically present in the

situation.

As auctions are time pressured, and

customers are bidding on something they

value highly. So Store Owners should take

advantage of this factors to earn huge money.

Win customers by auction psychology

A psychological bias that operates in auctions is the endowment effect,

where customers tend to overvalue things they already possess. By

encouraging customers to connect the bid with the sale item, bidding on

items lets them fantasize about owning things – stimulating a kind of

endowment effect.

EN

DO

WM

EN

T E

FF

EC

T

Store owners should make auction catalogue (or the item picture

and description on a website) look attractive and professional. This

will make the psychological journey for customers to go on to

imagine owning this item in advance, so they would place a higher

value on it, and so pay more to make imagination reality.

Win customers by auction psychology

Principle of scarcity is used by auctions whereby people overvalue things that they think

might run out. Auction items are scarce in that they are unique (only one person can have it),

and scarce in time (after the bids are finished, you’ve lost your chance).

As a owner of shop, think how many shop sales successfully rely on scarcity heuristics such as

“Last day of sale!”, or “Only 2 left in stock!”, and you’ll get a feel for how powerful this

persuasion principle can be.

PRINCIPLE OF SCARCITY

Win customers by auction psychology

SO

CIA

L P

RO

OF

The other principle used by auctions is that of “social proof”. We all tend to

take the lead from other people; if everybody does something, or says

something, most of us join in before we think about what we really should do.

Auctions put a buyer in intimate contact with other people who are all

providing social proof that the sale item is important and valuable. So

advise for store owners is you can create the virtual bidders to be the leads

in the online auctions.

Win customers by auction psychology

COMPETITIVE ELEMENTS

Researchers from Princeton make

their experiments which asked

volunteers to play online auctions

with different rules. The bidders

didn't end up paying much more

than they originally thought was

reasonable - but only if they thought

they were bidding against a

computer program. As soon as the

volunteers thought they were

bidding against other live humans

they found it impossible to bid

rationally, whatever the auction

rules.

This implies that the competitive

element of auctions is crucial to

provoking our irrational buying

behavior. The store owners can

definitely leverage this element to

involve buyers in an auction since

they’re not just paying to own the

sale item, they’re paying to beat

other people who are bidding

and prevent them from having

it. The quote from Gore Vidal

seems to be true “It is not enough

to succeed. Others must fail.”

BBC.com

Win customers by auction psychology

BOOST YOUR SALES WITH MAGESTORE

THROUGH AUCTION

Magento Auction - A new leverage to boost

your sales. The extension enables you to

carry out online auctions, allowing

customers to place a bid or auto bid for

products.

• Your game - Your rules: No fear of

overpricing or underselling

• Get customers involved in the auctions

and enjoy your rocket sales

• Flexible auction management View Demo Now