Hidden Cues in Amazon That Make You Buy

Why is it so aggravatingly easy to buy things on Amazon? What are the psychological factors that keep compelling us to push that "add to cart" button? If you search this topic, you’ll find obvious things like social proof, scarcity, and other common marketing tactics. But in this video, I want to focus on a few tactics that are somewhat hidden inside this interface and the psychology behind why these techniques are influencing our behavior. First, Amazon leaves more visual space in your shopping cart. This extra space is very clever because it serves two purposes. The first purpose is an anchoring mechanism. With food, people judge how much they eat based on the size of their plate. People overeat with larger plates because they’re conditioned to eat however much is on the plate. And the same process occurs when we add things to containers. Throughout our daily life, we typically fill containers to their maximum capacity. This pervasive sensory experience conditions us to follow this behavior with any container. If we grab a larger plate, we intuitively serve a larger amount of food. That’s why physical stores started increasing the size of their shopping carts. With a bigger shopping cart, you unconsciously add more things. And Amazon is merely replicating that effect. By leaving more space in your online shopping cart, you feel an urge to add more things. Also, I had mentioned this in my video on shopping behavior but this behavior of filling a container is also susceptible to priming effects. You fill containers to their capacity because of your everyday experience. So if you just filled a container - like filling a glass of water - immediately before shopping online this behavior would be even more activated in your brain which would strengthen your impulse to add things to your online shopping cart. So that’s one mechanism of this extra space that it anchors you to add more items. The other purpose is that it makes you perceive the purchase to be smaller. I explain the exact steps in Chapter 3 of my book, The Tangled Mind. But here’s a quick explanation. Numbers, such as prices, are abstract concepts. In order to learn these concepts, we needed a sensory foundation on which to build that knowledge. Therefore, we used the sensory basis of spatial magnitude. Today, any abstract magnitude rests upon a spatial magnitude and because of that structure, your brain confuses those concepts. For example, people are more likely to buy products when prices are visually smaller. Your brain confuses that spatial magnitude with the abstract magnitude that it represents. And that’s why prices on Amazon aren’t that visually big. This effect happens—not only with numbers—but with any abstract magnitude, like a purchase decision. When you analyze our language, you’ll notice that we conceptualize decisions in terms of magnitude. Buying a house would be a big decision. Or a big investment. Or a big purchase. Again, in your brain, this abstract magnitude rests upon a sensory foundation of spatial magnitude. When you’re shopping online, the item in your cart is a symbolic representation of that purchase decision and its inherent magnitude. With this extra space in the cart, this symbol looks spatially smaller and your brain confuses this magnitude. The purchase—itself—seems like a smaller and easier decision. If Amazon wanted to be extra sneaky they could maintain this relative size when you add items to your cart. Unlike a physical shopping cart, which can’t change its physical shape web designers have the tools to adapt this design to perpetually reframe your decision. A second hidden cue is something that I call price convergence. I had mentioned this tactic in my video, “The Origin of Human Empathy. ” Essentially, when you perceive items as a group, your brain merges the semantic traits as well. People perceived the price of an inline skate to be cheaper when the words “Low Friction” appeared nearby because their brain converged the meaning of “low” with that price. Amazon triggers that same effect in their pricing display. They typically have a primary price with smaller magnitudes underneath. And, oftentimes, these magnitudes, like $7. 49 and 0 are unrelated to this price above yet, just the mere presence of those magnitudes within the same vicinity makes you perceive these actual prices to be smaller than they really are. If you want to learn why that happens, Chapter 4 of The Tangled Mind describes that mechanism in detail. I call it convergent processing. The third hidden cue is the blemishing effect. When you look at the product reviews on Amazon, you’ll notice that they showcase negative reviews. Now, at first glance, it might seem like Amazon is being selfless and that they’re trying to help you make the right decision. But in reality, if this design was reducing sales, then Amazon simply wouldn’t be doing it. They’re showcasing negative reviews because even though it might seem counter-intuitive

this actually increases sales. Why does it happen? Well, for one, the product information—itself—seems more credible and trustworthy. But in addition to this conscious and high-level explanation I also think there’s another explanation that's kind of hidden underneath. So in the original study, the effect “was mediated by intensified reactions to the positive information”. In other words, by merely including a little bit of negative information people perceived the positive information to be stronger. But why would that be happening? Let’s walk through a similar effect in a different context. This situation reminds me of a principle called the zero-comparison effect. Suppose that Yogurt A has 10 grams of fat, while Yogurt B has 0 grams of fat. If you want a yogurt with less fat, then obviously you’ll prefer Yogurt B. But something interesting happens when Yogurt B has—not 0 grams of fat—but 1 gram of fat. Even though we technically worsened the option, your preference for Yogurt B is even stronger now. This numerical gap was reduced, yet—from your brain’s perspective, this gap actually seems larger. Why? People evaluate magnitudes through relative comparisons. And, as the researcher argued, “compared to zero, any number is infinitely larger, so this type of comparison is meaningless. ” Here, just like earlier, the reason stems from a hidden sensory foundation. When you evaluate numbers, your brain is activating a deeper spatial magnitude. With zero, the spatial magnitude is non-existent and thus, your brain can’t accurately compare an adjacent number. Yet, any number past zero, provides a reference point and it enlarges the perceived size of this adjacent magnitude. Still with me? I’ve been using numbers as an example, but we can apply this same concept with reviews. When you have zero negative reviews, you can’t accurately compare the positive reviews. So I'd argue that’s why the blemishing effect was mediated by intensified reactions to the positive information. Emphasizing just a small amount of negative information creates a reference point that amplifies the perceived magnitude of the positive information. You need at least some magnitude of negative information in order for this polarization to occur. The hidden foundation of sensory magnitude is a really fascinating concept. It's beyond the scope of this video, but if you're still unsure what it means I would really recommend reading Chapter 3 of The Tangled Mind which explores that mechanism and all of the practical implications in a lot more detail. And finally, the last cue is the directionality of the product assortments. When you display products online, you could display them horizontally or vertically. So which is better? Well, it depends on the situation. Our eyes are aligned horizontally, so we can scan horizontal assortments more easily. When people scanned lollipops, they could fixate on more lollipops per second in a horizontal assortment. Since people viewed more options within this horizontal array they perceived a higher variety and they were more likely to buy from this assortment. However, these horizontal assortments backfire when people are seeking a specific option. In this situation, people don’t want variety. They want to see their desired option as quickly as possible. And, it looks like Amazon recognizes this principle. If I search for something general—like books—Amazon displays a horizontal array of options. They recognize that I’m still in the browsing stage so they show a horizontal assortment, which increases the perceived variety of their offering. However, when I search for a specific book like my book, Methods of Persuasion Amazon switches from a horizontal assortment to a vertical assortment which funnels my attention toward that desired option. This video explained a few factors in Amazon that influence our perception and behavior. But if you want to learn many other factors, you can get a copy of book Methods of Persuasion or The Tangled Mind. And I’ll see ya next time.