If you want to take charge of your finances, you can’t overlook the aspect of strategies vendors and marketers use to make you use credit or spend money against all odds. Sometimes, you don’t want to buy an item, but you end up buying it because some people are skilled enough to make you make such decisions. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with vendors making their sales, but you need to be aware of certain things to make conscious decisions as regards your finances. Let’s take a look at 7 strategies sellers use to make you spend.

Strategy 1: They Create a Sense of Urgency

You may have found yourself in a situation where you want to rush to buy a vintage bag because the seller told you the deal was going to end in three hours. This is a smart strategy sellers use. This is just a way to make you feel like you were about to miss the best deal of the century. You are not missing out on anything. If buying something makes you skip the process of thinking about the purchase, it’s not good enough. Buying such a thing may not affect you today. But imagine this happening to you every time, it will eventually put a strain on your finances.

When they make you feel like you are about to miss out on something, then the desire to get it may heighten. It’s a psychological tactic to make you buy things against your wish.

Strategy 2: The Power of Social Proof

If everyone uses a certain design of glasses in your street, and then you go online and everyone is talking about it. Something tells you “Oh, I should get those too.” That’s social proof. This strategy has to do with displaying that a product or service is in vogue and well-liked by everyone. It could come in the form of reviews and testimonials, celebrity endorsements, etc. Just because everyone likes it is not enough for you to buy it, especially if you don’t need it or if it’s not in your budget. You need to also know that not all reviews are genuine, some people have been paid to make reviews about certain products. So don’t let the hype always get to you.  

Strategy 3: Anchoring the Price

Have you ever come across an item that was initially priced high, and then later discounted to a lower price? For example, if you first see a jacket priced at $200, but then the next day, you find it on sale for $100, you would feel the sale price is a great bargain. However, if you had only ever seen the jacket priced at $100, the deal might not move you at all. That’s price anchoring in action.

Strategy 4: The Decoy Effect

This strategy is a bit more interesting. Let’s take for example you want to subscribe for a service. The first subscription plan is about $20 but it has fewer benefits compared to another that is $29 and has lots and loads of benefits. Then there’s this other plan that is $18 but offers far fewer benefits compared to the one of $20. You would immediately discard that last option. The competition will then be between the $20 plan and the $29 plan. The last seemingly ridiculous plan is the decoy. It’s a sort of manipulation tactic to make you feel smart and go for what offers better value irrespective of the price difference.

Strategy 5: Emotional Appeal

Even if you have overwhelming debt like credit card debts or payday loan debts, when sellers use an emotional appeal strategy to get you, you will almost forget you’re managing debt and can’t afford some luxury. They use this strategy to connect with you on a deeper level. They make use of advertisements that evoke strong emotions like nostalgia, happiness, or even sadness. Who would resist such an appeal? Definitely not most of us. But when you already know it’s just a strategy to sell their products, it will move you but not enough to make you swipe your credit card.

Strategy 6: The Illusion of Scarcity

This strategy makes you feel like the product is in limited supply. For example, after they have evoked your emotions to buy, they know emotions die when you relax, but just before you think of relaxing, they strike with statements like “only three left.” Creating such a scarcity narrative will make you rush to buy so you can feel smarter than everyone else. How does it feel to take one out of the three left? Great! But don’t fall for that! Manufacturers will keep manufacturing. Just wait till your budget can accommodate such a purchase.

Strategy 7: Offering Freebies

Who doesn’t love getting something for free? Sellers know this and use freebies to make their offers more enticing. But if it’s not leaning towards profit,  the seller won’t make such a deal. For example, if they tell you to buy two and get one free, you have probably paid for the three without knowing. Don’t let such a deal get to you because you really can’t be smarter than these sellers.

Conclusion 

Everyone’s dream is to be able to afford anything they desire. We all want to live in luxury and buy anything that appeals to us. But if you are managing lots of financial obligations and debts, this dream may feel like a mirage. However, your dream can come to pass when you speak with us at EmpireOne Credit. Your dream to become debt-free and take charge of your finances can come to pass. Your debt can be reduced by up to 80%, and interest will stop immediately. Call us at (416) 900-2324 to schedule a free consultation with us. Being debt-free feels good!