Internet users are not only victims of information overload but also incredibly guarded when it comes to advertisements and marketing. Now more than ever, your website design needs to be clean and the content needs to be unique, engaging, and informative to keep users from moving on to the next search result.

Simply put, emotions are the primary motivating factor for people when reading an article or making a purchase. People buy on emotion and justify their purchases with logic.

The best content is built on proven emotional drivers such as anger, exclusivity, fear, greed, guilt, and salvation. Below is a list of several psychology tricks you can use in your content to increase engagement and boost sales on your website.

Psychology tricks you can use to increase engagement

1. Make claims that a reader may or may not believe. Contrast that with questions, which introduce the possibility of an ideal scenario and allows the brain to draw its own conclusions and paint its own pictures.

2. Use “What if” questions and let readers envision a scene for themselves. The things that people imagine about your product or service often exceed the reality. People tend to believe what they come up with on their own.

3. Testimonials add credibility to the rest of your content. By including testimonials, everything the visitor reads from that point on is influenced by what others have said, which makes it more believable.

4. Write in a conversational style. The more friendly and approachable your content is, the more engaging it will be. Using words like “it’s” instead of “it is” is more intimate and increases readership.

5. Publish useful information. When you educate your readers, they are more likely to feel that only your product will do the job.

6. Replace rational words with emotional words that excite a reader. Use the phrase “find out” or “uncover” opposed to “learn.”

7. Fear of loss is one of the greatest human psychological motivators. People will generally spend more resources to keep from losing what they already have rather than gain something of similar or greater value.

8. Emotion is what sells. People buy on emotion and justify that purchase with logic. If your content doesn’t appeal to an emotion, you won’t sell anything.

9. More sales are generated by an offer that includes a free bonus or gift. It is typical for people to buy a product just because of the “freebies” that come with it.

10. Sales are made with the promise of a money-back guarantee. This is where you eliminate risk to the buyer and remove any remaining obstacles to making a sale.

11. Invoke emotions by using the words you, your, and yourself throughout you copy. This pulls the reader into what you are saying and makes them feel as if you are writing to them.

12. Use micro-pricing models. Make a product or service appear less expensive by reducing it to a minor daily cost. For example, “for just $1/day you can…” or “for less than your daily cup of coffee…”

13. Keep your readers focused on a straight path and avoid any distracting menu items that may create mental tension. Sometimes less is more, lead your user directly to the call to action.