In today’s competitive market, connecting with your audience on a deeper psychological level is key to creating lasting relationships and fostering brand loyalty. Understanding and leveraging human tendencies can help you design a brand that attracts customers and resonates with them, ultimately leading to chronic usage and strong brand loyalty.
Here’s how you can achieve this by focusing on three critical aspects:
- What influences habits – This will help you adjust your brand behavior not to create a bad experience for your customers and will help you develop habits for your audience.
- What influences love (or loyalty) emotions? Knowing this will help your brand strengthen its connection with customers.
- What people need – this will help you create a better product.
Human Tendencies to Leverage
These are conclusions from some psychological studies on human nature and discoveries you might make when creating a new brand.
1. Biophilia:
The innate human tendency to connect with nature. Use natural elements and themes to evoke a sense of peace and well-being. People tend to fear new and technological things, but presenting them more naturally makes them more approachable.
2. Nostalgia:
Evoke positive memories from the past to create an emotional connection. This phenomenon can help you build on experience with other old products that have already developed trust. For example, in my country, Romania, the Artic brand built refrigerated and kitchen electronics in the 70’s. Then, the products disappeared. And now they are bringing it back with the same logo, reminding the nostalgic memory that those products were more resistant in time than what we find now.
3. Social Identity Theory:
People identify with groups that align with their values. Show how your brand aligns with your audience’s values and beliefs. That is why brands use influencers to sell their products.
4. Emotional Branding:
Create emotional connections through storytelling and shared values. You see, for example with Nike, “just do it” how they try to connect with not just sports attlets, you can be a normal person that wants to make in the way you look or feel, you just need to do it.
You can’t create great designs without feelings.” – Andreea Amzu
5. Anthropomorphism:
Attributing human characteristics to non-human things to create relatability and affection. This is often seen in products for kids, where the brand has a mascot.
6. Mirror Neuron Theory:
People empathize with actions they observe in others. Use relatable scenarios in your branding. For example, in Japan, an entire industry promotes products by filming users using them in real life.
7. Self-Congruity Theory:
Consumers prefer brands that match their self-image. We are talking here about the values your brand has. That is why it is essential to identify and present your brand values through your entire brand strategy. Because you attract what you are. And you don’t attract anything if you don’t have a personality.
8. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs:
Address fundamental human needs and desires through your products and services. I will talk in detail in the third section of this article about this.
9. Archetypes:
Use universal character types that resonate across cultures. Find more about Brand Archetypes here: Discovering Your Brand’s Personality: A Step-by-Step Guide.
10. Parasocial Relationships:
Build one-sided relationships with media figures or brands, making customers feel they are interacting with a close friend. These things are just a reminder that humans don’t create connections with brands and products without creating a “human-to-human relationship.”
11. Storytelling and Narrative Transportation:
Engage audiences through compelling narratives. The messages you convey on your site, social platforms, or other environments in which you connect with the audience are crucial.
12. Social Proof:
Highlight actions and endorsements from others to influence behavior. The early adopters can buy without social proof and are few (5-10%), but they can promote your product or destroy it. The majority of us buy if someone has already tried it and had a great experience.
13. Reciprocity:
People feel obligated to return favors. Provide value to encourage loyalty. That is the base of loyalty programs created by brands.
14. Cognitive Dissonance:
Align brand messages with audience beliefs to avoid discomfort. This is related to the Self-Congruity Theory from above. If people want to associate with some values, they are willing to buy products and services that associate them with those values.
15. Mere Exposure Effect:
Increase liking through repeated exposure. Visibility increases authority. And people, if, for example, they are looking for wheels, will buy from the brand they have heard of more often. Not everyone will remember if they heard good or bad things, but the fact that they heard “means it’s the best.”
16. Peak-End Rule:
People judge experiences based on peak moments and endings. That is why people who give a review usually give a great or bad review; few are in the middle. In addition to this, the human brain is wired to see and be influenced more by bad experiences. Anthropologically speaking, people have developed the ability to see bad things faster to defend themselves from predators and to survive.
17. Belonging Hypothesis:
Humans need to form and maintain relationships. Their nature is to survive in a group, not alone in the wilderness. That is why we must create connections and feel we belong to a group.
18. Similarity-attraction effect:
People are drawn to those who are similar to them. Your brand values attract people with the same values.
19. Aesthetic Appeal:
People connect with things they like visually. Many psychological experiments have shown that children who are more beautiful receive smaller punishments, prisoners who are ugly receive greater punishments, and people associate more positive traits with beautiful people even if they do not have them or are not at that level.
Creating Habits and Brand Loyalty
“To be a great designer, you need to look a little deeper into how people think and act.” – Paul Boag
To make your audience habitually use and buy from your brand and to foster loyalty, consider the following strategies:
1. Consistent Visual Identity:
Maintain a cohesive look across all platforms. Use consistent colors, typography, and imagery. Develop a recognizable logo and style guide. The first step in the connection process is awareness. Without differentiating yourself from others, you can’t create the first impression. And the first thing is what we see.
2. Emotional Connection:
Use design elements that evoke specific emotions. Incorporate storytelling into visual elements. Create relatable mascots or characters. Bring your audience in your development journey.
3. User-Centric Design:
Ensure all designs are user-friendly and intuitive. Prioritize accessibility in digital and print materials. Tailor designs to meet specific user needs and preferences. I think user-centric design should be the mantra of every designer, because we don’t create for robots, we create for humans.
4. Quality and Attention to Detail:
Deliver high-quality design work consistently. Pay attention to small details that enhance user experience. Ensure all branded materials are polished and professional.
5. Brand Personality:
Develop a distinct visual voice that reflects brand values. Use design to communicate brand personality traits. Create a consistent tone across all visual communications.
6. Memorability:
Design unique, memorable visual elements. Use mnemonics or visual hooks in branding. Create shareable, visually appealing content.
7. Adaptability:
Design flexible systems that work across various mediums. Ensure brand elements are recognizable at different scales. Create responsive designs for digital platforms.
8. Value Communication:
Use design to highlight brand values and mission. Incorporate elements that showcase brand benefits. Design infographics or visuals that explain brand offerings.
9. Community Building:
Create designs that foster a sense of belonging. Develop visual elements for loyalty programs. Design shareable brand assets for user-generated content.
10. Continuous Innovation:
Regularly refresh designs while maintaining core identity. Incorporate new design trends thoughtfully. Use design to showcase product or service innovations.
11. Cultural Relevance:
Adapt designs to resonate with different cultural contexts. Create inclusive visual representations. Develop designs that align with current social values.
12. Feedback Integration:
Design systems for collecting user feedback. Visually communicate how user input shapes the brand. Create before-and-after visuals to show improvements.
13. Personalization:
Design customizable elements for users, create visuals that speak to different user segments, and develop personalized visual experiences on digital platforms.
14. Trust Signals:
Incorporate trust-building elements in designs (e.g., security badges). Use design to highlight testimonials or reviews. Create visuals that showcase brand expertise or certifications.
15. Reward Visibility:
Design attractive loyalty program visuals. Create engaging designs for exclusive content or offers. Develop visually appealing referral program materials.
Meeting the Needs of Your Audience
Understanding and meeting the needs of your audience is crucial. These needs can be categorized as follows:
Functional Needs:
- Usability: Intuitive and easy-to-use designs.
- Accessibility: Designs that cater to diverse abilities.
- Efficiency: Designs that save time or effort.
Emotional Needs:
- Aesthetics: Visually pleasing design.
- Comfort: Designs that make users feel at ease.
- Excitement: Designs that stimulate or inspire.
Cognitive Needs:
- Clarity: Clear communication of information.
- Simplicity: Reduction of cognitive load.
- Organization: Logical structure of information.
Social Needs:
- Belonging: Designs that foster community.
- Status: Designs that confer prestige or exclusivity.
- Identity: Designs that allow self-expression.
Cultural Needs:
- Relevance: Designs that resonate with cultural values.
- Inclusivity: Designs that respect diversity.
- Localization: Designs adapted to specific cultural contexts.
Security Needs:
- Trust: Designs that convey reliability and safety.
- Privacy: Designs that protect user information.
- Consistency: Designs that provide a sense of familiarity.
Informational Needs:
- Education: Designs that facilitate learning.
- Transparency: Designs that provide clear, honest information.
- Guidance: Designs that help in decision-making.
Psychological Needs:
- Control: Designs that give users a sense of autonomy.
- Achievement: Designs that provide a sense of accomplishment.
- Growth: Designs that support personal development.
Physical Needs:
- Comfort: Ergonomic designs for physical ease.
- Health: Designs that promote well-being.
- Safety: Designs that protect from harm.
Technological Needs:
- Compatibility: Designs that work across different devices.
- Integration: Designs that connect with other systems.
- Performance: Designs that operate smoothly and quickly.
Environmental Needs:
- Sustainability: Eco-friendly design choices.
- Adaptability: Designs that work in various environments.
- Longevity: Designs that stand the test of time.
Ethical Needs:
- Fairness: Designs that promote equality.
- Transparency: Designs that are honest about their purpose.
- Responsibility: Designs that consider their broader impact.
When using psychology knowledge to create better design, we are looking at what influences a habit, what influences love emotions, and what people’s needs are.
“A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.” – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
By profoundly understanding and incorporating these psychological principles and needs into your brand design, you can create a brand that attracts customers and fosters deep connections, loyalty, and habitual use. Your brand becomes more than just a product or service—it becomes a trusted part of your customers’ lives, meeting their needs and resonating with their values and emotions.
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