E-commerce platforms are no longer just platforms to buy and sell products, but to influence your buying decisions. From time-sensitive offers to notifications saying “only 2 items left in stock,” e-commerce platforms employ a variety of strategies to make you buy in a hurry.
While these strategies aren’t necessarily wrong, understanding them helps you shop smart, rather than buying impulsively. This article aims to enlighten you about the 6 most common tricks that e-commerce platforms employ to influence their buyers and, more importantly, how they actually work in the background.
Urgency Triggers: Countdown Timers & Limited Time Deals
Key Points:
- Creates a sense of fear of missing out (FOMO).
- The deals may appear again after a certain period of time.
One of the most powerful tactics that e-commerce sites use is the sense of urgency that they create for the customers. The messages that they send to the customers say things like “Deal ends in 10 minutes” or “Countdown timer” and so on. These timers are actually meant to force the customers into making a quick decision without actually analyzing the purchase.
The timers that they use are actually a part of a cycle. Once the timer ends, the same offer may appear again after a certain period of time.
Scarcity Signals: “Only Few Items Left” Messages
Key Points:
- Instils a sense of scarcity.
- Based on general data, not necessarily actual time.
When you see a message like “Only 3 left in stock” or “High demand product,” it’s intended to induce a sense of urgency based on a sense of scarcity. If a consumer thinks a product is going to run out, they are more likely to buy it rather than comparing other options.
The issue is that it’s not necessarily based on actual time, but rather general data, not necessarily your actual situation.
Anchoring with High MRP & Big Discounts
Points to note:
- High original price makes the actual discount appear larger.
- The actual discount is less than what is perceived by you.
Many e-commerce sites show a high original price of a product, often referred to as the Maximum Retail Price (MRP), and then offer a deep discount on it. This is a pricing strategy known as price anchoring, where a price is anchored in your mind.
For instance, if you see a price of ₹4,999 struck out and replaced by a price of ₹2,999, you think this is a great offer, even though this is a price that has been available in the market for a while now, around ₹3,000.
Personalized Pricing & Recommendations
Key points:
- Prices and offers may change depending upon user behaviour.
- Recommendations may be provided to users to increase conversions.
Today’s online platforms use algorithms to track your history of visiting a website, your search history, and your purchasing history. Depending upon this information, the website may provide users with recommendations or may even change prices.
For example, suppose you have been visiting a website to look at a product. In order to make you buy the product, the website may even remove discounts to show urgency messages.
Bundling & “Buy More, Save More” Offers
Key points:
- Encourages higher spending per order.
- Savings kick in only after crossing a certain amount.
Discounts like “Buy 2, Get 10% Off” or “Save ₹500 on orders above ₹3,000” are primarily designed to encourage users to add more items to their order. Though this type of offer does provide discounts, it also forces users to buy more than what they initially wanted.
The idea behind this type of offer works because users focus only on the discounts. Hence, users end up purchasing more items to get the discounts.
Social Proof: Ratings, Reviews & Popular Tags
Important Points:
- Rating and Reviews increase trust and confidence.
- Tags like “Best Seller” are also effective.
Social proof is one effective way to influence people’s decisions. Thousands of positive reviews and tags like “Most Popular” and “Trending” are effective ways to influence our decisions because they give us social proof.
Social proof helps to reduce our hesitation and increase our decision-making speed.
Not all reviews are accurate; they may be biased too.
E-commerce Influence Tricks – Quick Summary Table
| Trick Used | How It Works | Impact on Buyers |
|---|---|---|
| Urgency Timers | Creates urgency to buy products. | Buyers make quick decisions. |
| Scarcity Messages | Sends messages to create urgency. | Buyers buy products in bulk. |
| Price Anchoring | Sets higher MRP and offers discounts. | Buyers buy products. |
| Personalization | Tries to know buyer behavior. | Buyers are influenced to increase product visibility. |
| Bundling Offers | Sends offers to buy more products. | Buyers spend more. |
| Social Proof | Sends messages to increase trust and confidence. | Buyers are less doubtful. |
Why Platforms Use These Tricks
E-commerce platforms are in a highly competitive business, and their customers’ attention is limited, with endless options to choose from. Therefore, to attract customers and increase their purchase rate, they are employing behavioral psychology and data-driven marketing techniques.
The tricks are not arbitrary; they are evidence-based techniques to:
- Achieve higher conversion rates
- Minimize decision-making time
- Increase average transaction size
- Enhance customer loyalty
From a business point of view, the techniques are effective in helping the platforms grow and sustain their business.
How These Tricks Affect Your Buying Behavior
It is possible that you might not be aware of the influence of such tactics on your buying behavior, and you might think that you are buying something based on rationality, but in actuality, you might be influenced by such factors.
For instance, you might see a timer and might avoid comparing prices, or you might see a label saying that a certain item is a best seller and might avoid reading reviews about that item. This might lead you to spend more and make less optimized buying decisions.
How to Shop Smartly Despite These Tricks
The first thing you should do is to be aware of such tactics and influence, and then you should start buying smartly.
Here are a few tips that you might want to keep in mind:
- Take a pause before buying.
- Compare prices.
- Look for price history.
- Read reviews.
- Do not buy something to get an offer on something else.
Final Thoughts
E-commerce platforms are designed to make your shopping experience convenient, but they are also designed to influence your purchasing decisions in a certain manner. It is important to note that such tactics and strategies are based on psychology and data, and they are not based on coincidence.
The bottom line is, one should not avoid such platforms, but they should be smart enough to use them in a better manner. Once you are aware of such tricks, you are no longer an influenced buyer, but an informed buyer.
In simple words, one should not follow a deal, but should also be aware of the strategy behind such a deal.
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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What is the purpose of using urgency strategies such as a countdown timer by e-commerce sites?
To evoke FOMO (fear of missing out) among consumers and make them take quicker buying decisions.
Are “only few items left” notifications always accurate?
No, they are general notifications and don’t necessarily show accurate data.
What is price anchoring in online shopping?
Price anchoring is a technique where a high original price is displayed to make a lower price appear more attractive.
Does an e-commerce site really offer different prices to different users?
In some instances, yes, they do, based on user data.
Are “Buy More, Save More” offers really helpful to consumers, or is there a catch to them?
Yes, they are helpful if you really need to buy more, but no, if you don’t need them and are buying them unnecessarily.
