How To Create Strong Calls To Action Using Loss Aversion Psychology

When you’re in the process of putting together a new marketing campaign, one of the most important parts that can make or break your conversion rate is your call to action. You might think you’re doing everything right: using bold verbs that urge and tantalize consumers to contact you or buy your product. However, those calls to action don’t seem very strong when you realize that just about every marketing campaign will be doing the same thing. So how can you still have a strong call to action while also setting your campaign apart from the competition? We recommend you try using Loss Aversion Psychology.

What Is Loss Aversion Psychology?

Loss Aversion is actually not a new concept, and has been around in economic theory and marketing strategies for a while now. It is a term that is used among economics and psychology experts to describe people’s general tendency to prefer not losing something to gaining something. In simple terms, this means that people care more about losing money than they do to about finding or gaining it. It might sound odd to consciously think about this, but numerous studies have shown that at a subconscious level this is actually true for consumer behavior:

• Consumers would prefer to avoid extra fees and charges than to be offered a discount even if they wind up paying the same amount
• People are more willing to accept that same discount if they think they are missing out on a deal, thereby “losing” it, than if they are simply offered it to save money
• People are more willing to buy something if they think it’s the last one in stock, or one of the last ones, than if there were still plenty

The great news is that this mindset is something that can be used in your marketing campaigns to help drive conversions. In this case, it can help you create more effective calls to action in your ads. All you need to do is take these principles and condense them into short statements and offers to help spur conversions.

How To Make Loss Aversion-Based Calls To Action

So how can you take the aversion to loss or missing out that is inherent to people’s shopping behavior and apply it to your calls to action? The key is to key in on what it is about your product, service, or promotion that people would most hate to lose. Is it the price? The quality? The ownership? It might be more than one thing, which gives you multiple options for a call to action you can use and test them out using A/B testing to find what is most effective. Here are some ideas:

• For remarketing ads, offer a discount for that day: “Save 20% for today only!”
• Use phrases that appeal directly to people’s loss aversion: “Don’t miss out!” or “Hurry! Only 3 left!”
• Make an offer that implies ownership: “Act now and get a free (product or service)!” or “Return it within 30 days if you don’t like it!”

With all of the above, they establish to the consumer that there is something they can lose with your promotion. Whether it’s a temporary sale, one of the last remaining items they’re shopping for, or something that they believe is already theirs.