The Psychology of Selling: Reading the 2026 Consumer
Why do customers buy? That’s the million-dollar question that companies are looking to answer, but most customers don’t really know themselves!!
If you ask them, they will give you a logical reason: “It was a good price,” or “It had the features I needed.” But as marketers, we know the truth is more complex. Research consistently shows that 95% of purchasing decisions happen in the subconscious mind.
We buy with our hearts and then justify the purchase with our heads and often aren’t even aware they’re doing it. To succeed in the competitive landscape of 2025, you need to stop selling “features” and start speaking to the deep psychological needs of your customer.
This guide explores the key psychological triggers driving sales today and tells you how you can turn customer buying behaviour into business wins.
Trigger 1: Pain vs. Pleasure
Every human action is driven by two forces: the desire to gain pleasure or the desire to avoid pain. Of the two, avoiding pain is a much stronger motivator.
- The Mistake: Many businesses focus only on pleasure. “Our software is fast!”
- The Fix: Focus on the pain you remove. “Stop wasting 10 hours a week on slow admin tasks.”
- Real-World Example: A physiotherapist could market “Relaxing Massages” (Pleasure). But they will likely get more bookings by marketing “Relief from Chronic Back Pain” (Pain Avoidance).
Trigger 2: Social Proof and the “Bandwagon Effect”
In 2026, trust in institutions is low, but trust in “peers” is high. We look to others to determine correct behaviour. This is the “Bandwagon Effect” and as marketers we can provide information to encourage our potential buyers to jump on board.
There are a few easy ways we can do this, with testimonials being top of the list.
Text testimonials are great, but video testimonials are the gold standard.
Consumers can spot fake reviews and are looking out for them. Whereas they love authenticity and will engage with real content. That’s why a raw, unpolished video of a client smiling and holding your product is worth ten times more than a polished, scripted corporate video.
Reviews are also a really powerful tool. Products with 5+ reviews have a 270% higher conversion rate than those with zero reviews.
Last but not least, influencer marketing is a great way to expand your reach even further. Content generated by a trusted influencer, endorsing your product can be the trigger that clients need to get over their lack of trust and buy.
Trigger 3: The Scarcity Principle
This is hardwired into our brains. When we perceive something as scarce, we assign it a higher value and pay more attention to it. Marketers can use this to push our potential clients into action, either by having a limit of time e.g. “Offer expires in 4 hours”, or sharing that demand is strong and supply is limited, so they might miss out e.g. “Only 3 tables left for Valentine’s Day.”
Warning: Do not fake this. If you say a sale ends on Friday, it must end on Friday. If customers see the same “limited time” timer running a week later, you lose all credibility.
The same is true with events organizers who claim that tickets are nearly sold out, in order to drive sales, even when ticket sales are very low. When people come to the event, or see it on social and it’s empty, their trust in you is gone – so use this technique wisely.
These emotional triggers do not exist in a vacuum, they are part of the buying cycle, and it’s important to understand the stages of this cycle to use these emotional triggers correctly.
The 5 Stages of the Buying Cycle
The buying cycle is the step-by-step journey a customer takes from recognizing a need to evaluating their purchase afterward. It is a process of realizations, questions, decisions, and judgments that customers go through before making a purchase.
Businesses use this framework to align marketing, sales, and customer support strategies with customer behaviour and how to influence them effectively to convert them into customers.
To apply emotional triggers effectively, you must understand where your customer is in their journey. Here are the five stages to bear in mind:
- Awareness: They realize they have a problem and want to learn more (e.g., “My back hurts”). As businesses, we can help them through this stage by providing information about the issue, without necessarily selling. For example, we could produce a series of Blog posts and/or explainer videos about “the causes of back pain.” This would start to connect our business with the problem in their mind.
- Interest: They understand their problem and are now ready to look for solutions. So, we need to dig deeper into the potential solutions in a balanced way. For example, we could create a comparison guide to show how a Physio differs from a Chiropractor.
- Evaluation: They actively compare you against competitors to see which one is better for them. This is where the testimonials and social proof comes in, and where you also need to ensure they can easily access all the information they need to make an informed decision, such as clear and simple pricing pages and terms, as well as case studies demonstrating how your product or service has helped someone get over their bad back.
- Decision: They are ready to buy. You need to make that process as easy and enjoyable as possible. This could be through ensuring navigation on the website is intuitive, linking directly to a product on social media, offering a discount or limited time offer adding extra value, or having fantastic customer service and sales teams.
- Post-Purchase: If you’ve done it right and given them a great buying experience and delivered an excellent product or service they become fans. These fans are amazing assets to become repeat customers and encourage new clients through referrals and recommendations. We can help them to become fans and stick with us, through follow-up emails, support if needed and loyalty programs.
What matters to the consumer in 2026?
Now we understand the emotional triggers that influence our customers, the stages of the buying cycle and how we can help our consumers through that cycle to buy, there’s only one thing missing and that’s to understand these clients in context of today’s world.
Consumers in 2026 are living in a very different world than we were in the 1980s, when excess was encouraged and praised. We are now aware of the impact our purchasing decisions have on the planet and on others, and this has led to a demand for “Ethical Consumption” andthe need for “guilt-free” spending. Consumers are anxious about the environment and social issues and this can be a significant barrier to purchase, or a real draw for conscious consumers.
Buyers in 2026 are cynical and don’t want to feel like they are being greenwashed, so they ignore vague terms like “Eco-Friendly”. What they are looking for are clear, strong commitments from the company, backed up by evidence.
Messages such as; “Made from 100% recycled ocean plastic” or “We donate 1% of profits to local charities” work wonders. These specific claims relieve the “guilt” of consumption and replace it with the pride of contributing to a cause.
They can also add value to your bottom line, as 73% of Millennials are willing to pay more for sustainable brands.
Warning – Make sure you really can back up these claims and that you’re being transparent and ethical if you’re positioning your company in the ethical and planet friendly space. If you’ve built your brand on these claims and they turn out to be untrue, or hiding some unethical practices, these clients will turn on you and you will have a crisis on your hands!
Conclusion
Understanding your customers and leveraging the psychology of buying behaviour is an amazing tool for every business owner and marketer. It may feel manipulative, but you’re delivering something that clients wants and perhaps needs, and as long as your product solves a real problem, using psychology to help them find it is a service, not a trick.
Shaw Marketing Services is a full-service marketing agency on the Costa del Sol, offering online and offline marketing strategy and implementation to help you reach your customers and communicate with them effectively. Browse our website to find out more about our PR and marketing services, or contact us to arrange a consultation.