How These Two Psychological Moonshots Will Bring You A Wave Of New Customers

The two tools you’re about to come across are known by very few businesses.

What’s even better is that they are known by very few marketers, so this is specific knowledge you can use to beat your competitors and attract new clients.

In the next 3 minutes, this article will teach you what these are and how you can start using them today.

What Are ‘Psychological Moonshots’?

This term is in the article’s headline, so here’s a quick explanation:

‘Psychological moonshot’ is a term coined by Rory Sutherland, vice chairman of Ogilvy, one of the largest creative agencies in the world. Here’s the definition:

A psychological moonshot is a small change you make that dramatically increases the value of something your business does.

And you’re about to learn two of these which you can use to attract clients in your marketing:

Psychological Moonshot 1

Customers are always worried about a few things:

• They don’t know when you’re going to finish providing your service for them,

• They don’t know if any mistakes are being made,

• And they don’t know why things are taking however long they’re taking!

These thoughts make customers trust any business less, meaning even your most satisfied customers were probably worried at one point.

To counter this, you must use an idea in psychology called operational transparency.

This is when you build trust with customers by being 100% honest about the behind-the-scenes operations. Here’s an example in marketing:

A real estate agent in Amsterdam once analysed how long it took for homes to sell on average. It was about 100 days. So, he made a guarantee which ended up being so strong that it attracted a wave of customers:“Your home sold within 100 days or we’ll give you back €1500.”

This is a perfect example of this idea in the real world. Customers know how long their project will take, and have peace of mind because of a guarantee.

90% of local businesses make general claims about ‘good service’ and a ‘friendly team’, so if you can give specifics, you will stand out and immediately attract customers.

You don’t have to exaggerate by telling them about a team member being diagnosed with athlete’s foot, but clear expectations lead to satisfied customers who value your business.

So tell them how long your service takes and any other specifics. Specific marketing always outperforms general claims.

After all, one of the greatest ads of all time used only specific facts in the headline: “At 60 miles an hour, the loudest noise in this new Rolls-Royce comes from the electric clock.” 

This was a 1958 Rolls-Royce ad by David Ogilvy, which increased Rolls-Royce sales by 50%. Just proves the fact that being transparent attracts new customers.

With that, let’s go on to the second tool you can use:

Psychological Moonshot 2

This next principle can be best explained by an example:

Rory Sutherland, the same person who coined the term ‘Psychological Moonshot’, explains in his book ‘Alchemy’ that if your plane flight was delayed, seeing a ‘DELAYED’ alert is much more worrying than a ‘DELAYED 50 MINUTES’ alert.

This is for one simple reason - there is more uncertainty.

That’s why the next psychological principle is called uncertainty anxiety.

Customers would prefer honest expectations over a big promise which ends up not being true. Here are 2 examples of how you can use this in your marketing:

1. Show off behind-the-scenes content on social media of your team completing a project. This makes potential customers certain about what’s happening behind the scenes, making them more open to choosing you over competitors. 

2. On your website, have a section dedicated to explaining the exact process behind your service. This tells customers what to expect, giving them peace of mind and making them more likely to leave positive reviews.

Both of the examples you just read actually use a third principle too - the endowment effect.

This is when people value a product or service more because they feel like they own a part of it. By setting clear expectations, customers have a greater knowledge of your business and so feel involved, making them value your business more.

So, those are a few psychological marketing tools you can use to attract new customers.