How do people decide what to buy? Breaking that question down further, what frameworks do we subconsciously use to inform, and speed up our decision-making? Enter behavioral biases. Or, decision-making shortcuts. When shopping for a phone, you could learn photographic composition and analyze the output images from your top contenders. But more likely, you’ll look at the megapixels. Fast, and “informed-enough”. You’ll watch expert reviews on YouTube – what do they like? What feedback do other customers have? Can I get the phone tomorrow? This phone has a sale going on, but it’s this weekend only – better act fast! Better yet, that phone is throwing in a free wireless charger. The Language used in these examples likely feels familiar, and when you break them down, each is based on the psychology of how we make decisions. These are the 6 behavioral biases we all use to help make easy buying decisions in a world overflowing with information: 1. Category heuristics (megapixels) 2. Authority bias (expert reviews) 3. Social proof (customer reviews) 4. Power of now (next-day delivery) 5. Scarcity bias (time-limited) 6. Power of free (free wireless charger) As it turns out, they work like a charm. Google recently published a paper looking at their impact on decision-making within the buying process. In all 31 verticals tested, a minimum of 70% of customers switched brands when introduced to a second brand with marketing material utilizing the biases. That’s right, 70% (up to 94%…poor car insurance). This is what Local Marketing Insider #005 is about. But this intro uses broad, high-level examples. Y’all are here to talk local business. So that’s what we did in the article.