🤯 Unlock The Secret Psychology Behind Irresistible Ads + 4 AI tools

Hey, and welcome to another drop of The Ad Performance Lab

This week, we've lined up something quite valuable

Succeeding in marketing is all about understanding the end customers deeply.

That’s where understanding consumer psychology comes in

Understanding how consumers think and act is the core of everything we do with marketing.

Today we’re diving deep into that.

✅ Using Psychology in Your Ad Creative

✅ Ad Examples With Psychology Principles

✅ 9 Different Emotional Motivators Humans Use to Purchase

Using Psychology in Your Ad Creative

When it comes down to using psychology in ads the only thing we need to remember is, we are taking what we know about the brain.

Putting it into an ad so that we speak to the parts of the subconscious that are going to like that piece of that ad the most.

Diving into all the different areas about psychology might seem very complex and hard at first

But when you simplify it into actionable steps and give yourself time to practice.

It becomes easier and easier and all of a sudden everything starts to make sense.

At core, 95% of our processing power comes from the subconscious mind.

Yea, that means most of what we decide to buy is influenced by feelings, emotions, and all that jazz we’re not even fully aware of.

Our brains are like icebergs; what we see on the surface is just a tiny part of the story.

The real magic happens beneath, in the subconscious mind, where emotions and past experiences lurk, making us choose one brand over another without us even realizing it.

Psychological Hacks That Make Your Ads Unforgettable

1. Anchoring Effect: 

Ever seen a "Was $99, now only $49" tag?

That’s anchoring.

Your brain sees the initial high price and the lower price feels like a steal.

It’s like telling your audience, “This is the bargain of the century.”

2. Framing Effects: 

It's not just what you say; it’s how you say it.

Spin your ad's message with a positive frame, and watch how your audience’s perception shifts like magic.

It’s the difference between “save money” and “stop wasting money”.

3. Loss Aversion: 

Our brains are wired to fear loss more than we love gains.

Highlight what your customers stand to lose by not buying, and watch the clicks roll in.

FOMO is real.

4. Priming: 

Like warming up before the big game, priming gets your audience’s brain ready to receive your message.

A carefully chosen word or image can set the stage for everything that follows.

5. Herd Mentality: 

Ever bought something because everyone else is buying it?

That’s herd mentality.

Show off how popular your product is, and others will follow.

It’s the digital equivalent of a standing ovation.

Make it Simple

Incorporating these principles into your ad strategy isn't about manipulation; it's about connection.

It's understanding the human psyche on a deeper level to create ads that resonate, comfort, and inspire.

Your aim is to make your audience feel understood on a subconscious level, forging a bond that goes beyond the superficial.

The Four Pillars of Psychological Strategy:

1. Research: 

   Begin with a quest for understanding, diving deep into the psyche of your audience.

   What moves them?

   What fears tether them?

   This phase is about listening to the heartbeat of your market, mapping the emotional landscape that your campaigns will navigate.

2. Ideation: 

   With insights in hand, embark on a creative journey.

   Here, simplicity means distilling complex emotions into clear, compelling concepts.

   It’s about finding the essence of the message that will strike a chord, crafting ideas that resonate on a visceral level.

3. Production: 

   As ideas take form, simplicity guides the hand that molds them.

   In design, in copy, in imagery, the focus remains on clarity and emotional connection.

   This isn’t about creating ads; it’s about creating experiences that echo in the subconscious.

4. Evaluation: 

   Finally, measure not just the metrics of success but the alignment with emotional intent.

   Did the message hit home?

   Did it stir the deep waters of desire?

   This is where the effectiveness of simplicity is both proven and perfected.

As marketers, we're not just competing for eyeballs.

We're vying for hearts and minds, navigating the ever-shifting tides of consumer desire.

Our audience's buying habits morph with the seasons of life, influenced by where they stand on life's journey, their self-concept, and the world they immerse themselves in.

It's a dynamic landscape, with the sands of age reshaping priorities and preferences.

Understanding the Emotional Core of Decision Making

At the root of every purchase decision lies an emotional seed.

Whether it's the quest for acceptance, the drive for accomplishment, or the need for safety, each click and conversion is a testament to these deep-seated motivators.

Our job is to craft ads that speak directly to these universal yearnings, scaling our message to meet the vast expanse of human experience.

9 different emotional motivators humans use to purchase:

• Acceptance

• Accomplishment

• Competence

• Experience

• Empowerment

• Esteem

• Freedom

• Nurturance

• Safety

Sometimes these will combine to make the decisions we’re trying to make, especially when it comes to purchases.

The ads can talk to the consumer about their need for competence, safety, acceptance or esteem, but it’s important to know which one is going to be the most important for our customers.

Value Bomb Of Week 👀 

Each week our team goes through 10+ different newsletters in the digital advertising world and collects together the best value here in a simple format. Think: you get the best value from all newsletters in one single place, in one single email

Motion’s Thumbstop Newsletter

“4 AI tools you can use for ad production right now

We're going to use AI to help us with these stages of the creative strategy process:

1) Help us find customer pain points

2) Turn those pain points into a script draft

3) Turn the script draft into a quick video ad

4) Increase CVR from the ad with landing page tips

Let’s use my imaginary candle company as a tangible example for each.

 ✅ Use GigaBrain to quickly find customer pain points

GigaBrain scans billions of discussions on Reddit and other online communities to find the most useful posts and comments based on your inquiry.

I’ll keep my search query simple: “Pain points with buying candles online”

GigaBrain scours the internet for you, providing a TLDR summary and highlighting the most relevant threads.

Based on one second of work, I now have a few creative angles to try that hit on my target audiences’ pain points:

• Non-toxic ingredients

• Small business

• Avoid overbuying

 ✅ Use a Custom GPT to create tailored ad scripts

Create a custom bot—tailored to your brand, product, customer demographics, reviews, top-performing ads, compliance reqs, and more—to help you create rough script drafts.

John referred to his Custom GPT as an “intern.”

After “onboarding” your new GPT, you can ask it to perform basic tasks relevant to your job and brand, without needing to give it the same context everytime.

The Custom GPT Builder pretty much guides you through the entire creation process.

It asks: What would you like to make?

I started with the basics: Make a performance marketer who writes scripts for ads on Meta and TikTok.

Then, I added more context:

→ You work for a DTC candle company, Fresh Candles.

→ Your target demo is females aged 25-35.

→ Our candles are non-toxic and handmade.

→ We are a female-owned small business.

→ Our brand style is warm and inviting.

The Builder follows up with some refinement questions:

→ What should be emphasized in the scripts?

→ How do you want the tone of the communication to be?

→ Would you like to add any specific messaging angles?

→ Would you like any specific examples or themes?

This is where those pain points I discovered using GigaBrain become useful. You can also mention a competitor or similar brand to use as an example.

Your Custom GPT will remember everything you tell it here, so—although the setup is not very time-consuming—you’ll be able to move even faster when interacting with it in the future.

It even provides some suggested prompts based on your inputs.

For instance, you can select an option to: “Create a Meta ad focused on our eco-friendly materials.”

…and now we have a script!

It’s not perfect, but—it’s a workable first draft.

You can see how valuable this Custom GPT could be to performance marketers.

Keep feeding it more information about your winning ads to refine these scripts and help you churn out more concepts to test.

 ✅ Use Kapwing to turn the script into a video

Kapwing is a content creation and video editing platform with a ton of AI features.

You can literally copy a script from your Custom GPT and paste it into Kapwing to automatically generate a video.

It uses the text from the script to create images, animations, videos, voiceover, and subtitles to match each section.

It’s a bit stock-photo-looking, of course, but you could definitely use some of it as B-roll.

Is the video perfect? Nowhere near!

Is it a workable rough draft? Absolutely!

Plus, Kapwing’s video editor is wonderfully intuitive.

You can easily replace images, text, and audio to fit your brand—while still letting AI do the bulk of the initial work.

 ✅ Use Landing Page Optimizer GPT to increase CVR

Your ad is up and running, now you want to make sure your landing page is converting as many customers as possible.

With Landing Page Optimizer GPT, you can submit a URL and immediately get actionable changes for your landing page copy.

I used a “competitor” DTC candle brand’s landing page for this example.

The copy suggestions are a little basic. You’ll want to infuse your brand voice more.

But the explanations and CTAs should get your mind working in the right direction.”

If you run a Shopify brand and you're trying to scale to 8 and 9 figures but need some help with your ad creatives (whether it’s still or short-form video :D)…

get in touch to book a discovery call today and let's talk about how we can help you grow your brand!

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On your side,

Matias Myhrberg

Founder, ©/Alota