How to Leverage Psychology in Your Ads for Better Engagement

How to Leverage Psychology in Your Ads

On TikTok, you see the same old headlines that DTC brands love to use:

"3 reasons why to try this [product or service]"
"The best way to [insert product or service]"
"TikTok made me buy this"
"Get 2x more sales with this one simple trick!," and so on.

While these hooks may grab attention at first, they eventually blur together, losing their impact. Brands need to think beyond these tired phrases and tap into deeper psychological triggers to truly connect with audiences.

But coming up with fresh ideas is tough, especially if you’re stuck in front of a screen all day. In fact, studies suggest that creativity thrives when we break away from routine. Research from the University of Graz shows that physical activity can boost creativity, while a Stanford study found that walking increases creative output by up to 60%. No wonder top companies like Google, Apple, and Pixar incorporate movement and hands-on activities to spark new ideas.

In this guide, we’ll explore how you can tap into psychology and creativity to create ads that make a lasting impact.

Why Novelty in DTC Ads Works

Ok, before we dive in, let's define what novelty in creative advertising is:

'In advertising, novelty is often defined as divergence from expectation and conceptualized, along with usefulness, as one component of ad creativity'

(Smith & Yang, 2004)

More simply, novelty is about breaking away from the expected and creating something different. This could include using unexpected imagery, colours, or messaging to catch your audience's attention.

However, while your ads should stand out, there's a fine line between being innovative and going too far. Novelty must be balanced with familiarity, as research shows people are attracted to new ideas that still feel somewhat familiar. If an ad is too strange or abrasive, it risks turning people off and losing its effectiveness.

Furthermore, novelty boosts short-term ad recall, allowing people to remember your ad better right after it's seen. However, usefulness is what sticks over time for lasting brand recall. By balancing novelty and usefulness in your DTC ads, you create a powerful combo that drives both immediate impact and long-term success.

How DTC Brands use Novelty in Their Ads

One way to incorporate novelty is to surprise the audience with unexpected combinations. Our brains are wired to filter out familiar images, so when an ad shows something ordinary—like a pair of sneakers—we tend to tune it out. But when something unexpected is added, like unicorns wearing those sneakers, our brains are caught off guard, and we start paying attention.

Try these combinations to generate creative ideas:

Brainstorm with random objects: Write down a list of unrelated items (e.g., tennis racket, lightbulb, skateboard) and draw two randomly.
Create unexpected combinations: Challenge yourself to connect these items in an ad concept, like pairing sneakers with unicorns.
Test the novelty: Consider how these combinations will surprise your audience and make them stop scrolling. You can test this with some market research groups, or even your own colleagues and friends.
Do a physical activity: Often, our best ideas come from thinking about something unrelated. Take a walk or try different activities to get your creative juices flowing.

This approach ensures that your ads break through the noise, stand out in a crowded market, and keep your audience intrigued.

How to Use Novelty to Create Memorable Ads

Let's go over a few examples of how novelty can be used to create awesome ads:

Playful Reversal Ads

Take something familiar and add your own spin on it. For instance, you might showcase a banana labelled "orange juice" or depict a female lifeguard rescuing a muscular male swimmer with the tagline "Get rescued by her." These playful reversals catch people off guard, making them think "Wait, what?!" and causing them to pay more attention to your ad.

Sequential Discount Ads

Reveal offers in reverse, starting with a high price and gradually showing bigger discounts. This leaves the best for last, helping to build suspense and keep viewers interested throughout.

For example, your ad can initially show a $200 price tag, cross it out to reveal $150, and then cross that out to reveal the final price of $100. Ofcourse, audiences are going to remember the final price tag of $100 and be more likely to take advantage of your discount.

Go Retro

Revive past elements or styles to tap into people's nostalgia. This could be a throwback to old technology or fashion trends, using vintage fonts and colours, or incorporating popular 70-90s cultural references.

An ad for a new smartphone, for example, could use retro graphics and taglines like "Back to the Future of Technology" or "Old School Meets New Tech."

Play with Misdirection

Use visuals or setups that lead viewers to expect one thing, then reveal something different. This twist grabs attention and makes your message more impactful.

An ad that plays with misdirection could show a person sitting down to eat a bowl of cereal, but instead of milk, they pour in coffee. The consequential tagline could then be, "Why settle for a boring breakfast when you can wake up with a kick?"

Innovative Product Demos

Present your product uniquely or exaggeratedly, such as Blendtec's "Will It Blend?" campaign, where unusual items were blended to demonstrate the product’s power, making the ads entertaining and informative.

How to Tap into Emotions to Drive Customer Engagement

Marketers, often focused on data and consumer pain points, tend to overlook the power of emotions in the marketing process. However, research shows that ads with emotional content have a higher success rate based on advertising campaign performance—31% compared to just 16% for ads focused solely on rational messaging.

When researching your own market, ask yourself the following questions:

How do your customers feel before they buy your product? Is it fear, joy, or curiosity? Identifying these can help you craft a message that speaks directly to those feelings.
What emotions does your product or service evoke? Is it excitement, comfort, or relief? If it was dissapointment, find out why and make adjustments.
How long have they been experiencing these challenges? Recognising the duration of their struggles can inform the tone and urgency of your messaging.
What are their aspirations and desires? Identifying what your customers truly want in life can help you connect with them deeper.

Putting yourself in your customers' shoes gives you a greater perspective on how they think, feel, and make decisions. This perspective can then be translated into your creative strategy to tap into their emotions effectively.

Research Techniques for Psychology-Based Ads

Many marketers use psychological principles like social proof or authority in their ads to highlight their brand’s credibility. However, uncovering deeper psychological triggers can be even more powerful.

One way to uncover these triggers is through research techniques designed explicitly for psychology-based ads, which include:

Start with a Defined Research Question

Start your research by determining what questions you want answered about your brand or audience.

For example, if you're marketing a fitness brand, you may want to explore questions like:

What motivates individuals to prioritise their health and fitness?
What psychological triggers encourage trust in health products?
How do people want to feel after using our product?

These questions can help you better understand the psychology behind your target audience's decision-making, allowing you to create more effective ads.

Google Scholar

Use Google Scholar or other academic databases to research the psychological factors influencing consumer behavior. Filter for peer-reviewed studies within the last 3-5 years to ensure reliability and relevance and analyse various research studies and findings related to your topic.

Additionally, tools Ai tools like Elicit can summarise and extract data from research papers or studies, saving on manually doing it yourself. Thislets youo quickly gather psychological insights without spending hours reading through dense research papers.

Social Media Listening

As you browse through your social media feed, you'll notice discussions on a variety of topics and products. These conversations go beyond just opinions—they reflect people’s psychological needs. By analysing them, you can track specific brand mentions, identify emerging trends, and see how people really feel about your product or service.

For example, if you're promoting an eco-friendly cleaning product, discover common pain points, i.e., concerns about price, effectiveness, or time-saving. You can address these concerns in your ads, such as highlighting cost savings or showcasing how quick and easy it is to use.

Customer Reviews

This heavily ties in with social listening, except you get firsthand customer feedback. To quickly understand the emotions driving purchases, run a Natural Language Processing (NLP) analysis on these reviews to identify key emotions, such as safety, confidence, or comfort, to streamline your ad strategy.

For example, if you're selling a skincare product and discover that many reviews mention feeling more confident and beautiful after using it, emphasis that in your ads.

ChatGPT

Think of ChatGPT as your creative assistant and chatbot hybrid, designed to help you tap into customer psychology and thought processes. While it can't replace real customer reviews, it’s a valuable tool for brainstorming new ad ideas, marketing pitches, or even product features.

For example, if you're launching a new productivity app to help users manage their time more effectively, your primary audience might be busy professionals. However, ChatGPT might suggest targeting students who often face time management challenges during exam periods. You can then ask it to create ads tailored to both audiences and compare the results to see which resonates better.

Pinterest Trends, Google Trends, and Reddit

Use tools like Pinterest Trends to track what's gaining popularity in your industry. Once you've identified a trend, validate it further by researching keywords on TikTok and Instagram. If the trend is related to a specific product, find out its general consensus on Reddit, customer reviews on Amazon, or feedback on social media.

You can also broaden your analysis using Google Trends, Answer the Public, and AI tools like Giga Brain to understand how people engage with these topics. If the feedback is consistently positive and high demand is a clear sign that running ads around this trend could be profitable.

For example, if Pinterest Trends shows a rise in searches for "zero-waste kitchen products," you could use Giga Brain to uncover people's concerns about ease of cleaning or storage space. With this insight, you can craft ads that emphasise how your zero-waste kitchen products are easy to clean, space-efficient, and practical for everyday use—directly addressing the specific needs of your audience.

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Data Analytics from Your Own Website

If you run an e-commerce website, tools like Google Analytics can help you analyse your site’s performance. Focus on which products or pages hold visitors' attention, which ones convert the best, and where high bounce rates occur.

This data can also reveal drop-off points in the customer journey, allowing you to adjust your ad strategy. For instance, if a product page has a high bounce rate, you may want to improve its visuals, descriptions, or pricing to boost engagement.

While this data doesn’t provide direct psychological insights, it offers valuable clues about user behaviour. Leverage these insights to make more informed ad decisions and better target your audience.

Qualitative Interviews

Chatting with a few of your customers is a great way to better understand what drives their decisions. Ask them open-ended questions like, “Can you tell me about your experience?” or “What made you choose this? What was going on at the time?” to really get to the heart of their motivations and emotions. These kinds of questions let customers open up and share the full story behind their purchases.

You can make it easy for them to share their thoughts by leaving feedback forms on your website post-purchase or sending surveys to your email list. You could also reach out directly through social media or email, offering a little perk like a discount or freebie in return for their feedback.

Adjust Your Ad's Messaging to Address Your Target Audience's Problem

Now that you’ve done your homework, you should have a pretty clear picture of your audience:

Their main struggle: Identify the problem your product solves—whether it's ease, affordability, or something better. Speak directly to this pain point.
Their emotions: Tap into how they feel—stressed, excited, curious? Your message should resonate emotionally.
What they want: Highlight the benefits they care about, like quick results or long-term solutions.
Their knowledge: Tailor your message based on whether they’re new to your product or comparing it to others.
Their hesitations: Address any doubts upfront, like price or effectiveness, to build trust.

Keep your messaging clear and focused on what matters most to your audience.

How to Use ChatGPT to Generate Psychology-Based Ad Copy

If you're not a copywriter, you can give ChatGPT-specific prompts to generate persuasive copy that aligns with various psychological triggers:

Belonging and Inclusion:some text
- "Give me 10 ad headlines (4-7 words long) that persuade [product] customers that they'll feel accepted with [brand] product."
- Example Output: “Belong with [Brand] – Feel at Home”
Confidence and Self-Esteem:some text
- "Give me 10 ad headlines (4-7 words long) that persuade [product] customers that they can increase their appeal with [brand] product."
- Example Output: “Boost Your Appeal with [Brand]”
Care and Well-Being:some text
- "Give me 10 ad headlines (4-7 words long) that persuade [product] customers that they can nurture themselves (or their families) with [brand] product."
- Example Output: “Nurture Your Loved Ones with [Brand]”
Control and Dominance:some text
- "Give me 10 ad headlines (4-7 words long) that persuade [product] customers that they can feel in control with [brand] product."
- Example Output: “Take Charge with [Brand] – Be In Control”
Stress Relief and Comfort:some text
- "Give me 10 ad headlines (4-7 words long) that persuade [product] customers that they can relieve their stress or anxiety with [brand] product."
- Example Output: “Stress Relief Made Easy with [Brand]”
Exclusivity and Prestige:some text
- "Give me 10 ad headlines (4-7 words long) that persuade [product] customers that they will be part of an exclusive club by using [brand] product."
- Example Output: “Unlock Exclusive Benefits with [Brand]”
Savings and Value:some text
- "Give me 10 ad headlines (4-7 words long) that persuade [product] customers that they can save money by using [brand] product."
- Example Output: “Save Big with [Brand] – Your Wallet Will Thank You”

How to Apply Psychology to Your Facebook Ads

Let's summarise all the above and more with our step-by-step guide on how to apply psychology to your Facebook ads:

Identify Key Psychological Triggers: As mentioned above, try using various methods and tools to discover your consumer's top emotional drivers, such as confidence, exclusivity, or care.
Craft Ad Variations: Create 3-5 ad static images, i.e., pictures, text, and calls to action that target different psychological triggers. Use novelty tactics, such as the ones mentioned above, to grab attention.
Test and Learn: Run these ads in separate campaigns, each focused on a specific emotional angle. Track their performance using key metrics like Click-Through Rate (CTR), Cost Per Acquisition (CPA), and Conversion Rate (CVR).
Scale What Works: Once you’ve identified the winning ads, scale them up and iterate the successful concepts into new formats like UGC (User-Generated Content) or professional videos.

Following this simple guide, you can quickly create ads that tap into your audience's emotions and drive conversions.

Discover Novel Concepts in Your Ads with MagicBrief

Struggling to come up with creative ad ideas? You’re not alone—many marketers struggle to find new ways to engage their audience. That’s where MagicBrief comes in.

With the world’s largest ad library, featuring over 5 million ads from 25,000+ brands, MagicBrief provides the inspiration and insights you need to create high-performing Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram ads. Analyse your competitors, explore novelty tactics, and tap into emotional triggers that are proven to resonate.

In addition to our ad library, MagicBrief’s tracking tools let you monitor which ad concepts, hooks, copy, and media types your competitors are using—how often, and when. Spot the novelty tactics they rely on and identify opportunities to introduce your own creative twists, helping you stand out in a crowded market.