7 Persuasion Examples to Increase Your Ecommerce Sales

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Struggling to turn curious website visitors into loyal customers? You’re not alone.

Persuading online shoppers can feel like an uphill battle, especially in a crowded ecommerce space where competition is fierce and attention spans are short. Whether you’re trying to increase conversions or upsell products, using the right persuasion marketing tactics to convince others is key.

In this article, we’ll break down seven powerful persuasion examples that are proven to boost ecommerce sales, helping you guide your target audience from interest to action.

Let’s get started!

Key elements of persuasive marketing

Have you heard of the book Influence by Robert B. Cialdini?

It’s practically the bible of persuasion in advertising and marketing. Published in 1984, it introduced six core principles that explain how our brains react to influence. Cialdini later added a seventh principle in 2016.

These concepts are the foundation of persuasive marketing:

  1. Liking
  2. Reciprocity
  3. Consistency
  4. Social proof
  5. Authority
  6. Scarcity
  7. Unity

7 persuasive techniques to sell more online

Now, let’s take a closer look at how these principles can work magic for your ecommerce store if you want to persuade people.

1. Liking: Be more likable to boost sales

This principle is based on sympathy and similarity.

“The more you like something, the more influenced you are.”

Beauty belongs here as well. Physical attraction is relevant from an evolutionary point of view since it affects every decision we make. So much so that thanks to the HALO effect, if one is beautiful, other positive attributes are added without any real proof.

For example, baby-faced people are considered much nicer than non-baby-faced ones, even though the look of the face does not have much to do with kindness,

Nonetheless, similarity reinforces sympathy even more. In the past, car salesmen were the most sophisticated of the salesmen craft, because they always started the persuasion process by finding common ground with the customer. 

With the help of this persuasion technique, they no longer looked like a “stranger with the sole purpose of selling a car” but rather a “person who is similar and genuinely interested in me as a client and wants to sell the best car for me.”

Although most purchases are now made online, the principle is still valid. 

How can you use it in your online store?

Make yourself likable.

The easiest way to do so is to show potential customers the people, the vision and the story behind the company.

Indicate all of this information on the “About us” page.

Airbnb is the perfect example, whose About Us page is very focused on people.

The company’s communication is friendly anyway, and they blend it well with their vision as well.

Airbnb about us page

2. Reciprocity: Give a little, get a lot

The most basic instinct of mankind is to return every favor. 

Interestingly, this principle is true even if the #1 principle (Liking) doesn’t play a role.

If one does us a favor – in spite of being antipathetic – we feel the need to give it back. 

For example, OptiMonk’s personalized popups for ecommerce stores are based on the principle of reciprocity, because they give the user a little kindness and personal care. This way the first cold traffic on the website can be easily turned into a much warmer first impression.

Researchers have been studying the mechanism behind the principle. The theory is that having a debt towards someone is a stress factor for our brain. Therefore, we want to get rid of it as soon as possible.

According to another theory, all people are fundamentally good, and if one sees the other person taking the first step, the trust builds itself, and the social interaction becomes much easier. This explains why we often give back way more than we got. 

3. Consistency: Build trust over time

Everything we do affects our next course of action. 

One of the most important principles of the human ego is that our belief and value system have to be consistent with our actions. If this does not happen, and they do not match, cognitive dissonance occurs, threatening the ego.

To simplify, we are trying to be consistent with our actions, as we have been so far.

One of the most well-known techniques is the “foot in the door”, which suggests asking for a very small thing at first that does not take a big effort from the other, then asking for a bigger one after that. The force of acting consistently will make sure the person delivers the request as previously.

This plays a big role in increasing conversion, for example, when building your lists. 

A Hungarian business article is a good example. 

It suggests downloading a free ebook.

The process is simple, you just need to click on the link.

After that comes the more demanding step with a popup: signing up with your email. 

Most case studies prove that more people sign up this way as if email addresses were requested immediately. 

4. Social proof: Show that others love you

“When people are uncertain, they are most likely to follow others.”

In most cases during evolution it has provided survival in nature, it is common to almost all species, not just humans.

Although its need decreased due to civilization, it is still working perfectly. 

Accommodation sites, travel sites, and airline companies are actively using this in their content, greatly increasing their conversation.

Social proof

For the best results, it is combined with scarcity when not only the “amount of people looking at the offer” is shown but also how many products/services are still available. This is covered by the sixth principle in Cialdini’s book.

5. Authority: Be the expert they trust

The Milgram experiment is one of the most dreadful experiments of the 20th century. It has shown that people are willing to do just about anything when it’s asked by someone who has perceived authority. 

This similarly works in the online world. People buy from who they believe, who they look up to, who they trust. 

Therefore, it may be worth building a personal brand since appearing as a professional in the field can bring in many opportunities. 

For example, when writing a guest post, make sure that the ‘Author’ section has your name and field in which you are considered a professional. It’s a good idea to position yourself at the same time.

authority example

6. Scarcity: Create urgency

“You must have felt that the less there is of something, the more you want to get it. This is the principle of scarcity.”

The human brain loves to associate, and when there is only a small amount of something, it assumes it must be very good. And as a second thought, we don’t want to be left out.

This principle gave birth to ‘limited edition’ products or periodic promotions. 

It works best when people have enough time to take action but still feel in a hurry. 

In an ecommerce store, for example, limited coupons and discounts work very well, especially when a customer is on the verge of making a purchase. In this case, a timer and a personalized countdown popup will drop anyone over the deadlock and get the purchase done.

A very useful tool for this is OptiMonk, which can increase the sense of shortage in a visitor by using countdowns and popups.

Combined with a thematic campaign, it can work as well. An example can be a Christmas campaign or Black Friday.

7. Unity: Build a sense of belonging

The principle of unity was discovered by Cialdini nearly 40 years after the original 6. 

This principle is about social identity. More exactly about what kind of group we want to belong to. 

We can distinguish two types of groups: 

  • in-group 
  • out-group.

We tend to watch and follow people who resonate with our identity, the ones with whom we are in the same group.

The term “group” isn’t just accurate literally. It is made up by our brain and can be valid in any case, such as a group based on a common interest, a physical characteristic, a life situation or an intrinsic value system.

Based on this principle, Apple’s now-legendary commercials were born, where Mac is depicted by a young, cool and famous person, while the PC is an older, greyish, less attractive gentleman.

This way, Apple sought to reach those, who wanted to be cool and socially favored by buying a Mac instead of a PC. And it worked perfectly.

Wrapping up

Persuasion is a powerful tool in the world of ecommerce, and Cialdini’s 7 principles offer a roadmap to mastering it. By tapping into basic human psychology—whether it’s creating a sense of connection, using the fear of missing out, or showcasing social proof—you can turn hesitant shoppers into loyal customers.

The key is to apply these principles thoughtfully, focusing on what resonates with your audience. Whether you leverage the power of likability, build trust through authority, or use scarcity to drive urgency, these strategies can boost your conversions and set your online store apart from the competition.

Now that you have these persuasion techniques in your toolbox, it’s time to put them to work and watch your sales soar!

About the author

Gabor Papp is an SEO consultant and founder of thepitch.hu.