Psychological triggers20 psychological triggers for high converting emails
Persuasion is not a personality trait. It is a set of mechanisms, and once you can see them you can use them on purpose. Twenty triggers, the research behind each one, and how it actually sounds written into a subject line.
- 20 triggers, one page each
- The original research behind every one
- Real subject and opening lines you can copy
- Free, no trial and no card
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Want a hand working these into your flows and campaigns? Choose a time that suits you. It takes 30 minutes and you'll leave with at least one thing you can action.
Not a list of hacks. A field guide you can keep
None of this is a trick played on your reader. It is how attention, memory and trust already work. The guide just shows you where those mechanisms turn up in an inbox, and how to write to them.
The actual research
Every trigger is tied back to the study or the origin it came from. No made up stats, no recycled LinkedIn wisdom.
Why it works on a brain level
The mechanism behind each one, in plain English. Attention, memory and trust already work this way. You just point at it on purpose.
How it sounds in an inbox
Three or four real subject and opening lines per trigger, so you can see the principle written out instead of described.
Where each one stops working
The nuance section. Scarcity that is not real kills trust. A flaw that matters kills the sale. The guide says where the line is.
Ten deeper cuts
Pratfall, IKEA, Peak-End, Von Restorff, Choice Overload, Endowment, Consistency, Contrast, Temporal Landmarks, Bizarreness.
Ten classics, properly explained
Scarcity, social proof, reciprocity, loss aversion, Zeigarnik, curiosity gap, anchoring, foot-in-the-door, mere exposure, authority.
Four of the twenty, so you know what you are getting
The Pratfall Effect
Admitting a small, irrelevant flaw makes people like you more. Competence earns respect, imperfection earns the click.
The IKEA Effect
People value what they helped build, even if building was three clicks in a quiz. Then the recommendation feels like theirs.
The Peak-End Rule
People remember the peak and the ending. Most marketers over invest in the subject line and let the last line trail off.
The Von Restorff Effect
The one block that looks different from everything around it is the only thing the eye actually stops on.
One trigger, written out
The trigger
The Zeigarnik Effect.
The research
Unfinished tasks stay in memory far longer than finished ones.
The nuance
The loop has to be real. A fake open loop just trains people to stop opening.
The line
"You're 80% done setting up your account. One step left."
How it works
Enter your email
The guide opens straight away and the link lands in your inbox too.
Pick one trigger
Not twenty. One. The one that fits the email you are already about to send.
Test it this week
Write it into a subject line or an opening line, send it, then come back for the next one.
Pick one. Test it this week. Then come back for the next
Free, yours to keep, and short enough to actually read. It takes about ten seconds to get it.
Send me the guide
Drop your email below and we will send you the link.
No spam. Unsubscribe any time. We will occasionally send you email marketing tips we think are actually useful.