Why Can’t You Buy Without A Hit Of Dopamine? 

Since the beginning of human civilization, mankind has shared ideas through stories. It’s how we think, learn and communicate.

It’s no surprise actually since the human brain is hard wired toward the story structure of hero, antagonist, challenge and conclusion.

In fact this story structure is so fundamental to the core of human communication that we actually subconsciously use it every time we communicate.

The great direct marketing copywriters like Gary Halbert, Claud Hopkins, Eugene Schwartz, and many others have known this secret for years. And have combined the story structure with an appeal to emotion.

Generally the structure follows these steps:

Problem
Agitate the problem
Solution
Proof
Buy Offer
Risk reversal

These steps are told through the structure of a story and the reasons why this works so well, when it comes to selling online, is because of dopamine.

What is dopamine?

Dopamine is a chemical in our brains that plays a key role in our mood. And experiments show that different levels of dopamine influence the decisions people make.

We Need A Buying Hit

The higher the levels of dopamine, the greater their emotional pull towards that outcome.

You see, Dopamine has a role in signaling the expected pleasure from possible future events.

So when that critical buying moment is happening the expected result which comes from the emotional triggers conjured up in the landing page, through long form sales copy or an audio Video Sales Letter (VSL).

It turns out that we need dopamine to buy or to make any decision, you see…

People are incapable of making decisions without a little burst of dopamine.

We need it to move forward. Or maybe this is just an aspect left over from our ancestral heritage or just how our brains are wired to get through the day?

In either case it seems that we can’t move forward without the positive expectation of what is to come.

Think of it like a little buying “hit” that delights our brains every time we click the buy button. Or to be more accurate, every time we decide to buy. And, since we make decisions subconsciously before they become conscious to us, the hit comes subconsciously even before we click that buy button.

Risk And Emotion Go Hand-in-Hand

The higher the personal risk involved in a purchase decision, the more emotion a buyer will feel towards that choice.

The emotion in the case of a high risk purchase is almost always about fear. Sometimes it’s about the fear of feeling like you’ve been taken for a ride. That the thing you’re buying is not worth it or won’t do what it claims it would.

The way around the fear is to provide proof and risk reversal. Here are 30 ways to use proof to increase your online sales.

If the risk and emotion cocktail goes down smoothly though, then comes the sober rationalization.

The Rational Side To Buying

After the rush of dopamine however, then comes the rationalization.

People find reasons to support their emotional decision AFTER they make the decision, not before.

This is where trust begins to take center stage from the beginning of our accelerated trust formula to buying health products online:

Accelerated Trust Online = (Logic + Belief) + (Anxiety x Credibility) – The Other Party’s Self Interest

It’s the (Logic + Belief) part of the formula that taps into the justification of the buying decision.

Here’s how Logic and Belief are defined in our formula:

Logic – Any message or element has to first pass through our logic filter and is expedited by the next element, believability.

Belief – Is this something that is based on the individuals desire and self-story. We believe what we desire.

Rationally we support our buying decisions through the lens of logic and belief. These are the tools we use to justify our decisions and make us feel good about our irrational selves.

But rationally or irrationally…

…We All Want MORE

People want to be a part of something bigger than themselves. Stories are a way to tap into that innate hero’s journey within all of us and align our motivation with the grander championing cause.

And in order to be most effective at marketing, we need to tap into emotional triggers that underly our trust and belief framework.

The reason why you can’t buy without a chemical hit is because the part of our brains that are tied to emotion and decision making are hooked into the chemical dopamine.