9 Sneaky Tactics Retailers Use to Trick You into Making a Purchase

Badges

Websites that offer a large variety of vendors often use badges to distinguish between them. Others use badges to make certain items appear flashier. You’re more likely to click on a listing if it has certain descriptors like ‘top reviewed’, ‘top seller’, ‘pick of the week’ or even ‘staff pick’.

But these can mean different things on different websites and the distinctions aren’t often obvious. That’s why we encourage you to read the fine print. It’s up to you to decide if the characteristics that earned a vendor or an item a certain badge are valid enough to make a purchase.

These are also used to give shoppers a feeling of security. Once we lower our defenses and trust certain badges, we’re more vulnerable to give in to the fear of missing out. Studies also show that a lot of e-commerce happens late at night, around 2AM. When we’re tired or perhaps had one to many drinks, we’re also less likely to check for discrepancies and that’s when badges help push us into clicking ‘finalize order’.