And marketers play dirty on this.
Banana Premonition
Robert Sapolsky, a renowned neurobiologist and professor at list of japan cell phone numbers Stanford University, conducted a series of studies to understand how neurotransmitters work. A troop of monkeys participated in the dopamine experiment. The study consisted of three parts:
Signal → the light came on;
Work → the monkey pressed the button ten times;
Reward → received a banana as a reward.
Each monkey learned through experience: if the light comes on, you have to hit the button ten times to get the coveted banana.
And something unexpected came to light.
Scientists assumed that dopamine was produced at the third stage - when the monkey received a reward. It turned out to be the other way around: the brain produced dopamine at the beginning, when the light was just turned on. That is why the animals got to work: the anticipation of pleasure stimulated the production of dopamine, and that, in turn, stimulated action.
Dopamine is released as soon as the light comes on.
It's not the reward that matters, it's the anticipation of it.
But the most interesting results were shown by the following experiment. Now the monkeys were given a banana not always, but only half the time. And the dopamine level went off the charts.
The stronger the element of surprise, the more dopamine is produced.
How to increase CTR of contextual advertising
The formula is indecently simple: promise the visitor a reward, add a pinch of surprise - and your CTR will grow. Perhaps - several times.
Expectation of a reward + lack of confidence that the visitor will receive it = increase in CTR
Consider these two ads. These are campaigns from the American agency WordStream. All the ingredients are there: the promise of a reward (discount) and the element of surprise (discount ends soon, hurry if you want to catch it!).
Take a look and immediately think: what CTR did these ads show?
Ten thousand impressions and a fantastic CTR: 45%. Yes, almost every second person clicked on the link.
How to achieve the same results?
Getting You Hooked on Dopamine: 2 Tricks for Marketers
Trick 1. Ad modifiers
Google launched them last fall. But few people have learned how to work with them - most ads in context are static.
Modifiers allow you to change the text of your ad in real time. How exactly it will change is up to you: depending on the request, location, date, day of the week, and time.
This is an easy way to create a sense of urgency. It works well when one-time promotions and temporary discounts are planned. It is also effective for advertising courses (and any events in general). Below is an example of our advertising for the Freedom Finance seminars:
Seminars are held every week. The text of the announcement changes depending on the date and time.
Trick 2. "Calls Only" with modifiers
"Calls Only" (or "Phone Number Only") is a new ad type , and it's not for everyone. It works for campaigns where calls are more important than clicks: these ads are shown only on smartphones and call for one action - it's clear what it is.
Nothing extra: a title, a short description, and a call button. You don’t lead a person to a landing page — you give the necessary information right in the ad. And you skip unnecessary steps — you need buyers, not just curious leads.
This type of advertising is ideal for companies with a very simple and clear offer. Calling a taxi, ordering a pizza, repairing a laptop, making an appointment with a doctor are some of the options. The main thing is to add a pinch of surprise and promise the audience a reward.
What's left to do? Just take calls.
P.S. We have already written about how sexual images help in advertising . And now you understand why.
But it's time to admit: it's not sex that sells - it's dopamine. And we'll tell you exactly how. In the meantime, let's test these methods in action and enjoy the results
