Marketing Psychology Engine

A Claude Code skill that applies behavioral psychology principles and mental models to your marketing strategy. This skill helps you understand why people buy, craft more persuasive messaging, and design experiences that drive action through ethical psychological principles.

When to Use This Skill

Choose Marketing Psychology Engine when:

• You want to improve conversion rates using behavioral science
• You're crafting messaging and want to apply persuasion frameworks
• You need to understand customer decision-making patterns
• You're designing pricing pages, onboarding flows, or CTAs
• You want to apply mental models to marketing strategy decisions

Consider alternatives when:

• You need technical CRO implementation (use a page CRO skill)
• You want general marketing strategy without psychology focus (use a marketing strategy skill)
• You need UX research methodology (use a UX research skill)

Quick Start

Copy
# Install the skill
claude install marketing-psychology-engine

# Analyze your landing page through a psychology lens
claude "Apply Cialdini's 6 principles to my SaaS landing page copy: [paste your copy]"

# Design a pricing page using anchoring
claude "Help me structure a 3-tier pricing page using anchoring bias and the decoy effect"

# Craft persuasive email sequences
claude "Write a 5-email nurture sequence using the commitment and consistency principle"

Core Concepts

Persuasion Frameworks

The skill draws from established psychological research to inform marketing decisions.

Principle	Description	Marketing Application
Social Proof	People follow the actions of others	Testimonials, user counts, case studies
Scarcity	Limited availability increases perceived value	Limited-time offers, capacity limits, exclusive access
Anchoring	First number seen influences subsequent judgments	Show higher price first, then discounted price
Loss Aversion	Losses feel ~2x stronger than equivalent gains	Free trials, "don't miss out" framing
Reciprocity	People feel obligated to return favors	Free tools, valuable content, generous free tiers
Authority	People trust credible experts	Expert endorsements, certifications, data-backed claims

Cognitive Biases in Marketing

Decision Fatigue → Reduce choices, use smart defaults
Status Quo Bias → Make switching easy, reduce friction
Bandwagon Effect → Show adoption momentum and trends
Endowment Effect → Let users customize before buying
Peak-End Rule → Nail the first and last touchpoint
Confirmation Bias → Align messaging with existing beliefs

Mental Models for Strategy

Mental Model	Application
Jobs-To-Be-Done	Frame your product around the job, not features
First Principles	Strip away assumptions about your market
Inversion	Ask "what would make customers NOT buy?" and fix those
Second-Order Thinking	Consider downstream effects of pricing changes
Circle of Competence	Focus messaging on what you genuinely do best

Configuration

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
framework	string	"cialdini"	Primary framework: cialdini, kahneman, fogg, or all
ethical_only	boolean	true	Restrict to ethical persuasion techniques only
context	string	"b2b_saas"	Business context for relevant examples
depth	string	"practical"	Output depth: overview, practical, or academic
output_format	string	"actionable"	Format: actionable tips, analysis, or framework breakdown

Best Practices

1. Ethics first — Psychology should inform, not manipulate. Use these principles to help customers make better decisions, not to pressure them into bad ones. Dark patterns destroy trust.

2. Test one principle at a time — If you apply social proof, scarcity, and anchoring simultaneously, you won't know what drove the result. Isolate variables for meaningful insights.

3. Match the principle to the funnel stage — Authority and social proof work well for awareness. Scarcity and loss aversion are more effective near the point of decision.

4. Know your audience's psychology — B2B buyers respond differently than consumers. Enterprise decisions involve committees, so principles like consensus and authority carry more weight.

5. Combine with data — Psychology gives you hypotheses; A/B testing gives you proof. Always validate psychological tactics with actual conversion data.

Common Issues

Tactics feel manipulative — Stick to truthful applications. Real scarcity (genuinely limited spots) is ethical. Fake scarcity (countdown timers that reset) is manipulative and erodes trust.

Psychology principles conflict — Sometimes social proof ("10,000 users") conflicts with exclusivity ("invite-only"). Choose the principle that aligns with your brand positioning and test it.

No measurable lift from changes — Psychological principles are subtle. Make sure you're testing with sufficient sample sizes and measuring the right metric. A headline change based on loss aversion needs thousands of visitors to show statistical significance.