🧠 The Behavioral Science behind the biggest buying moment of the year

Today’s Edition of Captivated: Everything’s On Sale: The Behavioral Science Behind the Biggest Buying Moment of the Year (BFCM Part 2)

EVERYTHING’S ON SALE! Or, is it?

Every year, right after the turkey settles, something wild happens.

People who swear they’re “not buying anything this year” are suddenly eating leftovers with:

Last edition, we talked about how Black Friday taps into scarcity, price anchoring, doorbuster bait and social proof.

Diving even deeper, it also taps into a perfect storm of urgency, loss aversion, identity, reward loops, and cultural ritual all hitting at once.

And once you understand the science behind it, you stop seeing it as chaos, and start seeing it as one of the cleanest behavioral-design case studies on Earth.

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📈 FUN FACT: DID YOU KNOW?

On Black Friday 2024 in the U.S., about 81.7 million consumers shopped in-stores… and 87.3 million shopped online.

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.. How Did We Get Here? ..

Black Friday didn’t take off just because of good deals, or even just because of what we talked about in part 1: Urgency and Scarcity. These very much play a role, but Black Friday also solves a psychological tension:

We want to indulge. We want to feel smart doing it. We want to feel like everyone else is doing it too.

And the day after Thanksgiving gave people a socially acceptable moment to do all three.

Black Friday is one of the only moments in the entire year where millions of people experience the same psychological triggers at the same time.

It’s collective urgency, scarcity, anticipation, and permission to spend.

Over time, brands layered more psychological fuel onto the fire:

What used to be a single day turned into a season, a ritual.

Black Friday graduated from shopping deals to belonging to the moment where everyone is doing “the thing” at the same time.

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.. Brain Science-Backed: The Psychology Behind It ..

Black Friday works because it hits some of the strongest decision-making levers at once, including:

🧠 Loss Aversion:

When something feels limited, the brain shifts into “now or never” mode.

We’re wired to avoid loss more strongly than we seek gain, so the idea of missing a deal hurts more than spending the money.

This is why countdown timers, “only 2 left” labels, limited quantities, and early access windows are rocket fuel.

🧠 Collective Anchoring:

Black Friday removes guilt.

It gives people a psychological pass: “It’s a deal.” “It’s the holidays.” “It’s only once a year.”

When guilt drops, spending rises. The real discount is friction. They remove reasoning to say no.

🧠 Permission to Indulge:

Black Friday removes guilt.

It gives people a psychological pass: “It’s a deal.” “It’s the holidays.” “It’s only once a year.”

When guilt drops, spending rises. The real discount is on friction.

🧠 Reward Loops & Anticipation:

Scanning for deals, hunting for bargains, and refreshing carts trigger dopamine on demand.

And when we finally win a deal, we get the payoff spike.

Black Friday is engineered around the exact neurochemical loop that drives slot machines and social media: anticipation → reward → repeat.

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🥷

.. Use this Psychology Strategy ..

Here’s how to take what Black Friday does so well and use it ethically in your own product, brand, or business:

1: Make it a Moment

Black Friday works because it’s a ritual. Create recurring events people look forward to, like monthly releases, seasonal themes, and quarterly reveals.

Moments move culture. Moments move money.

2: Build a Collective Experience

Let people participate:

When people do something together, it elevates from being a transaction to a memory.

3: Lower Emotional Barriers

Black Friday works because it makes buying feel excusable. Give people justification that feels honest:

Help them see spending as self-support instead of self-sabotage.

4: Amplify the Anticipation Loop

Don’t reveal everything at once. Breadcrumb it. Tease it. Build the countdown.

The waiting is the dopamine. The purchase is the release.

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.. tl;dr & captivated wrap-up ..

While on the surface, discounts seem to make Black Friday what it is, going deeper, it's fueled by powerful psychology like:

Urgency. Scarcity. Belonging. Permission. Dopamine loops. Ritual.

It’s a personification of how humans respond to timing, narrative, and shared moments.

If you want people to care, don’t just decide what discounts to offer, think about emotions, positioning and pain points, and build moments that feel worth joining, collective moments that captivate.