What are sales tactics?
A user manual for buying pressure.
Sales tactics are commercial design and psychology techniques that use attention, urgency, price perception or social pressure to increase the chance of a purchase. Nietskopen explains 25 common techniques and shows how to recognise them.
Last updated: 26 August 2026
You are the marketer now.
The product does not change. You may only make the commercial environment increasingly aggressive. See how far you can push buying pressure without adding a single function.
Exactly the same product.
All sales tactics off. The product looks suspiciously calm.
Do not just read the sales tactic. Turn it on.
Relaunch the same product.
Keynote, AI, waitlist, limited edition. Technical innovation: 0%.
Escape eight interface traps.
Confirmshaming, defaults, urgency and other ways to make “yes” easier than “no”.
Make €0 extremely temporary.
Flash deals, doorbusters, VIP access and a queue for nobody.
Buy an enthusiastic opinion.
Four fictional influencers. One brief. Zero minutes of product testing.
And on every product page, Product Page Autopsy™ lets you open the commercial bonnet and see which elements are trying to steer where.
Buying nothing is also a choice. The more consciously you make it, the harder it is for someone else to make it for you.
Online shops are designed to make buying feel easy, urgent and obvious. That is not automatically wrong — but it is useful to see when design, language, scarcity, social pressure and personalisation are trying to steer your behaviour. Understanding why you do not want to buy something leaves more room for your own needs, money and attention. Less unwanted consumption is better for you, for others and for the planet. That is why Nietskopen.nl happily uses the techniques of an online shop for the opposite commercial goal: helping you buy nothing.
Which kind of buying pressure do you want to see through?
ATTENTION & HURRY
Tactics that make stopping, waiting or comparing feel unnatural.
HYPE™
Because everyone is talking about it right now.
Urgency with a best-before date.02SCARCITY™
Only 2 left. Or 2,000. That part need not be shown.
Inventory as an adrenaline service.03URGENCY™
Decide now. Thinking may harm conversion.
Hurry, professionally designed.04DROPS & PRE-ORDERS™
Buy it before it exists.
Future stock, present FOMO.05GAMIFICATION™
Shopping, now with levels.
Because apparently a receipt needed XP.06INFINITE SCROLL™
No ending, so no natural stopping point.
One more product. 814 more products.PRICE & VALUE
Tactics that change which number feels large, small or good value.
DISCOUNT™
Save money by spending money first.
Financial acrobatics without a warm-up.08PRICE ANCHORING™
First a large number. Then everything feels reasonable.
An expensive reference point does heavy lifting.09DECOY OPTION™
Three choices. One is mostly scenery.
A choice menu with an extra.10BUNDLES™
Getting more is not the same as needing less.
Three solutions for one problem.11FREE SHIPPING™
Spend €14.83 more to save €4.95.
Thrift, with extra products.12BUY NOW, PAY LATER™
The purchase today. The pain in instalments.
Future you apparently has budget.13DRIP PRICING™
The price starts small and collects friends along the way.
A total price with separation anxiety.TRUST & SOCIAL PRESSURE
Tactics that use other people, status or personal relevance as persuasion.
SOCIAL PROOF™
Because somebody on the internet already has it.
Now with 5 stars from people you do not know.15INFLUENCERS™
A recommendation with a ring light.
Authentic, including a discount code.16PERSONALIZATION™
Especially for you. And thousands with the same profile.
Personal, at industrial scale.17RECOMMENDATIONS™
People who viewed this mostly viewed more afterwards.
An exit with related products.18GREENWASHING™
More green on the packaging. We will inspect the rest later.
Sustainability, now in sage green.RETURN & STAY
Tactics that turn one choice into a habit, status or recurring payment.
SUBSCRIPTION™
The same thing, now paid for again every month.
Because ownership was apparently too straightforward.20DEFAULTS™
Pre-selected for you. You are welcome.
Freedom of choice with a head start.21POINTS & LOYALTY™
Come back for points you earn by coming back.
A circle with a loyalty card.22CONFIRMSHAMING™
“No thanks, apparently I do not like saving money.”
A no button with a personality assessment.23UPGRADE URGE™
Because version 14 suddenly feels ancient the moment 15 exists.
New number. Same problem.CONVENIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
Tactics where less friction or more technology makes the solution attractive before the need is clear.
See the tactics in their unnatural habitat.
Filter our 40 products by the sales technique they parody.