9 Weird Psychological Tricks to Get Customers to Take Action
Great marketers are also great observers of human behavior. They pay attention to their own behaviors and figure out what it is that gets them to buy or make decisions. It’s something that business schools just don’t teach. This is what gives the best marketers in the world the edge that everyone else just dreams about. These are the 9 weird psychological tricks they know.
Contrast
Have you ever bought something because the original price was $100, but was now just $50. This is because everything is either a great deal or an awful deal based on what you compare it with.
What this means to you? You should have a bad offer on your website. Yes, I’m serious! Every time we’ve tested it, it has proven true. It makes your main offer look great. One of our clients was selling 4 bottles of his product at $89. We added an option to the site for 1 bottle at $75. His sales (for the 4-bottle package) increased by about 60%. Decoy offers make “the real offer” look very, very good.
Consistency
In his book “Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion”, Robert Cialdini talks about an experiment he did.
Group A was asked to put a huge sign in their yards that said “Drive slow; kids playing”. Most of the people in Group A said no.
Group B was asked to put a tiny sticker in their windows with the same text. Almost everyone agreed. Then they were asked to put the giant sign in their yards. A large percentage in Group B agreed.
The takeaway? People want to be consistent with previous actions. If they said yes to something in the past, they’re more likely to say yes in the future.
What does this mean to you? You need to get your prospects to say yes to something. And the best way to do this is by asking for a tiny micro-commitment. For example, if you sell a $2,000 coaching program, you can have a funnel that looks like this:
- Download free report (only 3 pages; it can be read in 10 minutes)
- Get my free videos (total 45 minutes)
- Get my DVD (only $19.99)
- Free 10-minute phone consultation for people who bought the DVD (deliver a lot of value here. Provide “useful but incomplete” information. Keep them wanting more.)
- Group training ($499 and includes a 110% money back guarantee)
- Private coaching ($2,000 and includes a 200% money back guarantee)
High Price = High Quality
A $500 tennis racket is always going to be better than a $100 racket, right? Isn’t a $400 office chair always going to be better than that $100 chair? No, of course not. But as the buyer perceives it: “If it cost that much, it must be good.”
What this means to you? You are hurting yourself by charging too little for your products. Raise your prices and increase the perceived value of your stuff.
Exclusivity
People want what they can’t have. Do you want the new phone that’s sold out everywhere or one you can get anywhere? What restaurant would you rather go to: the one that is fully booked for the next 3 months or the one that’s empty?
What this means to you? Let your prospects know you don’t take just anyone as a client. Tell them they need to apply and that you only select those clients that are a good fit. This will make them want you even more!
If you sell products, try this: in your copy say who SHOULDN’T buy your product. For example, if you sell artisan bread try saying “this bread isn’t for people looking for mass-produced loafs of blandness. If you’re the kind of person who appreciates hand-crafted bread that’s full of flavor, you’re in the right place.”
Social Validation
Everyone wants to be liked and they want others to think they make smart decisions.
What this means to you? Explain why buying your product is a SMART decision. People will need to justify their actions with others and they’ll repeat whatever you say. Make a compelling argument so people feel good about buying your stuff. (And, make sure your stuff is extremely good!)
Too Many Choices = No Action
Don’t you hate when you want to buy a laptop, you go to eBay and they have 2,000,000 laptops to choose from? You think “OMG! I’ll be here all day!”
What this means to you: narrow down the choices you give your visitors and you’ll increase your sales instantly.
Scarcity
If an offer may be gone tomorrow, than a person is more likely to take action today.
What this means to you: don’t just give people reasons to act; tell them why they need to act NOW! Some ideas:
- This offer expires on Sunday
- I’ll take only one client this week
- I’ll only be teaching this to 8 people
- Only 6 items left. When they’re gone, they’re gone forever.
Risk Reversal
Risks = “Reasons Not to Act”. Therefore; the less risky an action is, the more likely someone will take action.
What this means to you: Go beyond the standard “money back guarantee”. Some ideas:
- Offer FREE shipping on returns. (It has worked wonders for Zappos.com)
- Offer a FREE trial and let them keep something, just for trying it out.
- Ship the product now but don’t charge them for 30 days. If the customer returns the product within 30 days, then they never get charged!
Guarantee results, not just “satisfaction”. Get very specific.
Note: Depending on your market, about 1% of the people will rip you off, but your sales will double. Do the math for yourself and you’ll see that it’s still worth it! Remember: your market is going to be taken by the boldest marketers. This could be you or it could be your competitors. Don’t let the fear of losing stop you from winning. If you’re afraid of things going wrong, start by testing your guarantee on 200 sales and keep some reserve cash just in case. Then compare the extra sales with the refunds you had to give and see if it makes sense to keep doing it.
Sex Sells
This one isn’t weird but it is 100 percent true. Sex sells. That’s why models are hired to sell products.
What this means to you: you need attractive people to show your products. Don’t just use your cousin Joe (the one with the beer belly) because he’ll do it for nothing. Use stock photos or if you need a model put an ad on Craigslist and you’ll get very attractive -although not famous- people to feature your products.
Do You Like the New Twitter? Reader Participation Post
I admittedly haven’t used it much, but I am a little turned off by the layout. I guess I’m ultimately undecided but my first impression is that this is a mistake. Like when Twitter changed RTs.
What do you think?? Do you love it? Hate it?
Cast your opinion in the reader poll and let us know your thoughts by leaving a comment.
7 Tips on How to Survive the 1st Year of Managing Your Own Business
People often misjudge the difficulty of starting and managing their own business. There are some exceptions to the rule but on average the 1st year of any new business is a make-or-break period and the accompanying stress can be very difficult to handle. Decisions that are made in the first year of a new business can have far reaching implications on the success and future growth potential of that business.
Some of the most successful entrepreneurs of today have failed to succeed on the first try and some even failed consistently before breaking through. The autobiographies of successful entrepreneurs are a good investment and the information and advice contained within is priceless. In this article we will be taking a closer look at 7 tips that could help you survive the first year.
1. What Do You Want to Achieve?
It is very important that you make sure of the reasons why you started (or want to start) your own business. If your aim is to become the richest man on earth, starting a second hand globe dealership might not be the best idea that you have ever had. If your goal is not compatible with your business model success will be impossible to achieve (e.g. wanting to spend more time at home with your family by starting a 24/7 video store might not be advisable.)
2. Never Give Up and Never Surrender
There will be times when you will want to throw in the towel and give-up. It is important to push through and not surrender. Tomorrow is a new day with new opportunities that could just be the breakthrough that you have been waiting for. Look back at what you have already achieved and think things through carefully. Taking a break from work for a day or two might just be what the doctor ordered and could help you to regain your focus and inspiration. The difference between success and failure could be as small as one more day of effort.
3. Surround Yourself with Competent People
This is one of the most important factors that could determine the success or failure of your business. Never be willing to settle for second best when you hire people. Be on the lookout for talent and crab it when you see it. Good staff is hard to come by and incompetent staff have the ability to destroy your business.
4. Do Not Be Too Proud to Ask for Advice
Get into the habit of discussing your business with people within the industry or people close to you. When you manage your own business you can become so involved with the day-to-day issues that you start to lose focus. People that are not involved with your business might be able to highlight obvious solutions or provide valuable insight. Even Superman needs Louis Lane.
5. Set Achievable Goals and Deadlines
Be realistic when you set goals, targets and deadlines. Nothing is as demoralising as not meeting deadlines and targets. Use a daily “to do” list and a weekly schedule in order to keep track of your targets and deadlines.
6. Monitor, Measure and Adapt
You can’t manage what you can’t measure. Analyze the key performance areas of your business and be willing to change or adapt your business if needed. Performance that is monitored effectively will provide you with an early warning system that could help you to make the right business decisions at the right time.
7. Cherish your Customers
Without loyal customers your business will not succeed. Focus on building a lasting relationship with your customers and always respond as quickly as possible to customer queries. The use of social media to interact with your customer base is very effective and should be explored.
The satisfaction of creating and managing a successful business makes all of the effort worthwhile. In order to handle the stress of managing your own business it is important to exercise regularly and to enjoy a healthy lifestyle. Do not forget to have fun and to spend time with your family and the people that you love. Success only has meaning when you are able to share it with someone else!
The Golden Rule of Effective SEO Link Building
SEO link building is a very important part of any search engine optimization strategy. If you do it right your keywords will improve on the search engine result pages and the organic traffic to your website will increase. But what exactly do you need to do?
The golden rule of effective SEO link building is to diversify your link building methods. Think of it this way, if you are a boxer that can only throw a left hook you will most likely lose all of your fights. In the same way links that are built by using only one method will not be very effective.
There are plenty of SEO link building methods around and when you combine them the impact of your link building efforts will visibly improve. Two link building methods will be discussed in more detail in this article and you are welcome to use them to diversify your link building (Tip – make a list of the link building methods that you intend using and draw-up a weekly link building schedule with slots for all of the methods.)
Content traps and article marketing:
- One of the most effective link building methods available today is the use of original and unique content to build links and generate traffic.
- Start by researching popular search phrases for your website, product or service and choose keywords with a low level of competition.
- Write original articles using the keywords that you have chosen.
- Submit the articles to article directories and Blogs.
- Build new links by linking back to your website in the resource box of each article.
- In addition your articles should show-up in the search results for the low competition keywords that you have chosen thereby generating traffic to your website (content trap).
Blog commenting:
- This method has been abused but it is still very effective when used in combination with other link building methods.
- Search for Blogs that are relevant to your website, product or service and ensure that they allow you to enter your name and URL when posting a comment.
- Read the article and post a comment that is useful and informative (you need to give in order to receive.)
- Webmasters delete comments that they view as spam and it is important that you add value with your comment and not try and sell yourself.
- Post comments on both do-follow and no-follow Blogs to ensure that the search engines view the links as “natural”.
In addition to the two methods discussed above you can build new links to your website through the use of bookmarks on social sites, forum profiles and posts, submitting your website URL to link directories and the uploading of videos to popular video sites. SEO link building is very effective when you combine three or more of the available methods. Start improving your keyword search optimization today by becoming a boxer with more than just a left hook in your arsenal.