Internet Marketing - Matt Bailey [80]
Figure 7-9: Woot single-product sales—act fast!
One of the prize purchases on Woot is the Woot Bag of Crap. Seriously. When the bags of crap go on sale, the server slows to a crawl, and you can only hope that you were one of the lucky purchasers. Although most bags of crap have random items such as USB cables, dorky sunglasses, or a cheap computer mouse, some random purchasers have been known to get a very high-priced electronics item with their purchase. All of this creates a cult-like community of Woot followers. “Wooters” brag about the number of purchases as status symbols in the Woot community forums.
Many sites can take advantage of limited-time offers, and when coupled with saving money, these offers become a powerful combination and justification for a response. In fact, showing the price, the amount of savings from the original price, and the draw of the limited-time offer become a strong method of persuasion. A limited-time offer implies scarcity—once it is gone, it’s gone. And you were too late to act.
The most powerful persuasion is the persuasion that you do not do. The best persuasion is when the visitors have the tools, reasoning, and justification to persuade themselves. By allowing the visitors to draw their own conclusions of value and scarcity, they can convince themselves of the good sense to act.
Cigar.com (Figure 7-10) uses this very effectively with a pop-up screen on the first visit. Act now, or lose the offer! By promoting “today only” and the amount of savings, coupled with a can’t-miss product, the cigar fan will feel compelled to act for such a ridiculously high-quality product for a low price.
When combining time, money, and simplicity, financial budgeting site Mint.com (Figure 7-11) offers visitors a number of benefits specifically aimed at overcoming their objections. People tend to be very protective of their money and financial information, but at the same time they need help in managing finances. It’s an emotional need but one that requires a careful approach in order to present information. Mint.com’s simple benefit statements that target typical objections include the following:
“Easy setup.”
“It’s free!”
“Get started in 5 minutes.”
“Simple one-time set-up.”
“No bookkeeping required.”
In a very easy-to-read format, the major objections to a financial services website are overcome and turned into benefits.
Figure 7-10: Cigar.com ”today only” offer
On another side of financial dealings is FreeCreditReport.com, which is not free. There is a trial period and then a monthly membership, and with additional government regulations, there is now a $1 fee to check your credit report.
FreeCreditReport.com deals with this change in operations in a very appealing manner. Pay the dollar, and they will donate it to charity. This helps appeal to two very different motivations in order to overcome the objection to paying anything for something that is advertised as free. The first motivation is fear—fear of a poor credit score, which is created in the message on the FreeCreditReport.com website (see Figure 7-12).
However, by mixing a message of self-preservation with a message of donating your fee to charity, these two usually exclusive motivations are now paired for a powerful result: help others by helping yourself. The implied message? If you have a problem with spending a dollar, you have a problem helping underfunded schools. Well, it may not be that extreme, but it certainly plays a part in the decision making.
Overcome the objection of the fee by making the fee a donation so that the visitor can feel good about themselves—even though they want to check their credit score (most likely because they want to purchase a big-screen TV). This example also illustrates an interesting way to address the objection to free trial offers, discussed in the next section.
Figure 7-11: Mint.com benefit statements
Figure 7-12: FreeCreditReport.com: mistakes can cost you thousands!
The Power of the