Persuasive Advertising - J. Scott Armstrong [126]
The longer the delay, the less likely it is that an individual will act. Avoid customer procrastination by making the action step easy and low-risk.
Poffenberger (1925) gave detailed advice to advertisers on how to make forms easy to fill out, and emphasized that they should be easy to return. Still, the idea met resistance from advertisers. When Phoenix Mutual Insurance Company proposed the use of fill-in order coupons in 1924, advertising agencies discouraged them; however, Phoenix went ahead and was successful (Watkins 1959).
Reduce the effort needed to compete and return order forms by providing several ordering options. Bose, in its Wave Radio ads, allows customers to purchase by mail, fax, toll-free-800 phone call, and email.
To make things easy for Internet customers, do not require that they register before using a shopping cart. When a customer puts an item into a shopping cart, provide feedback that this has been done, but do not force the viewing of the cart. Place a “remove” button near each item in the cart rather than asking the customer to select a “0” in the quantity area.
Reduce the number of clicks needed to take action and the amount of mouse movements required. Here are some estimates for times in seconds to:
prepare mentally
1.2
point the cursor to a position on a display
1.1
move hand from keyboard to mouse
0.4
click a mouse button
0.3
tap a key
0.2
Note that by automatically positioning the cursor on the order form, you can save up to 1.5 seconds for a customer (estimates from Raskin 2000, p. 73; Hoque and Lohse 1999).
Avoid computer response times of more than 0.25 seconds. Provide a progress bar for long response times. And, my favorite, allow the user to go back to check a previous page without deleting all the input on the order form.
When selling high-involvement goods on the Internet, provide contact information allowing the customer to easily contact a knowledgeable salesperson. Some websites of large organizations infuriate customers by blocking contact with a real person.
Some consumers might feel uneasy about calling an organization; therefore, make the experience more human. An action step for Communications Arts magazine said, “Mary, our subscription whiz, stands ready at 415-326-6040.”
Reduce the customer’s perception of risk when making a call for action, especially for high-involvement products. Customers should be able to cancel an action step at any stage without obligation. For example, rental car companies allow customers to reserve with assurance that they will not be charged in advance. To reduce risk, firms can allow customers to return a product if not satisfied.
If customers are concerned about risk for Internet purchases, address this issue. Many Internet sites do this. For example, Land’s End has long made the following statement at the beginning of its security page: “Since LandsEnd.com went live in 1995, there has never been a confirmed use of fraud reported by our customers as a result of a credit card purchase made with us.” In addition, it is important to reduce risk early in the purchase process. For example, use “add to cart” rather than “buy” in order to place an item in the shopping cart; when a customer adds an item, provide feedback that it has been added to the cart; do not ask for shipping, billing, and payment details until the purchaser can see all costs.
Pretest the action steps and order forms. As a customer, I have found some order forms to be ambiguous. I frequently put these aside until later—which often turns out to be never.
Here is an interesting possibility. Consider taking the first step for the customer. Thus, they can see that they are already on the path and have an investment to protect.
In our WAPB analysis, of the 480 print ads, 23 percent provided an easy action step for customers via a toll free phone, fax, mailing, or e-mail address.
Evidence on the effects of immediate, easy, and low-risk action steps
In the following field experiments, the seller got things going by taking the first