OK, this next technique worked so well that it practically blew my mind when the numbers came in.
For those who are interested in conversion rate optimizing, I’m sure you’ll be able to appreciate the beauty of testing such a simple idea.
It may not work for everybody, because it’s somewhat product dependent. But if you can implement it (or anything like it) with your business, then I highly recommend you at least give it a try…
So I’ve been working with this guy for the past few months, trying to maximize profits from his website.
My new friend sells info products (books, audio programs, courses, personal coaching and the like) and we’ve been working on increasing the average sale per customer.
Of course we mixed and matched some various up-sell and cross-sell mechanisms, with a modicum of results.
But then one night I woke up around 2AM with an idea blazing through my mind (This kind of thing still happens to me more often then I’d like. Don’t get me wrong… I appreciate my subconscious helping out, but I’m getting older and I really need my beauty sleep)
Anyway, the next morning I presented the idea to my client. And now I’m sharing it here for your consideration, education, amusement, or just so you can slam me for sharing an idea that you already knew about (it’s your call what you decide to make of it).
For years, my client was using a standard method of allowing people to choose what they wanted (ala carte).
When they got to the sales page they could add whichever items they wanted to their shopping list. Each item would increase the price accordingly, and when they had what they wanted, they could then go to checkout. (any OTO, up-sells or cross-sells would be presented at checkout)
The idea I had (the one that so rudely interrupted my slumber) was to have all products on the sales page checked by default. And customers could then remove anything they didn’t want. The price would go down accordingly until they had what they wanted, and then they could checkout.
And of course I slightly modified part of the copy to reflect the change.
From: We believe in all of our products. But only you can decide what’s best for you. So simply choose the items you believe will help you the most at this time.
To: We believe in all of our products. But only you can decide what’s best for you. So simply remove the items you don’t believe will help you at this time.
The result… The average sale per customer went up nearly 30% across the board.
My client was thrilled, and I was intrigued…
Why did it work so well?
There’s probably a number of reasons. But my guess is it had something to do with either the “endowment effect” or “loss aversion”.
The endowment effect (or ownership effect) is basically when we place a higher value on something simply because it’s already ours.
And loss aversion is basically that feeling of insecurity at missing out on something, or losing something we already have.
So when people had to add items, it was easy to exclude stuff by simply not including it.
But when they had to give up something that seemed like it was already theirs, it was more difficult to decide what to give up.
At least that’s my guess. It could also be a simple matter of price anchoring? (starting at the high price, and as the price got smaller it became easier to justify the remaining cost)
Or it could just be that we had a really good month, and people were simply in the mood to spend more? (but I doubt that’s the reason)
We’ll see if the increased sales hold up over the next few months, but right now I have every reason to believe they should.
So that’s it. I just thought it was the coolest technique I’ve used in a while, and I wanted to share it with you.
Why am I freely sharing this money making idea with you, when I could be charging for it…?
Because I woke up at 2AM this morning with another voice in my head telling me I should share it. And if I don’t get it out there, then I may not get to sleep tonight… So here we are.
And besides, I already made my few thousand dollars from it, and my client already made 10 times that amount from it, so why not spread it around. After all, my ideas are only as good as the number of people I can share them with.
If you can adapt it to your sales process, my fellow business owners… then you’re welcome. And if you want to pay me for it, you can buy me a cup of coffee the next time you’re in town (I prefer medium roast… light cream… no sugar)
Anyway, I gotta get back to work now (that front lawn of mine isn’t going to mow itself)
Here’s to more sales and bigger profits for all of us…
All the best,
SAR
