Chapter Nine

The Psychology of Conversion: What Makes Consumers Buy Online

By Bryan Heathman

As Jack pulled out of his driveway, he instinctively turned on the radio. He quickly twisted the tuning nob on the radio of his burgundy twelve- year-old Toyota Camry. There, he found it. The 55 KRC morning show host began to talk. "Well, good morning Cincinnati. Do we have a treat for you today. With us is Bryan Heathman. Bryan is the President of Made For Success out in the Seattle area. He is going to talk with us today on the psychology of why people buy goods and services online. So, if you are a salesperson or run a business, then this segment is for you. Welcome Bryan...."

The average consumer is exposed to 3,000 advertising messages - A DAY. With this much information overload, how can you succeed in getting your message across to your audience?

In 1995, the amount of content (books, articles, radio, TV, blogs, etc.) produced in a 24-hour period would take the average person a LIFETIME to review. Today, enough content is produced EACH SECOND for a lifetime of consumption by the average human being.

With the amount of content choices so overwhelming, it is important to understand the psychology of information processing in order to build a Conversion Marketing strategy that works effectively. The same principles offered in this chapter about online marketing apply to face-to-face selling. Pay close attention to the 16 practical psychological Conversion Tips presented in this chapter to help increase your close ratios either online, face-to-face, or in selling to a committee.

So, let’s start looking at how the human brain processes information and deals with an overload of stimuli. The mind will create filters when processing information. These filters act as barriers to all the messages competing for mindshare. These barriers are the things that keep us sane. Understanding how to work WITH these psychological barriers is key to selling success.

We all put up barriers to messaging, called Communication Barriers. We look for messages that confirm our outlook, our worldview, our philosophy on life, our interests, etc. We filter out messages that we deem irrelevant to our viewpoints. Let’s explore how to view Conversion in terms of breaking through these Communication Barriers, such as crafting messages that are consistent with the worldview of your target audience.

Importance of Identifying Your Target Audience

Understanding exactly WHO your target audience is constitutes the first step in the Psychology of Conversion. Once you have your target audience in-mind, you can then cater your campaign to an individual (or set of individuals in your mind’s eye). We start by establishing the Demographic profile of an audience by formulating a clear picture of who our audience is:

Every now and then, I have made classic marketing mistakes. Let me tell you about a miscalculation in order to help you prevent making similar missteps related to demographic profiling.

A while back, I created an eCommerce website using a dark graphic treatment (i.e. black). After operating this site for a year, we discovered that the typical consumer of this service was 75% female. According to design specialists who deal in color theory, using dark graphics are a detriment to attracting and motivating this demographic.

By changing the user interface to softer colors and more descriptive copywriting, we were able to generate a 50% increase in our Visitor to Buyer ratios. The questions I ask myself include: How much revenue did I sacrifice as a result of this design misstep? How many advertising dollars did I waste driving the wrong target audience to this website?

Convert Website Visitors to Buyers

Next, once you can visualize your target audience(s), it is essential to understand their outlook on life, their view of themselves, their recreational pursuits, and other factors that make them tick. Marketers call this the Psychographic Profile of your target audience.

To understand what a Psychographic profile looks like, here are questions to ask to help understand your customer’s personality, values, attitudes, interests, or lifestyles:

Once you have completed your demographic and psychographic profiles on the ideal target audience(s), the next principle to add to the knowledge base on Conversion Marketing is the concept of SOCIAL INFLUENCE.

Social Influence is a deep-seated human desire to appear consistent with what we have already done in the past, as well as commitments that define the things we represent in the future. This human desire is so deep-rooted, that we will even do things that are contrary to our financial best interests in order to act consistently with what we feel we represent.

The principle of Social Influence means we will convince ourselves of the correctness of a decision, even if the decision is not in-line with our best interests. So, to stay true to our nature, to be consistent with our inner convictions, the human mind goes into a “mental auto-pilot mode” in order to speed up our internal decision-making process, all in the blink of an eye. This fundamental aspect of human nature helps us process the bombardment of messages by disregarding messages inconsistent with our inner convictions, worldview/philosophy.

How can you structure your Conversion Marketing messaging to conform to the “mental auto-pilot” mode of your target audience?

FIRST:

clearly understand your target audience – both their demographic and psychographic profile.

SECOND:

create messaging and imagery that is consistent with the outlook of your target audience. For instance, if you are targeting Empty Nesters (50-63 years old) you would use inspirational messages and images consistent with their outlook: happy grandchildren, RV travel to National Parks, beach vacations, spas, or wine tasting.

THIRD:

pick your “call to action” eCommerce strategy from a list of options that support the desire to be consistent with your target audiences’ nature. Pick the appropriate promotional tool, which can be found in the book Conversion Marketing by Bryan Heathman. Then, carefully review the Conversion Tips listed in this chapter for techniques that influence buying behavior.

Psychological Conversion Tips

This series of Conversion Tips originates from carefully researched psychological studies on human behavior, which have proven to generate hundreds of millions of dollars in eCommerce conversions by skilled Conversion Marketers. Think carefully about each Tip and how it can be adapted into your eCommerce environment. Don’t be surprised to see a spike in conversion rates when you implement these powerful psychological triggers in the design of your campaigns.

Conversion Tip 1: Start Small

If your ultimate goal is to sell something large and relatively expensive, it is rare that your company will achieve success in an eCommerce environment on the first, second, or even third visit to your website. Therefore, you need to build a bond of trust with your audience by performing a small transaction, and then build your way into a large commitment. For instance, if you are selling a $25,000 Mediterranean cruise package, think about offering a short weekend trip as a trial to build trust and whet the appetite of your audience.

Conversion Tip 2: Stepped Commitments

Create a gradual series of commitments, tapping into the latent “power of consistency” behavior in the human mind. Set the stage for creating a series of automatic conversion behavior on your website. Start with small commitments such as opting-in for a newsletter, direct-mail campaign, or other informational series of messages. These small commitments will impact the self-image of your audience, and will help them see their viewpoint as consistent with that of your company.

Conversion Tip 3: The Magic of Written Declarations

Recently, I developed a website in the industry of Audio Publishing. One consistent message coming from this industry’s leading celebrity speakers like Brian Tracy, Chris Widener, and Zig Ziglar, is in setting clear and definable goals. There is great power in written goals, proven in study after study. One study found that two percent of Harvard graduates have written goals. These two percent of graduates consistently out-earn their non-goal-setting counterparts by significant margins. Why? It gets back to the human need to be consistent with one’s beliefs. The act of writing a goal deeply seats this commitment in the mind. So, how do you get people to make written declarations online? Here are a few ideas:

Examples: Craft your hidden messages as a written declaration supporting your product.

Psychological studies have shown that people who make written declarations will more assertively defend these positions than research subjects who only made mental commitments. These strong convictions hold for the subjects who made written declarations even when they were shown evidence to challenge their position.

Conversion Tip 4: Social Proof

Publish testimonials from people who fit the demographic or psychographic profile of your target audience. The idea is to show support for your products/ services by people who look “just like me.” Use integrity with this tip, and ask your best customers for real testimonials. You will be surprised what people have to say, and you just may learn a thing or two about your product/service.

The more you can demonstrate that many people support your idea/product/ service as correct, the more others will perceive your idea/product/service as correct. Think of the highest profile success story of this technique the next time you see a McDonald’s sign showing how many billions of customers have been served.

Conversion Tip 5: Extra Effort to Join a Club

The more effort that a person applies into a commitment, the greater is your ability to influence the attitude and beliefs of club members.

How can you apply this principle to an eCommerce environment?

Offer a free newsletter, but require the extra effort of a double opt-in to join the newsletter.

When launching a new website, communicate a compelling promise or purpose that a membership will achieve but require a waiting period for “approval” before validating the membership. This impression of exclusivity increases the perceived value of your site. Think of the example of a waiting period before joining a country club, or a review from a membership committee before new applications are accepted.

Require a referral from an already existing member before you allow new members to “join the club.” This was successful for Google’s launch of its Gmail service to compete with Microsoft’s Hotmail version of a free email account. Not only was a Gmail account sought-after, but it was also a badge of prestige for early users because they were on the inside elite of the high-tech community.

Conversion Tip 6: Loss Leader

Offering a loss leader is a tried-and-true method of attracting new business in the hyper-competitive, brick & mortar retail world. Grocery stores operate loss leaders all the time – for example, in North America discounted turkeys around Thanksgiving, discounted soft drinks prior to July 4th, and candy discounts prior to Halloween.

What are the biggest shopping holidays in your country or region? These deeply discounted items attract shoppers for the Loss Leader, which is made up in the volume of other items purchased during the same season. Think about your product profile and offering seasonal discounts on highly popular items as a way of attracting new customers.

Conversion Tip 7: Ask an Expert

The influence of a well-known expert in your field can project a positive influence on your company. Offer a Blog, where your website visitors can interact with an Expert/Celebrity/Leader in your field. The value of the interaction and ability to read unscripted feedback, plus the residual benefit of repeat traffic to your website, can have a very positive impact on your visitors.

Conversion Tip 8: Referrals

Research has proven that people prefer to say “Yes” to a purchase when coming from someone they know and/or like.

Provide an incentive item for people who refer a required number of friends to your website to join your newsletter or purchase items. Here are a few working examples from past campaigns offered by various Internet marketers.

  1. Get 10 additional sweepstakes entries for each friend you refer who enters a sweepstakes for a free trip to New Orleans. This was deployed by the State tourism commission in Louisiana for years to build a database of hundreds of thousands of people interested in traveling to Louisiana.
  2. Earn a free movie rental certificate for every five new newsletter opt- ins. One marketer was able to save 50% on new customer acquisition costs by leveraging this technique.
  3. Get a free sample package of Proctor & Gamble personal care products for each friend referred to a sweepstakes. This referral structure served double duty to accomplish the objective of gaining new traffic and newsletter opt-ins, and achieving the objectives of the product trial.

Conversion Tip 9: Attractiveness Factor

People naturally tend to respond positively to people and graphic design elements that match their tastes. If you use a celebrity spokesperson to promote your items, then select one that inspires your target audience.

If you market items where it is cost prohibitive to leverage a celebrity spokesperson, then spend some of your energy on the graphic design of your website that closely aligns with the “attractiveness factor” of your target audience. Think carefully about the color scheme you choose and the design elements and style of copywriting used to stimulate the senses of your target audience.

Celebrity Endorsements: One example of using the “Attractiveness Factor” to stimulate their target audience was a major search engine that was focused on attracting young males from 18-29 years old. They ran a sweepstakes where each entry earned a chance to meet a very attractive 19-year-old tennis sensation.

The winner of this sweepstakes was a 21-year-old college student, who brought four friends to meet the tennis star while on the beach during a swimsuit modeling photo session. We were all greatly amused when the winner of the sweepstakes presented the tennis star with a bouquet of roses to win her eye! If you are curious how the tennis star responded, she politely declined the offer with a wink and a smile.

Models: To create a positive association with your products, it can be effective and economical for smaller companies to pose an attractive model next to product images in your online catalog.

Conversion Tip 10: Social Responsibility: Leveraging the ‘Us-Versus-Them’ Phenomenon

People have the tendency to mentally group themselves into associations with clubs, charities, movements, and organizations. The obvious illustration of this phenomenon is rooting for the home team in football or baseball. Residents of cities where teams reside adopt an Us-Versus-Them mentality on game day and will feverishly cheer for their home team.

This phenomenon can be activated by giving to charitable organizations that share an affinity with your target audience. The association your company has can align you with common goals of your target audience. Some people choose to buy certain products because of their associations with organizations in which they strongly believe in.

One company that promotes language-learning software offers five percent of the proceeds from each purchase to support “green” initiatives for environmental causes. This company has proven this tool to be effective selling “National Geographic” software products, where satisfied consumers have indicated their purchase decision based solely on the company’s social stance to charitable giving! So pick a charity that you feel good about that also aligns with your target audience and start giving back.

A local karate studio organizes a quarterly “Pizza and Game Night” at the studio where parents drop off kids and enjoy a night out on the town. One hundred percent of the money collected goes to building elaborate play sets for orphaned children in disadvantaged areas. One reason they succeed is by helping their customers participate in socially responsible activities. With programs that appeal to a cause bigger than oneself, it is no coincidence that this karate studio is one of the top five largest single-location karate studios in North America.

Conversion Tip 11: The Draw of ‘Authority’

Authority figures can have a strong influence on your target audience. Interesting studies have been run where people have been encouraged to perform activities contrary to their beliefs and values based solely on the influence of an “authority figure” telling them that the actions are justified.

Notice the types of Hollywood celebrities who are hired to endorse products. Just recently, I saw an actor who plays a respectable President of the United States in a popular television series. In this television spot, the actor is promoting “You are in good hands…” for a large insurance company. Actors who play physicians are often used to promote products/services of large advertisers as the positive impression people have towards physicians, in general, will extend to the advertiser’s message.

In an eCommerce environment, leveraging authority figures can have a measurable effect on your conversion rates with website visitors. People will inherently trust the message coming from these celebrity figures.

In the absence of the big-budget dollars to hire a celebrity, send an email to a leading authority in your industry who presented at a recent trade event or authored a book relevant to your industry. Many experts, including professional speakers and authors, are MORE than happy to associate their message to your audience, as the goal of public relations is always top of mind for speakers and authors.

Conversion Tip 12: Graphic Design

In the physical world, people respond to non-verbal cues, such as the title before someone’s name, clothes, uniforms, or visible status symbols (cars, homes, watches, jewelry, designer logos), that communicate authority. In the eCommerce environment, you can communicate the trust associated with such visible cues via the graphic design of your website. Carefully pick color schemes and design elements that support your product.

Conversation Tip 13: Scarcity Creates Demand

While studying for my undergraduate degree in Economics, the principle of “Scarcity creates Demand” was taught as yet another dry lesson from the thick Economics textbook. When it is perceived that a product is in high demand and there is limited supply, people tend to stock-up or purchase in advance of their need.

Here are a few tips for creating Demand by communicating a scarce availability of product and/or price (which Economists called “Artificial Scarcity”):

Conversation Tip 14: Scarcity Plus Rivalry

The concept of creating scarcity with the added element of a rivalry for the scarce goods is the essence of the eBay auction-based business model. A limited quantity of items plus a huge network of deal-hunters are the perfect convergence of the Scarcity + Rivalry principle to stimulate demand for conversions.

eBay auctions offer valued items in limited discounts for a limited time, typically offered at a VERY low initial asking price. As rivals for these discounted products start to compete, a frenzy of activity is initiated that would not normally exist for the same item at full price or even at a reasonable discount. As rivals become emotionally involved in the purchase process, they will bid up the price of items often to the full price (or beyond) in their quest to “win” the auction. The Emotional Involvement associated with the rivalry can have a powerful impact on your conversion rates.

While I was in college, I posted a classified ad for a popular-sized carpet used in the building where I lived. As it happens, two motivated buyers showed up to buy the carpet at the exact same time, giving me a front-row seat on consumer behavior related to Scarcity + Rivalry. I watched these two potential buyers bid up the carpet fifty percent over the asking price in order to take advantage of this scarce item. How can this principle apply to your business?

Think about creating a store on eBay or Craigslist to promote a limited supply of your goods and services at a discount. The Emotional Involvement associated with the rivalry can have a powerful impact on your conversion rates. Stores are relatively intuitive to set up and populate your catalog. You will gain the substantial advantage of gaining access to the massive amount of traffic going to these ecommerce websites daily. If the process of setting up your own stores on these websites is too time consuming or daunting, there are a number of people who are experienced eBay practitioners who offer the service of selling your products through these online retailers for a percentage of revenue, a percentage of gross margin, or by buying your goods at wholesale discounts. eBay also has a network of Trading Assistants who will train you on the subtle tips and tricks of selling on eBay. These Trading Assistants can be found in many major cities for a fairly reasonable hourly fee.

Conversation Tip 15: Product Collections

If you offer a catalog of products with a wide array of choices, you can simplify the decision-making process for your customers by offering pre-packaged products, often sold at a discount. It is proven that a certain percentage of the population will buy a larger dollar amount of product if it will save them time and money sorting through all the options of products on your website.

One successful online retailer will do 10% of their business overall offering a $999 package deal on all their products (which individually sell for $10-$25 separately). A discount offered on the package deal can be structured to leverage this technique properly.

Conversation Tip 16: Cognitive Dissonance

‘Cognitive Dissonance’ is a marketing term that describes conflicting thoughts that some consumers experience after making a big purchase. When confronted with a big purchase decision, some consumers will feel a sense of regret called “post-purchase dissonance” for making the purchase, spending the money, or discovering information that makes them uncomfortable with their purchase.

Techniques can be used to help minimize this effect, and help increase conversion rates on your website prior to purchase. Here are tips on how to structure an eCommerce site to minimize this “objection”:

In our increasingly fast-paced, information-laden society, your target audience’s ability to make a buying decision for your product/service requires creating prompts that trigger a normal and predictable feeling within the mind of your audience.

The more reliable the cues you can provide in your eCommerce environment will help break down the natural barriers we use to protect our minds from the bombardment of information presented each day.

As I speak to you by phone today, I’m sipping an espresso in a coffee shop in a small resort town deep in the heart of the Washington State wine country. In being intentional about letting a few marketing messages penetrate my conscious mind, I can count at least 10 marketing messages competing for my attention at a casual glance (Coca-Cola, Good Humor ice cream, flip flops, sunglasses, resort wear, etc.). Your job is to create a mentally comfortable experience for your website visitors in order to capture attention, gain permission, and start the repetition of your Branding message.

For more practical tips on converting visitors into buyers, look for the book, ebook, or audiobook of Conversion Marketing by Bryan Heathman everywhere books are sold.

As the radio show went to commercial, Jack pondered, "What if... what if I became an expert marketer too? Sales and marketing do go hand in hand. I am on to something here. I am going to have to look up this Bryan Heathman and see if I can have a conversation with him."