Just make a decision will you!!! Overcoming decision quicksand to get the sale

You've been dealing with this customer for what seems like an eternity.  On paper, the decision is an easy one, some might say trivial, and yet they can't seem to make up their mind.  You are going around in circles, with them demanding more and more information and as a consequence, them getting more and more confused.  Oh no!  You are in "decision quicksand"!

When you make something unexpectedly difficult, you get quicksand
In their study "Decision Quicksand: How Trivial Choices Suck Us in" (2012) Aner Sela and Jonah Berger examined why trivial choices suck us in.  In short, the study looked at the association between difficulty and importance and found that if a choice was unexpectedly difficult, then it's perceived importance increased. What had been trivial has now been elevated into a decision worthy of time and effort.  And what better way of churning up time and effort than seeking out more options, sadly taking us further away from being able to make a choice.

Using quicksand in your business
You can use quicksand in two ways in your business.

Strategy 1. Intentionally make it hard
If you want to increase the perceived importance of a choice, make it more difficult.  Provide more options, use complicated language, complex processes and protracted explanations.  In Daniel Kahneman's language, you will be engaging "System 2" thinking which tends to interrupt an otherwise low engagement decision.  Why would you want to?  To force consideration of your product when you are not the preferred incumbent.

A word of warning though, an unimportant decision that is difficult might increase the time involved but it will likely decrease satisfaction.  Makes sense doesn't it?  We end up resenting being stuck on something that we think we should have easily dealt with.  For those who monitor customer satisfaction, it may be worth looking at how your customers perceive difficulty relative to importance because where effort is greater than reward, satisfaction will suffer.

Strategy 2. Simplify
More commonly, you will want to make the decision process for your customer as easy as possible. Fewer options, simple language, easy to follow processes and straight forward explanations.  Here "System 1" thinking will be most likely ruling the roost meaning your customer will be on 'auto pilot' and go with the flow.  Your job of course is to set up the flow!

Getting out of quicksand
So what do you do with the customer is stuck in decision quicksand? Go back to the basics of what they first talked about and why they contacted you. Fight their urge to get more information by concentrating on framing their decision using simple pros and cons.  Something along the lines of...

"Let's go back to when you first walked in.  As I see it you have two choices in what we've talked about, A or A-.  Now A has xyz whereas A- has 123. From what you've described to me, A- is really what you are looking for.  Does that seem right?  OK. That is a great decision, let's sort out (next steps)".

Knowing that decision quicksand can affect us all should help you come to terms with customers who seem to be frustrating you on purpose.  Take the view that they are not being deliberately difficult and instead look at how you set up the decision for them.  After all, you're the choice architect here!

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(Image from http://www.gsbhealthandsafetysigns.co.uk/danger-quicksand-sign.html)

Persuading buyers with number psychology

We're in the season of mid-year sales, so here are a couple of pointers about representing discounts and prices to maximise your conversion.


1. How to best represent a discount range
Many businesses offer a range of discounts depending on the stock. Some might be marked down by 20%, others 50%, so is it better to say "20% to 50% off" or "up to 50% off"?

Here are a couple of examples from the local paper. Advertiser 1 is communicating the discount range whereas Advertiser 2 is using the upper limit only.

Advertiser 1 Range of dicsounts

Advertiser 2 Upper Discount only

According to Dr Flint McGlaughlin from Marketing Experiments, people tend to assume the first number represents the most common discount, so in the case of Advertiser 1, most people would believe that the majority of rugs are 25% off.  You are therefore better to follow Advertiser 2's technique and go with "up to xx% off".

2. Use decimals to elongate or diminish the number
To make a number look bigger, add decimals. To diminish the number, round off.

Sometimes you want the number to look big, for instance when offering a cash prize or promoting the amount of money you have donated.  Take an example from Advertiser 3 below who is touting a cash prize and therefore has added decimals to elongate the number, and compare it with Advertiser 4 who missed the opportunity and instead rounded the amount they have donated to the community.

Advertiser 3 Added decimals

Advertiser 4 Rounded number

When you want the number to look smaller, try rounding.  Flip through a real estate section to see examples like Advertiser 5 who has diminished the price and contrast this with Advertiser 6 who has not.  And finally, learn from Advertiser 7 who missed the chance to make the price seem small by adding unnecessary decimals, elongating the number.  Representing the price as $139 would have been more effective.

Advertiser 5 Rounded  number

Advertiser 6 Unrounded number

Advertiser 7 Added decimals

There are examples all around you of how numbers and discounts have been communicated.  Whilst we're only scratched the surface in this post, the lesson is that you cannot take the decision about how to represent a number for granted because it will have a significant impact on buying behaviour.  Be smart about your choices and you will maximise your marketing conversion.

PS Why not join the People Patterns mailing list?  Every month you'll receive a short wrap-up of top news from the behavioural sciences and other nuggets of goodness from me. Click here to sign-up.

Moving a customer's mind from buying to owning

Imagine you are a boutique fashion retailer. Time and again people come in to your store, start their walk (usually clockwise) around the perimeter, acknowledge your greeting with a strained smile and maybe a "just having a browse" mumble, and then exit without trying any of the clothes.  That's me - I'm your nightmare. Money to spend, interest in buying, but inert when it comes to engaging with the purchase process.

How is it then that I happily and impulsively spent a few hundred dollars on a dress that I hadn't imagined owning before I stepped into the store?

Great salespeople are a great experience. 

What got me into the store?
I'm pretty basic - it was a sale sign.  But I wouldn't have bothered chasing a sale unless the window display was evocative.  Subtle lighting, natural tones, textured faux-stone display materials - the store fit out made me feel like a was entering a place of nature.  And what's more pleasant than strolling around a place of natural beauty?  It felt special, the clothes were obviously cared for, and the warmth generated by the store rippled through me as I started my perimeter stroll. 

How did the sales assistant engage me? 
Catherine (yes I learnt her name through the exercise) greeted me from a non-encroaching distance. "Anything I was looking for?" "No just browsing."  But then her genius move - "Can I try this jacket on you?". And she did.  She effectively was asking a favour of me - and through so doing she won my trust because the jacket was great.  But then, "There's a dress that would really suit you" - and off she skipped to the other side of the store, presenting the dress for my reaction.  She'd already managed to engage me through the jacket and I knew through this exercise she had expertly appraised my figure and gained my trust.  Most of all, it felt like she was truly interested in me not in making a sale. She had invested herself in the experience.

How did she make the sale?
The dress went on and was great. But then the show began. The other sales assistant tagged teamed as they demonstrated all the features - yes features - of this wonder dress. Tie it this way, tie it that way - multiple looks as a result of this beautifully, cleverly and practically designed dress.  Add a cummerbund and add another layer of versatility. 

Was I thinking price at this point...kind of. But by that stage it was a question of how much I would pay, not whether I would.  By that point I could have justified almost any price because I had moved way beyond 'buying' and was already in 'owning' land. And did I feel I was being sold to? No. I felt like they were helping me.

So what are the lessons for we marketers?
Make the experience concrete not abstract - asking me if I was looking for something in particular would have been less effective than asking me to try on a jacket.  For online sites, telling me to click for the product catalogue is less effective than telling me to click to view details, availability and pricing for 23 skirts.

Create a consistent experience throughout the process - in this case, the store fit-out was consistent with both the clothes and the warm attitude of the staff.  Don't set up a consumer campaign that celebrates fun, connection and happiness if you grind your customers down with a bureaucratic, boring and cumbersome purchase experience - you'll confuse people about your Brand integrity and savage your conversion rate.

Consider reciprocation - asking me for a favour was a way of making the relationship two way.  I was then prone to ask the sales assistant a "favour" ie I was more prone to ask for what I wanted - the 'power balance' was equalised.  Seems strange given I was the buyer with the purchasing power, but when dealing with an inert shopper like me, it was a great strategy to get me to act.  How can you create a two way relationship with your customers with the aim of making them more comfortable to do business with you?

Have you had a great sales experience and if so, what were some of the lessons you took with you?