"Power
of Psychological Triggers"
By
Joseph Sugarman
A desire to buy something often involves a
subconscious decision. In fact, I claim that 95% of buying decisions
are indeed subconscious.
Knowing the subconscious reasons why people buy, and using this
information in a fair and constructive way, will trigger greater sales
response -- often far beyond what you could imagine.
I recall a time when I applied one of these subconscious devices by
changing just one word of an ad, and response doubled. I refer to
these subconscious devices as psychological "triggers." A
psychological trigger is the strongest motivational factor any
salesperson or copywriter can use to evoke a sale.
There are 30 triggers in all, some of which I will reveal to you in a
moment. Each trigger, when deployed, has the power to increase sales
and response beyond what you would normally expect.
There are triggers, for example, that will cause your prospect to feel
guilty if they don't purchase your product. Let me give you an
example. Whenever you receive in the mail a sales solicitation with
free personalized address stickers, you often feel guilty if you use
the stickers and don't send something back -- often far in excess of
the value of the stickers. Fundraising companies use this method a
great deal. You receive 50 cents worth of stickers and send back a $20
bill.
Another example are those surveys that are sent out
asking for you to spend about 20 minutes of your time filling them
out. Enclosed in the mailing you, might find a dollar bill included to
encourage you to feel guilty, and entice you to fill out the survey.
And you often spend a lot more than one dollar of your time to do
that.
Guilt is a strong motivator. I have to admit that I've used guilt in
many selling situations, in mail order ads and on TV -- with great
success, I might add.
I call one of the most powerful triggers a "satisfaction
conviction," which is a guarantee of satisfaction. But don't
confuse this with the typical trial period you find in mail order,
i.e., "If your not happy within 30 days, you can return your
purchase for a full refund." A satisfaction conviction is
different. Basically it takes the trial period and adds something that
makes it go well beyond the trial period.
For example, if I were offering a subscription, instead of saying,
"If at anytime you're not happy with your subscription, we'll
refund your unused portion," and instead said, "If at any
time you're not happy with your subscription, let us know and we'll
refund your entire subscription price -- even if you decide to cancel
just before the last issue."
Basically you're saying to your prospect that you are so sure that
they'll like the subscription, that you are willing to go beyond what
is traditionally offered with other subscriptions. This in fact gives
the reader the sense that the company really knows it has a winning
product and solidly stands behind the product and your satisfaction.
Is this technique effective? You bet. In many tests, I've doubled
response -- sometimes by adding just one sentence that conveys a good
satisfaction conviction.
I received an e-mail from a company, a subsidiary of eBay, requesting
my advice. They had an e-mail solicitation that wasn't drawing the
response that they had expected. What was wrong?
Looking over what they had created, I saw several mistakes, many of
which would have been avoided if they knew the psychological triggers
that cause people to buy. Let me give you just one example.
In the subject line of most e-mails that have solicited me, I have
been able to tell, at a glance, that the solicitation was for a
specific service or an offer of something that I was clearly able to
determine. Examples such as "Reduce your CD and DVD costs
50%," Or "Lose weight quickly," pretty much told me
what they were selling. Was this good or bad?
The problem with those subject lines is that the reader was able to
quickly determine:
1.
that it was an advertisement; and
2.
that it was
for some specific product or service.
Most people don't like advertising. And most people won't make the
effort to open their e-mail solicitation if they think they are
getting an advertising message -- unless they are sincerely interested
in buying something that the advertisement offers.
The subject line of an e-mail is similar to the headline of a mail
order ad, or the copy on an envelope, or the first few minutes of an
infomercial. You've got to grab somebody's attention and then get them
to take the next step. In the case of the envelope, you want them to
open it. In the case of an infomercial, you want them to keep
watching, and in the case of an e-mail, you want them open up the
e-mail and read your message.
The key, therefore, is to get a person to want to open your message by
putting something into the subject area of your e-mail that does not
appear to be an advertising message -- one that would compel them to
take the next step. And the best trigger to use for this is the
trigger of curiosity.
There are a number of ways you can use curiosity to literally force a
person to take the next step. You can then use this valuable tool to
put a reader in the correct frame of mind to buy what you have to
offer.
Once again, all the principles apply to every form of communication --
whether it be advertising, marketing or personal selling. And to know
these triggers is the key to more effective communication and most
importantly, the avoidance of costly errors that waste time and money.
Joe Sugarman, the best-selling
author and top copywriter who has achieved legendary fame in direct
marketing, is best known for his highly successful mail-order catalog
company, JS&A, and his hit product, BluBlocker Sunglasses. Joe's
new breakthrough book, "Triggers," cracks the human
psychological code by identifying 30 triggers that influence people to
buy. Check
it here:
Psychological
Triggers
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