What's your name?
As marketers, we’re constantly on the lookout for conversion optimization hacks and techniques.
Over the last 12 years, we’re A/B tested every conversion optimization trick under the sun. Many of them have worked really well. The technique we’re going to reveal in this article is going to massively improve your conversion rates.
People buy when their circumstances change. Something’s happening in their world that is pushing them forward.
The marketer who is crafting the marketing strategy isn’t typically the buyer. So, in order to understand the actual shopper we need to get into their head. We need to Sherlock Holmes the situation.
The question you are exploring is: what can I guess about this buyer?
Note: In the first part of this article we’re showing a written example for making guesses about your buyer. But there is also a video explanation towards the end of this article.
2 Types of Guesses
Obvious Guesses
Let’s explore this by looking at an example. SHEFIT.com (not a client, yet) sell a performance workout bra. Screenshot of their best selling product page:

Some obvious guesses about the buyer:
โ It’s a she
โ She is into working out
โ She either doesn’t own a sports bra -or- is in the process of firing her current brand. Either way, she’s not happy about her current solution.
โ She is looking for superior support (that’s the USPfor this product)
Creative Guesses
Now we’re going to make creative guesses about our buyer. These guesses could be right; they might be wrong. It’s a refinement process.
Looking at that same example, here are some creative guesses:
โ In our Google search for “sports bra” we see these ads:

If you look at the price points listed in the screenshot above you’ll see Shefit’s price of $65 is middle of the range. It isn’t the $108 of lululemon and it isn’t the $48 of Born Primitive. Therefore, it’s reasonable to assume our shopper is looking for value for money.
โ She is someone who values physical health. By extension, she cares about her body image. This statement doesn’t have to be 100% true, but it’s a reasonable theory.
โ lululemon or Title Nine are well-known big brands. Shefit isn’t as famous. This means our buyer is willing to work with a brand that isn’t a household name yet. This could also suggest she likes the idea of supporting newcomers/new entrants.
Using these behavioral cues you can start drafting a story. An example:
Say “Hi” to your new workout buddy
Sorry we couldn’t meet earlier
High-impact activities like running and cross-training are such an important part of a balanced lifestyle. It’s who you are.
Men have it easy. But breasts weren’t designed for rapid body movements.
On top of that, your support needs are different than mine.
Add to that challenge of buying a sports bra online.
This is why you’re going to love our ultimate sports bra.
1″ wide non-stretch, shoulder straps with 15″ of adjustability for your desired vertical lift.
Additionally, a 2-way wear strap configuration (X-back or H-back) for individualized comfort and support.
Our goal, from day 1, was to create a support bra that didn’t compromise but was also priced just right. Making a bra for $108 is easy. Making one for $65 that performs like it’s $108 took a lot of work. 85 different material prototypes. Not a fun process.
We may not have the marketing budget of (you know who) but we’re gradually building a following (20,429 reviews for this bra).
This is our first draft. It isn’t perfect. But as we keep working on it, it’ll get 4x better.
Making Guesses About Your Buyer Video Explanation
Clicking the video below will play it from the 8:07 marker and that’s when I describe how we made obvious and creative guesses on CROSSNET without talking to even one of their buyers. Here’s the video:
Further Reading
We hope you enjoyed this article that talked about making guesses about your buyer.
Weโve spent the last 13 years in our marketing lab, experimenting with ways to optimize conversion rates and grow sales. Weโre ready to spill the beans.
The following articles will save you 13 years:
โ Before revealing the secret thatโll improve conversion rates by 20% letโs zoom out to see the forest for the๐ฒ: Optimize Conversion Rates: A Totally Different Approach
โ For every 1,000 product pitches encountered the shopper buys one item (and weโre being generous). You want this to be your product. How do our brains choose? They rely on a ranking algorithm, not dissimilar to the one Google uses for search results. Our conversion copywriting process is designed to get your pitch to the front of the line.
โ The link above revealed how to construct the perfect sales pitch. Next, this killer pitch needs to be infused into your product page. We have just one chance to convert this visitor (only 15% of visitors ever return). Read this next: Infusing Your Product Story To Your Product Page.
About Frictionless Commerce
We deliver an unfair advantage to technical product DTC brands (for example, Dyson) by improving advertising effectiveness by 20% in 90 days. This is achieved using a buyer psychology conversion copywriting framework. All paid traffic eventually reaches the product page and this is where we strike. Our process.
If you like doing the hard work yourself, our founder Rishi shares conversion ideas on LinkedIn every day. Connect with him here.
If you want to make your life easier and still increase conversions, jump on a call.
Comments 3
I find the leaps of imagination bit extremely interesting. Thanks for sharing!
I love how Rishi reverse engineers his way into optimizing conversions here
Would be great to build frameworks and more use cases on this method then test them in the wild
Love it!
Author
Thanks, Faisal. If and when I build my course I’ll be sure to include lots of use cases.