If you like seeing how ideas develop at Frictionless Commerce, you'll like our YouTube channel. It's where we explore totally new (and sometimes crazy) ideas on converting first time buyers. Our ideas are rooted in consumer psychology. Watch a few videos and if you like what you see, subscribe so you never miss a video. Take me to the channel.
If you like seeing how ideas develop at Frictionless Commerce, you'll like our YouTube channel. It's where we explore totally new (and sometimes crazy) ideas on converting first time buyers. Our ideas are rooted in consumer psychology. Watch a few videos and if you like what you see, subscribe so you never miss a video. Take me to the channel.
If you like seeing how ideas develop at Frictionless Commerce, you'll like our YouTube channel. It's where we explore totally new (and sometimes crazy) ideas on converting first time buyers. Our ideas are rooted in consumer psychology. Watch a few videos and if you like what you see, subscribe so you never miss a video. Take me to the channel.
Bluemercury.com sells a wide range of beauty products. Visitors to their site likely have specific questions about a specific product and don’t want to talk to “just another chat agent”.
And this is why Bluemercury.com let’s visitors pick which agent they want to chat with:
So, why does this work? Because when users feel they are in the driver seat and in control of the process they are more comfortable moving forward. We call this the Power tactic.
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Marketers have many tools in their toolkit. Humor is one of them. And sometimes humor gets us results no other tactic is capable of. Here is an example from duluthtrading.com:
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Online browsers are so distracted they often don’t full realize an action until it’s been done. Even if it’s something they would have seen value in.
This is a problem for us marketers because the worst situation is meeting an interested buyer who is unable to take action.
On browsers there is a BACK button but the back button isn’t available in all instances.
Popups don’t have an undo option. But there is a solution and we explain it here.
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Most sites are beginning to realize that reducing the amount of content on any given page can go a long way (when done correctly).
However, sometimes adding an extra element can help conversion rates.
But we need to be careful with what we choose to add and, perhaps more importantly, when and where.
Something businesses are always concerned about is establishing credibility. After all, shoppers don’t want to buy a product or sign up for a service if they aren’t certain it’s trusted and reputable.
So what’s a good time to build more credibility during the shopper’s experience?
Your product pages. Specifically, near the price of your product/service.
Why?
Well, people hate spending money. For many sites, the price is a common area of friction for shoppers. It’s when they begin to think, “hmm . . . $29.99. Do I reaaaaally need this?” Here’s a product page from barcoproducts.com:
What can we do to this page to build credibility and make shoppers a bit less price sensitive? We added this button call to action beside the price (notice the blue button below):
When shoppers click the button, they’ll see this content:
Popup message reads:
WHY BUY [FLAT TOP REFLECTIVE POST SLEEVES] FROM US?
Transforming outdoor spaces has been our mission since 1985.
Across the nation – from parks, to school yards, to facilities everywhere – our functional commercial site furnishings have been bringing life to barren spaces for 34 years.
Over 310,000 businesses have put their trust in us. It’s our expertise and customer service team that defines who we are as a company. Each employee goes above and beyond to meet the needs and wants of each customer.
We believe a product isn’t truly yours until you like love it. We call it the “Barco Guarantee.”
When shoppers click on the “310,000 businesses” hyperlink, they’ll see this:
This map shows shoppers the reach of the company, letting them know the company is definitely a trusted across the country.
Can you do something similar on your own product pages?
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Many businesses offer consultation services to help their customers find exactly what they need or improve a certain aspect of their life.
Often, these consultation services are split up into different “levels”. There may be a free consultation, a more expensive consultation package with more features, and an even more expensive package with even more features. Take this page from Rockwellnutrition.com for example:
Shoppers land on this page after clicking on the “EXPERT ADVICE On-Demand Nutritionists” button call to action on the top right corner of any page on the site.
What do we know about shoppers who click this button?
They’re signaling to us that they have some sort of anxiety or concern and they see value in expert advice.
That means our marketing messaging needs to address that. We need to connect with the shopper, sympathize with them, let them know we understand that trying to improve one’s health can be an intimidating task when there are so many products, diets, tricks, and schemes out there.
We came up with a concept to do just that:
In our concept, we’ve made 3 major changes:
Change 1:
You can see that we’ve added intro copy to each consultation package. For example, the $199 “Thrive Living” option reads:
Embarking on a new journey to improve your health can be intimidating.
But it doesn’t need to be.
Our nutritionists have been providing on-demand nutrition counseling for over 10 years. They know how to properly guide you on your journey to improved health.
Our nutritionists always say the best time to start your journey is now if you want to see the greatest impact on your well-being.”
With this messaging, we’re letting the shopper know we understand the situation they’re in. But we’re not just identifying the problem. We’re also letting the shopper know we are credible (“on-demand nutrition counseling for over 10 years”) and we have the resources to help them achieve their goals.
Change 2:
We’ve also added a call to action below the FREE option that says “WHY IS THIS FREE?” When shoppers click this, they’ll see this lightbox window:
The lightbox window reads:
WHY IS THIS FREE?
We’re offering a free version of our consultation service because we still want to see you improve your health.
Our hope is that 1, 2, or more years from now you’ll still be around as one of our 109,500 trusted and valued customers.
If you find value in your free consultation with one of our expert nutritionists, then you can always come back for a longer, more personalized consultation with one of our other two packages.
We’ve added this content to build Likability by letting shoppers know we still want to help them improve their health even if they don’t want to commit to one of the bigger consultation packages.
We also took this opportunity to build more credibility by mentioning the number of customers Rockwell Nutrition has.
Change 3:
We’ve also reformatted the page for two reasons: 1) to increase the appeal of the $129 and FREE options for shoppers who may be more price sensitive, and 2) to make navigating through this page easier for shoppers.
By reordering the consultation packages in order of most expensive to least expensive, we’re tapping into the shopper’s psychology. Our data shows that when shoppers are presented with a more expensive option first then see a less expensive option, they’re typically drawn to the less expensive option (in this case, the $129 and FREE consultation packages).
We’ve also added this button . . .
. . . to the bottom of each consultation package. On the current page, there is no clear “next step” for the shopper—no button or immediately recognizable hyperlink to take the shopper to the page where they need to purchase their consultation package. The shopper is actually supposed to click on the image or heading at the top of the consultation package, but that’s not very clear.
This button makes that next step clear.
Can you apply these strategies to your site? Can you modify your marketing messaging to sympathize with your shoppers?
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Lagos.com does something different in their newsletter popup. They show an animated video of their beautiful jewelry:
This is clever because visitors are ready to hit the close button moment they see a popup. The animation gives them pause. Sometimes that’s all that’s needed to take the user from “I hate popups” to “oh, man this jewelry is beautiful, look at it glitter …”
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Often, our click happy fingers act too fast. We sometimes realize what happened after the action.
Clicking close (x) on an email signup pop up is one of those times. They are so ubiquitous, and most deserve to be closed out. But not all.
How can I maximize email signups when I know many accidentally close out too fast?
The solution is to add an “undo” option.
Let’s see this with an example (made up).
Here is the popup:
And here is the warning message we show when the user clicks the close button:
It’s such a simple and powerful idea. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it used.
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Most popups appear at the center of the screen. Users expect this and are ready to hit close (x). This is instinctive behavior. Sometimes, users close out so fast they might regret the decision. Their index finger moved faster than their brain.
On Cuyana.com the popup is shown on the top right corner. It’s an unexpected location. What this does is slow the user down by a fraction of a second and allow their rational side to chime in.
This small break in the expected experience can make all the difference.
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Businesses are constantly trying to reduce the amount of friction on their lead capture forms by asking fewer and fewer questions to get more signups. Take this form from gblawyers.com as an example:
Notice that there are only 4 fields the user has to worry about—Name, Phone Number, Email, and case type.
This strategy works for a specific type of end user—the end user that doesn’t want to go through the cumbersome process of filling out a lot of information.
However, this isn’t the only type of end user that could be viewing your form. There’s another group of users who are much more skeptical about what happens after the form has been completed. Will they get bombarded with phone calls and emails? This concern is definitely warranted because plenty of businesses spam their customers after they’ve completed a form.
Reducing the number of form fields does nothing for this second type of user. Their concern isn’t being addressed for the sake of a more streamlined lead capture form.
What this means is that we need to do something that may seem counterintuitive at first, especially when trying to increase conversions. We need to add a little friction.
To show you what we mean, we mocked up a concept for the above gblawyers.com form. Take a look:
Here is a zoom view of what we added:
There is psychology behind this move and it’s targeted squarely at the visitor who thinks, “I’m scared that if I give my info I’ll get bombarded with emails.”
Here is what happens: This user is concerned so the story they tell themselves is that this company is going to make registration easy so they can bombard them later.
Now, when this user sees the question “What Comes After Monday?” it doesn’t fit this story. Why would someone add an extra question if their only goal is to capture my email?
What would have been seen as a negative (a super simple form which might have a hook) is now being seen in a positive light.
By adding that one question the business has clearly demonstrated that they don’t want to get just any email address.
Warning: This idea is going to increase your email signups. But it should only be used only if you don’t have an aggressive email practice. If you do, then shame on you.
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It’s 2019. By now, shoppers know what to expect when they’re confronted with an email signup popup.
What are shoppers likely going to do today? They’ll immediately close the popup, skip past the email signup form, or uncheck that sneaky little email newsletter box.
They do this automatically, as if they’ve been conditioned to hate popups and email signups with a passion. Well, they have been conditioned to hate them, and we as marketers are to blame.
We all show the same popups and email signups with the same generic messaging. Would you sign up for your own email newsletter? Chances are you would close out of a popup before reading the first 3 words.
But it’s not because the 10% off coupon or free item with a purchase coupons upon signing up aren’t compelling offers.
It’s because our popups and the mechanisms that trigger our email signup prompts are not compelling.
What do I mean? Below I’ll show you 7 of our favorite ideas for generating more email signups in 2019:
Idea 1: Unconventional Popup Shape
90% of the popups out there look exactly the same. They’re rectangular and feature an easy-to-spot and all-too-enticing ‘close’ button on the top right corner.
Seems like a good way to immediately tell users how to close your popup, right?
So why not try an alternative popup shape—something that will make your shopper stock for an extra second because they weren’t expecting something so different?
Look at this popup from Wayfair.com:
Instead of a rectangular popup shape, Wayfair.com uses a circle. They also removed the ‘close’ button and replaced it with a “No, thanks.” link at the bottom of the popup.
The shopper is practically forced to slow down and scan through the content. They have to do this even if they want to close out of the popup. Just by changing the shape and ‘close’ mechanism, Wayfair.com was able to slow their shoppers down and increase the chances they’ll submit their email address.
Idea 2: Use Human Nature to Your Advantage
Humans are naturally curious creatures. Someone says, “don’t go in there!” and suddenly you feel the urge to go in there. You want to know what’s there or what will happen if you go in there.
Take a look at this email signup from Trumans.com:
What’s the countdown timer for? What do they mean when they say “So close we can taste it”? Many shoppers will feel like they’ve got to know what this is all about.
But in order to know, they have to sign up.
Genius.
Idea 3: Asymmetry
Popups are often very neat. Nothing is hanging off the edge of the popup, the design is sleek, the popup is symmetrical, and so on.
However, creating a little bit of asymmetry can be all that’s necessary to slow down your shoppers and get them to read your popup content. Take a look at this example from Rockbottomgolf.com:
The Rock Bottom Golf logo is large and hanging off the edge of the popup! It looks weird, but that’s why it works. Shoppers will take notice and slow down before instinctively moving their mouse toward the ‘close’ button.
Idea 4: Let Your Shopper Play a Game
Shoppers—and people in general—love to play games. When they see a soccer ball, they have to kick it. When they see an upset bird that can be launched with a slingshot, they have to download Angry Birds on their phone.
And when they see a giant The Price Is Right style wheel . . . well . . . they can’t help but spin the heck out of it.
Elevatedfaith.com knows this. So they’re taking advantage of this in their email signup popup. Once a shopper wins a prize, they have to sign up and claim the prize within 15 minutes.
Could you resist the urge to spin the wheel?
Idea 5: Hand-drawn Popup
Take a look at this popup from Postcardmania.com:
You’re probably taking an extra few seconds to look at this popup right now. It looks fun and inviting.
More importantly, it’s unexpected. Postcardmania.com’s shoppers will definitely slow down to look at this popup. That could be enough to generate more sign ups.
Idea 6: Popup Shape that Looks Like an Object
This is taking Idea 1 above two steps further.
Take a look at this popup from 4allpromos.com:
Not only is this popup an unconventional shape, it’s a dang truck! This will certainly be unexpected and slow down more shoppers.
Idea 7: Can You Keep a Secret?
You probably want to know what the secret is, right?
Like I said earlier, people are naturally curious. UncommonGoods.com knows this and they’ve taken advantage of this with their email signup.
Take a look at this floating tab that appears on their site:
Many shoppers will definitely want to know what the secret is, so they’ll click on this floating tab. When they do, they’ll see this:
UncommonGoods.com is making their shoppers feel exclusive. After all, only people who subscribe will be notified of “secret sales”. Do you think all shoppers would be able to resist the urge to find out what secret sales they could benefit from?
What do your email signup popups and prompts look like? Could you be taking advantage of any of these ideas?
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If you like seeing how ideas develop at Frictionless Commerce, you'll like our YouTube channel. It's where we explore totally new (and sometimes crazy) ideas on converting first time buyers. Our ideas are rooted in consumer psychology. Watch a few videos and if you like what you see, subscribe so you never miss a video. Take me to the channel.
Neuromarketing is powerful, which is why us marketers need to be on the right side of ethics.
It's one thing to create a strategy to slow down distracted users. It's quite another to use tactics to manipulate.
Seen the Netflix documentary Fyre Festival? That's an example of unethical marketing.
Let's use marketing for good.