Buyers like good news. But when the news is too good they start getting suspicious. A 74% discount seems too good to be true. Now the buyer’s thinking:

-- Is this item about to be phased out?
-- Defect I'm not aware of?
-- Company about to shut down? Inventory liquidation? If so, will I be able to make a return?

Example 1:

If you actually want to give a 74% discount do it like this: add a link right next to the discounted price (location is key) that says something to the effect, “why this crazy discount?”

On click show a popup with this message:

Running retail stores is expensive. There are staff costs. Rent. Inventory costs. With multiple locations, those costs add up.

We decided to eliminate all of those costs and pass most of those savings to you.

But here’s the thing, only 7% of people in the US know about us. Most still prefer to go to retail stores and end up overpaying. We get it, changing habits is hard.

Instead of spending big money advertising, we’ve decided to offer incredible discounts (on our already low prices) in the hope that when you receive your order you will be so happy you’ll tell 5 of your closest friends about us. Think of this as a bribe 🙂

There is a reason you don’t take medical advice from your florist brother-in-law.

Example 1: Casper.com

We’re wired to root for the underdog. We want to see David take down Goliath. Fortunately, that’s why new companies are created.

So play on that. It has an amazing impact on conversions.

Skiplagged.com is a site that helps you find cheap prices. To drive home that point they added “Our flights are so cheap, United sued us… but we won.”:

Example:

Fact: it takes the average user 7 years to acknowledge that they need a hearing aid. Most people don’t realize this, it’s a surprising detail.

Now let’s think about someone visiting Hear.com (not a client). To drive home this point we added a “guess how long …” question to the top of the page:

Now the user can interact with it. Wrong selection:

When the correct choice is made:

The whole point of our concept was to help majority of visitors discover this surprising detail.

Why visuals matter: more than 50% of the cortex, the surface of the brain, is devoted to processing visual information.

Use copywriting to evoke a mental image.

Card found in a hotel bathroom:

MGM Resorts has saved 794 million gallons of water in the past 5 years, which is the equivalent of 1,200 Olympic sized swimming pools.

Did the swimming pool flash in your mind?

Another example:

$6 billion dollars is an abstract figure. Most humans can’t relate to it.

So, I’ll make it visual by saying:

At $50,000 a year, it would take 120,000 years to pay off $6 Billion. That’s the lifetime earnings of 3,000 people (source: Netflix show Space Force).

We think too much about our direct competitors. Your competition includes:

• Buyers who use the “pretend this isn’t a problem” strategy.
• Workarounds.

“Pretend this isn’t a problem” strategy: Imagine you are a company that sells long term food storage (this is freeze-dried food that has a shelf life of 25 years). People buy your product because they are concerned about being in an extended emergency situation where they don’t have access to food.

Here is a line that will give buyers the nudge to move forward:

It’s tempting to hope one never has to be in an emergency situation.

And 9 times out of 10 that’s the case for most of us.

Workarounds: Imagine you sell an adult hybrid exercise bike–

It’s smart to assume many people looking into buying an adult hybrid bike already use other methods to workout:

— Run on a treadmill          — Run outside

So if you want to convince them to buy your adult hybrid bike it’s a good idea to talk about how running places a lot of pressure on joints.

Humans are social animals. We’ve been socially interacting for hundreds of thousands of years. Which is why the last 20 years of the Internet can’t change that. And you can use this to write copy that converts. Example: If you have a technical product your product page is likely long. Some visitors are looking for just the facts, others are interested in the complicated details. Give them both a voice. At the top of the description add a menu like this: How much time do you have to learn about [product] today? [I have time] [I have 2 minutes] For shoppers who select [I have time], show the full pitch. For those who select [I have 2 minutes], show the condensed version. PS: We have a case study about this. Visit https://www.frictionless-commerce.com/case-studies and click Oransi logo.

Example 1:

Most people hunting for the perfect emergency medical kit give up in frustration. They never make it to this page.

Example 2:

In the past week, only 77% of our visitors discovered this page. That’s a shame because we believe this is one of our top products.

Example 3:

Over 63 million households own a dog in the U.S. Only 1% of those households buy raw pet food for their best friend.

If there are lingering concerns or irritants, even if little ones, the sale will not happen. But with clever copy you can overcome this.

Example:

No one likes paying for shipping. We get it. These days most retailers give free shipping. But how do they do it? Have carriers stopped charging for shipping? Of course not. The only way to give free shipping is to either increase the price of the item or underinvest in post-sale customer service. One way or another you will pay for it. We just prefer to be transparent about it.