Make It Easy to Choose Two

Can’t decide between the peach and the cherry ice cream for your cone? Then have a scoop of each.
     Researchers at Yale University find that by encouraging you to buy more than one of the available alternatives, a retailer makes it less likely you’ll turn around and walk out of the store or abandon your ecommerce shopping cart. When presented with a large set of similarly attractive options from a product category, consumers who feel constrained to select only a single alternative become tempted to put off the purchase.
     So make it easy for the customer to choose at least two.

• For the consumer, the main downside of the double scoop is the additional expense. Give a discount for the second item. Set a package price that results in a lower per-item cost, such as six pairs of socks, two each of the three most popular colors. Waive the shipping fee. Researchers at University of Texas-Austin and University of Southern California report that, on average, when customers saved $8 on shipping and handling, they ended up spending $15 more on merchandise.
• As another approach to pricing, offer tasting packages at a higher per-quantity price. On the menu, include an entry for six small glasses of beer—one each of six unusual brews—at a price that’s more per ounce than if a customer buys a large mug of one brew. The customer pays extra for the value of avoiding indecision.
• In your offerings of items which are available in an assortment to satisfy tastes—such as colors of a sweater or flavors of yogurt—anticipate that customers will want to buy more than one variety. In face-to-face selling, say something like, “You probably noticed that this sweater comes in other colors as well. Which of those colors might you want to look at?” In signage, list the available flavors along with the text, “How many different flavors do you like?” In ecommerce, have a small square on the screen for each available color and instruct the customer to click on each square for which they’d like to see if the item is available in their size.

For your profitability: Sell Well: What Really Moves Your Shoppers

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