Consider Voluntary Simplicity No Big Thing

How do you sell to consumers who place high importance on maintaining all possible simplicity in their purchasing? Moreover, voluntary simplifiers report higher life satisfaction than non-simplifiers, according to researchers at Université du Québec à Montréal. Why would you want to fool with that?
     My answer is you often would not. Yet there are times when you recognize a sale to the voluntary simplifier would benefit him or her. In that case, an effective tactic is to start small:

• Researchers at University of Pennsylvania and Carnegie Mellon University identified a group of consumers who said they hated spending money beyond necessities. This group was offered the opportunity to pay extra for overnight shipping of a DVD they wanted to have. The extra cost was presented to some in the group as “a $5 fee” and to the rest as “a small $5 fee.” Those hearing the word “small” were 20% more likely to pay the fee than those not hearing that word. In contrast, there was no difference with a “$5” and “small $5” description among people who indicated on the earlier survey the opposite of voluntary simplifier tendencies. 
• Researchers at Technical University of Lisbon and at Tilburg University in the Netherlands found that people who were hesitant about eating a food product were more likely to overcome their hesitations when presented with small packages than when presented the equivalent amount in a large package. In addition, the people who got started on the small packages ended up eating more than did those who dug into the large package. The participants had said they believed small packages would help them limit their consumption, but the opposite proved to be true. 
• When you’ve a hesitant shopper, offer a version of the choice which you can legitimately describe as small, and then describe it to the shopper in this way. This tactic is a component of the “foot-in-the-door” technique: The salesperson makes a small request, and then, when the customer agrees, follows up with a larger request. 

     Acknowledge that your shopper views voluntary simplicity as a moral virtue. Designer/retailer Jil Sander says she prefers the term “purity” to “minimalism” in describing the trend toward voluntary simplification in clothing. “Minimalism” implies a dearth of attention to detail, but the emerging fashion is permeated with concern about getting all the details right. With the gewgaws gone, it’s much harder to hide any sloppiness.

Click below for more: 
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Blink and Gone Is the Bling 
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