Make It Easy to Buy from You

Special events are a wonderful way to draw footsteps into your store. But check that the special events don’t impede people buying from you.

• When street fairs were held in downtown Patterson, California, some of the merchants found that the configuration of the booths blocked access to their main entry doors.
• Arriving early for a “Sully” Sullenberger book signing at my local Borders, I decided to ask for help finding a paperback I’d heard had come out recently, but I stopped searching when it appeared that every single staff member except for the busy cashiers was occupied in moving things to prepare for the celebrity’s arrival.
• After the September 2009 Fashion’s Night Out—a worldwide special event designed to build interest in clothes and accessories purchases at a time of flagging sales—a number of attendees said that when they asked to make a purchase, they were told the clothes being modeled were not for sale at that time.

     These are only three examples I’ve encountered of a store making it unnecessarily difficult for shoppers to buy from them. A recent Global Toy News posting points out that the problem for bricks-and-mortar retailers is getting greater because the iPad cadre of shoppers are accustomed to instant downloads of apps. Ecommerce brains get impatient with any delays or obstacles. They don’t want to hear “No, you can’t” or “No, we can’t.”
     Get the physical and personnel barriers out of the way of the customer consummating the transaction. Then avoid saying no. Say yes, and set a price on it. “Yes, we can deliver and set up the exercise machine at your remote mountain cabin. Here’s what it would cost….”
     Instead of no, guide the shopper through the search and purchase. Scientists at Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Media Lab who studied shopping behavior found that psychological barriers can occur as the consumer moves through five sorts of questions:

• “Why am I here?” “Is it to make a repeat purchase, consider changing to a new item, gather information for future use? Was I brought here by an ad that promised me a discount or other distinctive shopping advantage?”
• “What are my options?” “Now that I’m here, what can I do? Are there attractive possibilities I didn’t know about?”
• “Which options should I choose and why?”
• “How do I do it?” “Is that the button to push?”
• “What should I do next?”

Click below for more:
Stage Special Events to Build Sales
It Takes Two to Say No
Design Store Operations for Ecommerce Brains
Set Store Searches for Ecommerce Mentalities

Exercise the Strengths of Infomercials

A recent New York Times article analyzes the outstanding success of infomercials for Tony Horton’s P90X bodybuilding workout program. More than three million copies of the DVD set have been sold. Annual sales are at about $500 million. Singer Sheryl Crow, former NFL quarterback Kurt Warner, and U.S. congressman Paul Ryan have all publicly praised the P90X program.
     We think of infomercials as being limited to late-night television and home shopping channels. Those certainly has been their main arenas. But vendor expos, state fairs, and trade shows can serve as places for a live theatre infomercial format.
     The hyper-frenetic pace, a dramatic presentation style, and limited-time bonus offers are all staples of the successful infomercial. Here are a few other research-supported twists added by Beachbody, the California company behind the P90X campaign.

• Do more than make product and service claims. Document them in a documentary style. The P90X infomercials have less of the pitchman and more of the effusive testimonials from users. Research finds that consumers, conditioned by picks and pans on social networking sites, expect to hear the words of actual users. You might not be able to have all of your most successful customers at every state fair presentation. You can bring their success stories with you to share with the audiences.
• Do more than tell the identical dramatic accounts to every audience. Tailor the tale. Use different stories, with distinctively designed benefits statements, for different audiences. Beachbody has infomercials aimed toward senior citizens and evangelical Christians. Consumers want person-to-person. Maintain pleasant eye contact, whether it’s looking in the camera or at the people in front of you. Not a harsh staring, though. And be aware how among some cultures, direct prolonged eye contact is considered aggressive, flirtatious, or worse. In these cases, use briefer and less continuous glances.
• Do more than guarantee results. Challenge the shoppers to experience the product or service. The NYT article says that the breakout difference with the P90X campaign was positioning the workout as so tough that only the elite could handle it. Consumers overall want ease of use and turnkey solutions. At the same time, researchers at Harvard University and Columbia University find that consumers who are interested in being productive in their lives are attracted to collecting experiences. Productive people are also especially likely to have the disposable income to buy whatever it is you’re selling in your infomercial.

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Personalize the Selling Message

Couch Retail Therapy for Chronic Conditions

The term “retail therapy” describes the intentional use of shopping by people who are feeling sad in order to improve their mood. Retailers who create tempting store environments enhance the effectiveness of retail therapy for purchasers, as well as for browsers.
     But do consumers seeking retail therapy go overboard in making impulse purchases from you they’ll regret later? Will any such regret lead to the shopper avoiding your store afterwards? Is it an ethical business practice to couch your sales pitches in ways that prey on a customer’s sadness?
     Researchers at Pennsylvania State University and HEC-Paris have answered those questions. With the exception of the 5% of adults who suffer from Compulsive Buying Disorder, people seeking retail therapy are fully capable of exercising self-control. Their shopping is mindful, not mindless. They restrain themselves because the restraint itself helps lift their spirits.
     These consumers do make unplanned purchases, but unplanned only in the sense that they might not have decided in advance which specific treats they will buy for themselves. In fact, research indicates that most shoppers make plans to make unplanned purchases.
     A University of Pittsburgh and Baylor University study was conducted at several Texas grocery stores. Before starting their shopping, participants were asked to estimate how much they planned to spend. For more than 75% of the shoppers, the amount they thought they’d spend altogether was more than the amount they estimated to be the cost of items they planned to buy. These shoppers had prepared themselves to come across both needs they’d forgotten to include on their shopping list and items they wouldn’t realize they wanted until the items were in front of them or in their hands.
     Then the researchers found even more evidence that shoppers carefully plan to do the unplanned: It turned out that the shoppers were very accurate in predicting how much they’d spend altogether. The average overall difference between predicted spending and actual spending was only 47¢.
     The Pennsylvania/HEC researchers also found that the restorative benefits of retail therapy last well beyond the duration of the shopping trips. These consumers associate relief with their trips, not regret or guilt for making unplanned purchases. Instead of avoiding the stores in the future, they become more likely to return whenever sadness reoccurs. Feeling down from time to time is a chronic condition. Show how you understand, and your store will become the therapeutic couch.

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

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Compulsive Buying Disorder. Okay, Laugh
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Show Impulse Purchase Items for Groups
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Add Variety to Shoppers’ Thinking

Most shoppers are tempted to switch what they buy for no reason other than that people enjoy variety. If you want to introduce the customer to a new brand, their interest in switching is fine. However, if the brand the customer has been buying delivers good value for them and high profits for you, I’d think you’d prefer to at least delay the brand switching, even if you can’t completely eliminate it.
     Research findings from Carnegie Mellon University, University of Minnesota, and New York University suggest that we can slow down switching by encouraging the variety-seeking customer to think about other alternatives they’ve already tried. If the shopper talks about purchasing a different brand “to break out of my routine,” ask, “What are some other brands you’ve used in the past, and what convinced you to start using our brand you’re using now?”
     If the customer is talking about holding off on a purchase so they can try out a store that opened recently in the area, ask, “What are some of the stores you’ve shopped at before or in addition to shopping here, and what about our store keeps you coming back?”
     This tactic is an example of how what we do might make us money for a combination of reasons. The customer’s answers to these questions not only provide “virtual variety,” but also give us the chance to find out what’s important to this individual shopper and then use this information to make our case for the shopper forgetting about switching. Instead, we’ll work to show the customer different ways to use the same items they’ve been using up to now.
     Take inspiration from Poultry Consumer Trend Report, recently released by food industry consultants Technomic. Among the findings from the survey of 1,500 U.S. consumers was that almost 90% of Americans eat poultry at least once each week. With that degree of market saturation, variety seeking is likely. However, about 25% of chicken consumers said they’d be very likely to order chicken for breakfast if it was available. The figure was higher—at 29%--for turkey consumers welcoming turkey for breakfast. That 4% bump might be because we’ve already heard of turkey sausage.
     Think of the ways you can suggest additional uses for your most popular products. Just a change in the circumstances under which your product is used could add enough variety to prolong shopper interest.

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Slow Switching by Asking About Prior Choices

Dazzle Customers with Surprise Gifts

My granddaughter Molly will be reaching her sixth birthday. With the help of her parents, she’s been planning her celebration. A few weeks ago, she announced that on the invitations, she’d like it to say it is a surprise party. Molly then drew a diagram of where the guests could hide before jumping up to yell, “Surprise,” when she walked in.
     I’m not sure this truly qualifies as a surprise party. Still, like Molly, many other consumers who love to plan in detail also enjoy surprises. For example, researchers at Yale University and Carnegie Mellon University found that a surprise gift to commercial bank customers resulted in significantly higher deposit account balances.
     In the Yale/Carnegie Mellon study, some bank customers with relatively high account balances were mailed unexpected gift certificates to restaurants and gas stations. The outcome was that account balances for those receiving the gift grew by $6,000 more, on average, than did account balances of those not receiving the gift. Those receiving the gifts also were more likely to praise the bank.
     Another form this can take is to have surprise specials in your store. At first glance, it might seem to be really bad business to surprise a customer with an especially low price on items the shopper had already intended to buy. After all, they’ll buy the items at the price they had expected, so why give up any of the profit? But consumer behavior researchers at University of Arizona, Arizona State University, and University of Pennsylvania found that just such a practice, used with care, can end up building your profits.
     The reason is that customers who are grateful to you will buy more from you, and nothing brings out gratitude in a customer more than finding a surprisingly low price on an item the customer already had intended to buy. They’ll buy more from you over time, and they’ll also spend more than they’d originally planned to spend during the shopping trip where they found the surprise special.
     Don’t discount most items on the person’s shopping list, and don’t stop advertising the low prices on those popular items which will draw traffic into your store. But knowing you offer surprise specials will motivate all that traffic to move up and down the aisles on a treasure hunt. What better way than this to make shoppers aware of all the products you offer them?

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

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Have Unannounced Discounts on Common Purchases
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Thank Shoppers Freely

Verify Suspicious Recollections

Researchers at Southern Methodist University and College of William and Mary showed some study participants ads for Orville Redenbacher’s Gourmet Fresh microwave popcorn. The ads included vivid language designed to stimulate the imagination. About a week later, the participants were asked their attitudes toward Orville Redenbacher’s Gourmet Fresh microwave popcorn. They also were asked if they’d eaten the stuff.
     Those who had seen the ads, but had never actually eaten it, were as likely to say they did eat it as were people who, instead of seeing the ads, were given a popcorn to eat identified as Orville Redenbacher’s Gourmet Fresh microwave popcorn.
     How do I know that the ad-only group hadn’t ever eaten it? Because there never was any such product. They might have eaten an Orville Redenbacher product, but it wasn’t that one. The ad-only group misremembered.
     Some of your shoppers may fully believe they’ve had experiences they’ve never truly had. They might recall seeing a price on TV or hearing about a price from a friend, but that memory is mistaken. They might have a negative opinion of a product or brand they only believe they’d tried out.
     The Southern Methodist/William and Mary research and other findings identify certain factors which make this sort of misremembering more likely:

• Vividness. Does an ad use phrases which evoke imagery or include colorful, dramatic images? A group in the study that read a less vivid ad were less likely to say they’d eaten the popcorn.
• Plausibility. The Orville Redenbacher name is familiar, and the phrase “Gourmet Fresh” sounds like a good name for popcorn, so thinking you’ve eaten it is plausible. Participants in the study who were shown vivid ads for Pop Joy’s Gourmet Fresh were not, one week later, anywhere as likely to say they’d eaten it than those who had been told one week earlier that the popcorn they were eating was Pop Joy’s Gourmet Fresh.
• Motivation. It’s reported that in a Market Strategies International survey of consumers, about 14% of the respondents said they had used a Segway Personal Transporter. Considering that there are only about 80,000 Segways are in use worldwide, and most of those are owned by police forces, it looked like many people only wanted to believe they’d used one.

     Or the purported Segway users were intentionally lying.
     In any case, do verify shopper recollections you suspect to be mistaken.

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Help Shoppers Use Their Imagination
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