1. The left-digit effect
It’s one of the most common ways to affect product sales. You’ve probably seen prices that end in ninety-nine cents more than a few times. It might seem like an unusual trick to pull, but you’d best believe it works. Even if you consciously know that one cent separates you from the real price of the item, your subconscious can’t help but only look at the left-most digit of the number. If the price starts with a 9, your brain is going to disregard the fact that it’s basically ten dollars and it’s going to feel much cheaper anyway.
All you have to do is take a look at your prices and see where you can add point ninety-nine to your whole numbers to change the look of the price. It’s an easy but quite effective trick. But that’s not all you can do with this effect. If your price is twelve dollars, there’s no reason you can’t increase that number to twelve ninety-nine. Even with this increase, the price will be perceived as the same and you’ll end up getting more money just like that.
2. Scarcity does wonders
There’s nothing that gets people riled up like being late. This can apply to a lot of things, but most importantly for us, it can apply to buying things. Scarcity is one of the best ways to get people excited about buying your products. If they feel like there’s a timer that could run out, the logic goes right out the door. Adding a number that shows how many shirts you have left in stock will motivate people to be quicker with their purchase, perhaps getting the product before even considering other options.
The scarcity doesn’t have to be real, either. You can say you only have a few good products left all the time. There’s no realistic way to know for sure, but it will affect how enthusiastic people are about purchasing them.
3. Generosity goes a long way
Let’s say you go to an electronics shop looking to buy some headphones. Their price is a bit too steep for your taste, so you hesitate to buy anything. The shopkeeper suddenly offers you a fifty-dollar gift card for iTunes. This makes the purchase seem a lot nicer, and you get something that will make your headphone purchase even more pleasant. This trick is called reciprocity.
Getting something for free incentivizes people to purchase items like crazy. After all, who can decline a freebie? You’re getting way more bang for your buck if you purchase this way. One of the most common ways to increase online sales is to offer free shipping. Prices can vary but when people see that an item is free to ship, it makes them feel like it’s basically free on its own. Accessories are another way to smooth things along.
4. Categories are your friends
People are easily overwhelmed by having a lot of things to choose from. If you just lay out all the different shirts you have on one page, it’s going to confuse visitors. If you had to pick from five hundred different kinds of the same thing, you might feel the same way. This happens even when you want to buy printed t-shirts. The number of designs gets in your way if it isn’t somehow categorized.
With shirts, there’s an easy way to make it easier to shop online. First of all, you separate the shirts by gender. After that, take a look at all the different designs and see if there’s something that sets them apart. If there are any similarities in terms of color or design, you can separate those into subcategories for easier browsing. Try to create categories that would make it easier for potential shoppers to search for exactly what they wanted.
5. Amateur design
Take a look at all the different ads on the internet. You’ll notice there’s a pattern to many of them. The most popular websites often have slick and modern ads that get straight to the point in a cold and generic way. With all the traffic these websites get, people get tired of the same old patterns in ads. They start to notice them right away and get annoyed with time.
What really draws attention nowadays are ads with an amateurish tinge to them. They seem more personal and authentic compared to those posted by conglomerates. Because they aren’t designed with numbers in mind, they seem less threatening and attract more clicks. Nobody likes feeling tricked by huge companies, which is why these run of the mill ads are so effective. They usually sound like an average Joe made them for his small business.
Conclusion
Online businesses need all the help they can get when selling any kind of product. Using tricks that affect most people will surely increase your sales at least by some degree. In the end, what matters most is the quality of your products and psychological tricks can only do so much.
