One of my favorite books is Yes: 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to be Persuasive. If you’re an entrepreneur or just interested in selling (whether its a product or even your words) then you need to read this book. Its a fascinating study of human behaviour.
Here is a brief run down of just some (of the 50) concepts applied to an online business.
Create an Impression of Product Scarcity
I’ve seen many bloggers selling info products do just this. They offer the product at an “introductory” rate or offer bonus items to the first few buyers. Other bloggers setup “exclusive” email lists for the first “1000″ people.
TV shopping uses the phrase “if the lines are busy keep trying”. This gives the illusion of a product being popular and selling out. In reality they most likely have huge stocks and you’ll get straight through to a customer service rep.
Creating the impression of scarcity will increase a products value
Reduce the Number of Options to Sell More
Ebooks that offer 5+ different package options will sell less than an ebook that is offered in 2 different versions. Options are both confusing and overwhelming. Reduce the number of options and sell more.
Of course it may be essential for you to offer more than one product. There is a solution – simply “reccommed” the most desired product to the user:
Without the highlight below, 37Signals would most definitely lose sales. As you can see they draw attention to the Plus plan and tap into another persuasion science concept, herd mentality.
You Should Do This
Dustin Curtis wrote an interesting post about using the word “you”. And more specifically he used a personal command to increase conversions.
For example, instead of putting:
“this is my email list”
put
“you should join my email list”.
Use friendly commands to encourage your users to convert. Btw. You should check out my ebook here 
Give Away Gifts
Giving away a gift encourages others to reciprocate. See as soon as you give something away, the user will feel a subconscious feeling of debt to you. Its in our human nature to reciprocate.
Give away a free ebook, WordPress theme, manifesto etc. Ask for nothing in return (not even an email address!).
Label People
If you label people in a group such as “lifestyle designers” or “bloggers” you will dramatically increase conversions.
For example if I was to say:
“you’re an entrepreneur. You should take a look at my ebook. I’ve written it for entrepreneurs to be the ultimate guide to blah blah blah”.
I’ve labelled the readers as Entrepreneurs giving them a sense of belonging and also responsibility. Surprisingly, they will feel that being an entrepreneur involves reading ebooks
Photo by – !borghetti
14 Comments
In the example of reducing options part of the draw for people is that there is the cheap version, the middle of the road version, and the ridiculously expensive version.
People don’t want the cheap (crappy) version and they don’t want the crazy expensive option so they will opt for the middle of the road option..
.-= Glen´s last blog ..Do Something =-.
you are absolutely right! Its a very common practice with web apps in broader marketing as well.
Very good post, I like it. It gives me a lot to think about since I am in the middle of selling services for my up start company and really getting active in the sales process.
Cheers & neat blog!
Hey Maren thanks for stopping by. Whats your startup company?
Good info here brother, I like the appeal of making a product so unique it becomes more valuable, I’m monetizing my site over the next few months so this is timely.
.-= TheInfoPreneur´s last blog ..What Rank Are You? =-.
Hey Anthony, I’ve been trying to do some Article Marketing to drive traffic to my site. Although I’m not out to sell anything, your tips here are very useful to make my articles and my article marketing signature and call to action more enticing!
.-= Mighty´s last blog ..Twitter Updates for 2010-01-31 =-.
Thanks man. Remember…test, test, test. Especially with a call to action. Play around with different phrases.
My goal for this year is to write an eBook and you have given me valuable information on how to make its way online. I particularly like the labeling of people, I like the idea of seeing readers as entrepreneurs.
.-= Walter´s last blog ..Selfishness under the pretense of love =-.
Anthony,
Excellent points relayed here. I see this all the time, where they give the illusion that there might not be enough of the product left… and this is a new one for me: “Reduce the Number of Options to Sell More.”
Gotta think about how I design my sales page. Thanks.
.-= Moon Hussain´s last blog ..eHow Experiment Revisited-Part I =-.
Hi Anthony.
That “50 Scientifically Proven Ways to be Persuasive” book sure is great. Many of those methods are already tossed at us by advertisers. I certainly like books that show things of this nature. It is a category I always enjoy.
That point about creating scarcity, as hilarious it can seem to a few, continues to work all over the place. For someone who doesn’t see the difference between an actual versus a created scarcity, the impetus to purchase or take part is just as high.
Cool points.
.-= Armen Shirvanian´s last blog ..An Interview With Gail Brenner =-.
hola Anthony
interesting, it reminds me of Dean Hunt
are you guys friends already?
I have just subscribed, will be coming over
ciao amigo
.-= Madzia´s last blog ..Ideas for Business. Limited spots. =-.
Hey Madzia, thanks for stopping by.
I’ve never heard of Dean Hunt. Should I have?
It is an interesting statistic that you are likely to win more sales if you have less sales options, I would have thought the otherwise so this was a timely read for me, much appreciated Anthony.
.-= Dave@Short Best Man Speeches´s last blog ..The Do’s And Don’ts Of Short Best Man Speeches. =-.
My goal for this year is to write an eBook and you have given me valuable information on how to make its way online. I particularly like the labeling of people, I like the idea of seeing readers as entrepreneurs.
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[...] or sell a paid product for an income. I recommend starting out by creating a free product. Giving away something free will help persuade people in the future to purchase something from you later down [...]