A big part of your brain works on autopilot and is not directly accessible to the ‘rational’ part of your mind.
It is critical to understand the latest in neuromarketing research in order to take advantage of this autopilot.
According to a recent talk by Tim Ash President and CEO of Site Tuners at the Startup Marketing Conference San Francisco, you need to:
1- Create a small number of clear choices
The rational brain gets tired when forced to examine too much information, or to compare very similar options. By limiting choice and creating obvious differences among the possible options you can alleviate this conscious cognitive load and let the autopilot make the decisions.
2- Use the right anchor
Our brain will “anchor” on the first thing we see and evaluate subsequent decisions in this context. So you can easily bias the decision by presenting the right context or structure to the choice. For example, you can put a very high-priced choice before the actual desired choice, it will make the desired choice seem less expensive.
3- Understand the power of visuals
Our visual system is very powerful and effects our experience of reality. Make sure you understand the visual hierarchy (the massive impact of motion, the lesser impact of graphics, and the minor impact of text) when creating the right visual emphasis on the page. The visuals should support the call to action and not be window-dressing, or a distraction from the primary purpose of your web page.
4- Use the Endowment Effect
Understanding the endowment effect may lead to massive increase in ROI and in conversion. The endowment effect includes a state of mind where a consumer’s valuation of an object will increase once they have taken ownership of it. A multitude of studies have proven that the endowment effect is the place where ‘Loss Aversion’ – when suffering from losing is stronger than happiness of gains – starts.
What the Endowment Effect is:
Plainly put, as we own something, we get used to having it and we have adjusted to this ownership. Now we do not have a desire to give it up and we only can think about losing or gaining according to the ownership.
Using the Endowment Effect to boost conversion:
The minute you have ownership upon any product you begin to evaluate it from that viewpoint, and thinking differently about what you’ll lose and what you’ll gain.
Our irrational behavior (the endowment effect, in this case) can easily be utilized to better understand our possible customers and boost conversion.
Some examples for utilizing irrational behavior to boost conversion:
The power of a trial account – Now you own it, now you don’t – The concept that stands behind a trial account is easy. Initially you have the product, you utilize it for a while then you need to pay for it or you’ll lose it. Trial accounts include the precise example of the endowment effect. What do you do?
- Permit the potential customers to utilize the product for one month (for instance)
- Within this time, send out emails to those possible customers and explain the value of the product, providing tutorials and tips about how that can use it raise a sense of ownership. Do not forget to remind potential customers they just have a certain of time to use it.
- Towards the completion of the trial period begin to offer special ‘one time’ offer to users to convert them within paying customers.
In the Trial Period, create a bond, personalize
Personalization is the name of this game, and the more accurate you are, the more solid the bond will be between the customer and your product; the higher the conversion rate is going to be. What do you do?
- User experience – a potential customer journey is very important. The more the journey becomes an experience and more personal you are, the more a user will develop a sense of ownership and relationship with your product.
- Emailing includes an excellent method of creating a personal connection (if performed right), referring to individuals as YOU and I, and will build a sense of relationship with your product.
Utilizing the endowment effect within your efforts at conversion optimization may increase both positive reaction toward your product (associating with your product even more) and psychological ownership of your product.
Ownership is all about developing a connection between your product and your customer, and if you are successful at doing this, you will be on the highway to greater conversions.