Spurious correlations can result in conclusions that only a politician could love. This chart "proves" that American-built cars prevent suicide.
Right?
How well do your lead generation numbers correlate with lead conversion? Ideally, revenue increases along with the number of leads you have in your database. But what if revenue is flat even though the lead numbers are going up?
Something's amiss.
Let's take a look at what's happening at the lead conversion stage of the transaction from a psychological point of view.
If you could tap into the psychological factors that drive conversion, what would they be? What are the natural and healthy features of decision making that might make the difference between you and a competitor?
What motivates choice?
Motivation 1: Pain Relief
It's higher now, but in 2014, the major players in over-the-counter pain relievers raked in over 1.7 billion dollars in sales. Pain relief is a killer motivator when it comes to closing a sale. Find out what your customers' discomfort areas are and offer to eliminate them. This is a real emotion, whether subconcious or not, and can definitely affect the success of converting a lead. Whatever you do, at least discover and eliminate any practices that actually cause more pain!
Motivation 2: Good old Hedonism
It has been argued that pain avoidance and her twin sister pleasure seeking are the president and vice president of free will. Hedonism, in its most basic form, is simply picking the banana that looks the most ripe. Or buying the shoes that all your friends will swoon over.
Google enlightens us with this definition: "The ethical theory that pleasure (in the sense of the satisfaction of desires) is the highest good and proper aim of human life."
Why do we see so many ads that deliberately associate pleasureable ideas with a product? Because hedonism is hard-wired in humans. How does your product bring pleasure? Take 30 seconds right now to answer the question for one of your leads.
Motivation 3: Novelty
New things have intrigued us since we figured out that those wrapped gifts beside the birthday cake were for us. Nothing thrills a child as much as a trip to Toys R Us, and we probably haven't grown out of it. Consider the furniture ads that remind us a holiday is coming, and wouldn't it be better to have all new living room furniture? Or those luxury car commercials that remind us that a new Lexus would make a great Christmas gift?
Newness is attractive. It's connected to the reward chemicals and receptors in our brains.
Motivation 4: But Why?
Pretend like your leads are two year olds. No, you can't make them sit in a corner and think about what they did, but like a healthy toddler, they incessantly ask "why?" Be patient with your answers, give excellent reasons - not too much or too little information. They have a right to know! We seem to have a psychological need to know why, and when we do, we are much more agreeable.
In a famous study by Harvard psychologist Ellen Langer, when a researcher asked to cut in front of the line at a photocopier, their success rate was affected in the extreme by a single phrase. Each experiment started the same, "Excuse me, I have 5 pages. May I use the Xerox machine?” (success rate: 60%). When the experiment included a REASON: “Excuse me, I have 5 pages. May I use the Xerox machine because I’m in a rush?” The success rate shot up to 94%!
Motivation 5: The Wisdom of Herds
This is a very simple idea that we have all used to help make a decision. We almost always ask "what do other people think about this?" Especially in ambiguous situations, it's not uncommon for the tipping point to arrive in the form of customer testimonials, reviews, a friend's recommendation or other kinds of word-of-mouth data. This is why you should work hard to gather any scrap of kudos and put them on display. When converting a lead, be ready with references that can vouch for you.
Motivation 6: Belonging
Brand loyalty is where this is headed. We're in awe of brands like Apple and Nike that have demonstrated sheer artistry in gathering fans that proudly advertise for free any chance they get! What can you do to frame your sale in terms of it being something bigger than just this little transaction? Where does it fit into an ideal? What kind of membership does your business relationship bestow upon the buyer?
Motivation 7: FOMO
Or, for the unenlightened, Fear Of Missing Out. This is related to both numbers 5 and 6 because it taps into the opportunistic side we have. We do want to belong and we definitely want to join something worthwhile, a larger cause. Missing out might mean we have missed our chance forever and that the next opportunity may never come. This is behind advertising that features strict time limits that increase the urgency for action. It's important to figure out how to paint a picture of what "missing out" looks like for your leads.
Now the question remains: How does a marketer find and use the necessary data to conclude which motivation is in play? Is a potential customer experiencing FOMO? Or thinking about the pleasure he'll get from a purchase? And which part of the product or service is appealing is turns people away?
With a mixture of concern and excitement, marketers are increasingly turning to digital tools for help. Usually people have little trouble empathizing with another human. We read faces and body language fairly well, but of course we can be mistaken or even fooled. What if we could teach a never-tiring, always vigilant, unobtrusive machine to read the emotions of a potential buyer?
You've heard of Artificial Intelligence, but are you ready for Artificial Empathy? It's a new field that is already helping human marketers zero in on data that makes selling more precise, streamlined and customized. Reading a buyer's fear, pain, annoyance, curiosity or desire can give a seller an edge, and possibly waste less of their customer's time and energy.
For now, real empathy works just fine. And United WebWorks of Savannah, GA is proud of the care and concern we have for all of our clients. You get our undivided attention when you discuss growing your business with our online tools and services. Call us with your questions today!