The Chatterbox

Using Economic Troubles In Your Sales Pitch

The second interesting thing I mentioned in my last post has to do with how it can be advantageous to recognize and mention the current state of the economy as part of your sales pitch. Let me first be clear in saying I do not believe this should replace your Unique Sales Proposition/Unique Value Proposition. However simply stating the obvious, while breaking a couple of the normal Best Practice ideals, did manage to show some conversion improvements on the couple of sites I tested it.

What do I mean?

Well, first I think everybody is well aware by now that current state of the economy sucks. It sucks big time! And this is one where everybody is in the same boat. A boat that has apparently sprung a few leaks.

Tailoring part of your offer to give voice to this reality surprisingly seems to be something you may be able to use to improve conversions. It doesn't even have to be a grand statement. The two sites I tested the idea on recently made only small mentions, but people were having an emotional response to the site's recognizing the fact that people are hurting, while tying the tough times to the offer.

As far as the breaking the rules part, I didn't really break a rule. Just skimmed the edges a bit.

What I mean by this is that I always recommend that you stay away from superfluous, qualitative language in your headlines, copy and call to action. Instead you should use quantitative language. The former tends to get immediately discounted, or worse sets up a condition where visitors immediately question if they can trust you.

An example perhaps.

A qualitative headline might say something like:

We offer the best lederhosen on the web!

When you do something like this you're (unknowingly perhaps) challenging the visitor to review some of your competitors offers to see if they can find something better in some way or another. Even if the visitors don't take up the challenge to shop your competitors, such blanket statements tend to introduce a bit of distrust into the equation. This type of superfluous sales'y type of pitch simply doesn't work well in my experience. Ever.

A quantitative approach that gets across basically the same message might be something like:

Your source for high quality, 100% goat hide lederhosen!

There's still a qualitative idea in there ("High Quality") but there's also a strong quantitative statement to back up the thought. (100% Goat Hide) And the headline has shifted the focus from "We Offer" (the old wee-wee mistake) to a customer-centric idea.

Now, how did I skirt around the edges of these best practice ideals (quantitative vs. qualitative and no wee-wee hype) that worked with the concept of recognizing the tough economic times that ended up improving conversions? I added a simple sub-headline and a short paragraph to a part of the pitch. It's not the USP, but it does support the USP.

Sub-headline: Our best offer. Ever.

Followed by a short paragraph detailing how the site's offer has been tweaked to give even better value than normal because the owner(s) understands times are hard for everyone. This "Best Offer Ever" could be free shipping, a temporary price decrease, discounts for larger purchases, discounts for established customers, coupons, etc, etc.

There's a trick with using such a qualitative statement as part of your pitch though.

Notice how it doesn't set up a comparison to every other competitor out there. It doesn't cause the visitor to immediately distrust the hype. Instead it's comparing the current offer to what this particular business has done in the past. In a nutshell it's saying We feel your pain. If you help us, we'll help you..

This is an entirely different approach than I've used before. Though it seems to resonate with prospective customers, probably because of the current economic crunch. And it's something you may want to test with your own site if you've recently implemented some changes to help you survive the economic downturn.

I've tested the concept on two sites and seen very good success, with conversion rates doubling on one site and rising by roughly 60% on the other. In both cases this single, smallish addition has helped recoup all of the losses these two sites have seen over the last several months. Both are converting at a higher rate than they were a year ago, prior to the downturn, with improved gross revenues.

Obviously two sites is not nearly a large enough sample to say it'll work in every market for every site. However the general idea is something you may want to test on your own site. You may be pleasantly surprised at the emotional response it seems to evoke.

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