Don't Make Me Think
Hey I’m Shane, welcome to another issue of The CRO Weekly where each week I explore how to build a high converting Ecommerce store. If you’re not subscribed you join 1224(!) people that are right here:
BFCM may be over but Christmas is right around the corner. As we come closer, I can’t get this simple principle off my mind:
Don’t make me think.
With sales and promotions being competitive, it’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking you need to do something unique.
Site-wide discounts with some products discounted more than others, free gift cards with your purchase, deals that vary day to day, the list of complicated offers you can run is endless.
The challenge with all of them is that they make people stop to think, and that is dangerous
The psychology behind an offer
When someone sees a 20% off discount, they’re probably not doing the math. Instead, they’re trying to decide if 20% is a “good deal”.
When making that decision they’re factoring in the entire set of past experiences they have with shopping. For some people the first thought is “20% off? That’s a great deal!” For others it may not be enticing, and their “great deal” number might be 30% off.
Of course this also depends on what they’re shopping for and how much it costs. But we can assume all of that deliberation is mostly being done subconsciously — what Daniel Kannehman coined System 1 thinking. They’re not really thinking about it. So the decision is made quickly.
As soon as you add in another variable, like day-to-day deals, people have to think. You’re then activating System 2 thinking where people start to really consider things.
With day-to-day deals they’re trying to decide if they should buy today or wait until Wednesday for the secret door-buster deal. You could see it playing out like this:
“How much is the door buster deal?”
“Okay so it’s 30% off one of the products I want to buy instead of 20% off.”
“So if I wait, I’ll get 20% off one product and 30% off the other.”
“Hmm… is it worth waiting for 10% off this one product?”
“Maybe but with shipping times being crazy this holiday I’m afraid I won’t get it in time…”
“Ugh I don’t want to spend extra money for no reason but I’d rather order today….”
*phone rings*
“Ah I forgot I’ve gotta pick up the kids! I’ll figure this out later”
Narrator: they never came back to figure it out
I think you get the point… the more options people have, the longer it will take them to make a decision—
At the end of the day, I’m not a paid media expert so take this with a grain of salt. But if you were to ask me how to run your Christmas offer I would say:
Pick a simple promotion that can be explained in under 1 sentence.
You’re almost guaranteed to see better sales performance that way.
That’s all for this week’s issue. If you enjoyed it, you can follow me on Twitter for bite-sized CRO content.