The Buying Decision

July 25th, 2007 | Concept and Design, Development

Think back for a minute and try to think of anything that you’ve purchased where your emotions have not played a major part in the decision process. Emotions help visualize ourselves benefiting from the purchase. Food manufacturers count on bright packaging to attract your attention so you’ll buy their products. With that in mind, make your sales literature produce positive thoughts in your customers head. The fact is, emotions are attached every purchase, and that goes for a client purchasing your services in web development.

The next time you see a television commercial, consider that the company who made that ad probably spent millions of dollars on it. They are paying for advertising that works, because it relates to their target markets by appealing to their emotions. The Web is different from television, because each page is something you think about, while looking at and reading. Conversely, TV is mainly an emotional zone out. This makes TV suited for flashy advertising to promote superficial qualities of products. Every one of my clients who makes first contact with me, has said they liked my previous work. See, emotions gave away why they chose to buy from me, and I didn’t have to blow anything up.

Putting Emotions In Your Advertisements

Every product or service fills a particular need. You’ll have to find the benefits and emotions in what you plan to offer. By focusing your efforts in writing with positive emotions, it will result in a better response rate and closing ratios. Emotional Response Marketing really works. Here are three simple steps to get you started:

List the Benefits of Your Service - This should have already been done when doing market research. But know what benefits your service provides your prospective clients.
Take Each Benefit and Match the Emotions It Creates - Buy me, buy me, hire me, hire me, look at me, look at what I’m doing. I’m a ho. We’re all hos, doesn’t matter. We’re selling a part of our self; we’re selling our vision. Not all emotions are going to be positive ones. But use negative emotions sparingly. You want to focus on the positive emotions as they are much more powerful. Everyone wants to feel good so I recommend keeping positive.
Create Exciting Words and Phrases to Relate These Emotions - Guaranteeing your service, or mentioning discounts are good examples to talk about. Pretend a client is sitting in the same room with you, so can relate to them on a one to one basis. The hard part is getting people to understand where you’re coming from and getting clients to trust you; to hire you and do exactly what you want to do. Getting clients to push their thoughts and push their ideas a little farther.

Create your own store with a shopping cart, and sell consulting services as items in your store. - Jeff Knooren

After the buying decision is made, we begin the process of using the analytical part of our brain to reassure ourselves we made the right choice, but the fact still remains; we all make emotional buying decisions. When you create advertising pieces, be sure to keep your focus in mind. What do you want to accomplish? If every aspect does not lend itself in some way to getting the prospects to respond the way you need them to, consider reworking.

Understand the most fundamental desire of any customers: They don’t want to be sold. They want you to solve a problem. So don’t sell. Solve! Their problems keep you in business. Especially if you solve it painlessly.

You’re not selling books; you’re selling guidance, and help.
You’re not ice cream; you sell cool, comfortable, indulgence.
You’re not selling expensive clothes; you sell envy.
You’re not selling perfume. You sell love in a bottle.
You’re not selling a business opportunity. You sell the end to ones financial worries.

I would prefer not to work with clients who just want to ‘get it done.’ I turn away clients who want the easiest, fastest, and cheapest way. Whether it’s billboards, postcards, Web sites, newspapers, magazines, or brochures — keep your focus in check. Making it easy for the customer to buy will bring results. In other words: help customers buy; don’t try a hard sell. Because hard sells only work on TV.