2 min reading timeDerek Halpern runs a site called Social Triggers. His “About page” declares, “You must learn about human psychology to get traffic and sales online.”
I “stole” Derek’s footer design and now include an subscriber’s endorsement (social proof) to encourage visitors to sign up for my blog content.
Derek’s basic premise: People are people. They generally respond to stimuli in a predictable manner – whether they’re online for something business related or for something personal.
Derek breaks these stimuli (which he calls “triggers”) into two groups: Foundational Triggers and Implementational Triggers. I summarized his Seattle Interactive Conference presentation, below.
Foundational
1. Nobody cares about you or your business. The sooner you recognize this, the sooner you can tailor your message to what you can do for them.
2. Understanding who your target customer is. Everyone is the same from a behavior standpoint. “The Law of Now” is irresistible. Business opportunity comes from giving people what they want … immediacy. Play to short-term benefits – what your product or service can do for them today! In some cases, you cannot deliver overnight. But if your product solves a long-term problem, you can still say, “This is how you can save one hour right now using this product.”
3. Focus. People need to be able to talk about your business. If you offer too much, customers don’t know what to think about your business.
In a sea of 5,000+ blogs about online marketing, Derek focuses specifically on converting online visitors. He finds when he became known for one area of expertise, he earned a halo effect of being knowledgeable for other things. (I streamlined my Medical Device Marketing Services page based on this insight. Now I talk about three things: Marketing communication and strategy, lead generation, and social media.)
Implementational
1. Fewer options, more sales. Draeger Jam experiment: On one grocery display, 24 different jams. The next Saturday, 6 jams. Fewer people stopped at the six-flavor display but 1000% more jam was sold. “Chunking” – make one of three choices, which branches into other choices. 3-5 choices are easy to process.
2. Instant credibility. “Social proof.” Every time you make a claim. Show the proof. Use case studies.
3. Instant payoff. He used to start with benefits. He said, “Research shows people don’t care about benefits.” (Relative to the fear of loss, he clarified.) They say, “Oh, that sounds nice but I don’t have time for that right now.” If you switch to the fear of loss, you’ll lose something you already have: Losses loom larger than gains. So, instead of “You will increase your business,” try, “Your competitors are doing this and stealing your customers.”
4. The feared self. Paint a picture of your target customer in the worst situation. Are you one of those executives with overcrowded inbox and missing meetings? Figure out who your customer never wants to be, then position your product as the way to avoid that feared self.
Which of Derek’s points resonate with you? And, look around. If you’d like to “steal” design elements from me, I’m too happy to share.
Related Reading:
• SEOmoz’ Rand Fishkin on Inbound Marketing
• I asked 4 SEOs and this is what they said
• How can I rank for a term on Google?
