How much persuasion is too much?

[Farhan]

Is it really very important to hype your text to push your website visitors to the ordering page? Many people say that you need to keep repeating “Action-Lines” all over your page as much as you can. I have seen lines like

“Click here to place your order"


“Order now!!! - limited time offer!!!"


How much persuasion is too much, even for an average web user? What is the right balance in being agressive and not annoying?

[Advisor]

Hey Farhan,

You know, I don't think there are any hard and fast rules, although I'm sure some copywriters out there may have some!

IMO, it would depend on your target audience. How Web savvy are they? Will they have trouble finding your ordering link? You certainly want to make it as easy as possible to order, but you don't want to patronize them either.

I think there can be a very fine line between over hype and just right hype. Many people swear by those really hypey sales letters to sell ebooks, but to me there's always something that doesn't ring true in many of them. I try to go somewhere in between.

For my Nitty-gritty report, I do offer the opportunity to click a buy link after each major paragraph of text or so. I didn't do it through any formula, just where it seemed to feel right. You know...you read a particular paragraph that hits you right and makes you feel like you want to buy...so you click the order link.

One thing I have found and noticed is that you should not make people hunt for the price. That seems to be some sort of common sales technique that the hypey people use, but I tell you, I won't buy from those sites that make me click the order form before I can see how much something costs. I find that totally insulting. It seems smarter to me to show the price right off the bat so they can think about whether it's worth it as they're reading the sales copy. I have no proof or tests of this, but it just seems like common sense to me, and it lends an air of credibility too.

Hope this helps!

Jill

[qwerty]

As a user, when I see hyped up "buy now" text like that, I leave. I personally think it looks completely amateurish and patronizing, like it's telling me I'm too stupid to know what to do next.

However, people who know a lot more about sales than I do seem to think this kind of thing works. I guess I'm just not their target audience.

[vinyl-junkie]

Originally posted by Advisor
I won't buy from those sites that make me click the order form before I can see how much something costs. I find that totally insulting. It seems smarter to me to show the price right off the bat so they can think about whether it's worth it as they're reading the sales copy. Thanks so much, Jill, for saying the same words I've been saying. I seem to recall mentioning something like this in the website critique section of the forum, and several people argued with me that it wasn't a big deal to send a visitor to the order page to find out a price. Bah! I'm with you, I'm really turned off by that.

[Advisor]

Well, I've found from my own ads that I get much better conversion rates when I list a price right in the ad.

When you don't show the price, it's as if you're embarrassed by it, or you don't think it's really worth that much. If it really is worth that much, then you should be proudly displaying the price!

Who wants clickthroughs from people who can't afford it, or simply refuse to pay for stuff? I don't. I'd rather get clickthroughs from those who are truly interested and who might really buy. I get less clicks when I put the price in the ad, but more sales, and a waaaaaaay higher conversion rate.

Jill

[Blue]

Someone once told me:

"Salesmen sell. Consumers buy....... Whom are YOU going to sell to?"

[vinyl-junkie]

Originally posted by Advisor
When you don't show the price, it's as if you're embarrassed by it, or you don't think it's really worth that much. If it really is worth that much, then you should be proudly displaying the price!

Jill There's also a saying that if you have to ask, you probably can't afford it! I found some software that I really liked one time that had a freeware version but didn't quote a price for the paid version on their website. I needed more functionality than the freeware version offered, so I wrote them and asked about it and was told the paid version was in the thousands of dollars per year! Geez, no wonder they wouldn't list the price on their website. :rolleyes:

[scottiecl]

I'd have to say, I can't answer the question without knowing who your target audience is.

There is a certain element that need the BUY NOW! thrown at them a few times but I tend to not want those customers. Personally, I hate being whacked in the head with ORDER TODAY and LIMITED TIME OFFER!

It is important to make sure the "action calls" appear naturally on the page. As Jill points out, she gives them a link every few paragraphs. Others may look in the footer or navigation area when they are ready to buy.

Usability, marketing, copywriting... it all goes back to planning the site well and testing it with real users who are in your target demographics.

[AskMeNoQuestions]

I agree with Jill - companies who hide their prices generally seem to have something to hide, or want to try and sell you their product at the highest possible price, after you talk to a rep. This isn't just confined to websites. I had a long argument with a client about this question - he wanted to hide all pricing info, and you had to get in touch in order to find out the price, which seems a *little* strange, considering online purchasing is being planned for a later stage...

As far as the action links (Order Now, Buy our Widgets) go, I think it's a question of balance. If you see a page drenched in "Come on, you know you want to buy it, just order it now" links, it tends to be a bit off-putting : if the product is so good, why do they have to beg you to buy it so much? On the other hand, you need verb-phrase links. What's better: Click here to buy our widgets, or Order now? I think it just comes down to not overdoing it.

My two cents, anyway...

[Farhan]

Thanks for the feedback everyone.

I agree it's hard to say anything without knowing the target audience. Though I still think that a few things work equally well for almost all types of target markets on the web.

Though I personally agree about listing the price on the homepage, but, in some cases, specially when you are offering services and not products, listing your price on a separate page, labeled something like "prices and packages" looks fine as well.

[Advisor]

Agreed, Farhan. Prices don't need to be on the home page. I was talking about on the sales page. And I was really talking more about products than services. Services are a whole 'nother ballgame!

Jill

[amica_webmaster]

Originally posted by Advisor
Well, I've found from my own ads that I get much better conversion rates when I list a price right in the ad.

... I get less clicks when I put the price in the ad, but more sales, and a waaaaaaay higher conversion rate.

Jill

Note what Jill is doing here - she has tested! She tried more than one approach, and measured the results. That is the right way to determine what works (or doesn't) with copy or any other design option.

Meta

[Copywriter]

Hi All,

Scottie is right. It greatly depends on your target audience, your product/service and a few other factors as to how much "hype" you need.

Most of those sales letters you see ("Dear Friend, I feel your pain... I've been there, too... that's why I created this wonderful _____) are constructed using a combination of the ADIA formula (attention, desire, interest, action) and the behavioral profile stats that tell us that over 40% of the American public buy in the manner these sales letters sell.

Because that's a majority (the other 60% fall into different, smaller categories) the sales letter folks use that format repeatedly. While I'm not a huge fan, the formula does work... and works well in the right circumstances.

Problem is... as is with most things online... once someone develops a great way to do anything, others take over and beat the living daylights out of it causing it to be wwwaaaayyyy overused and lose its firepower.

Email advertising, and affiliate marketing fall into this same "beat a dead horse" category. What started out great has gone to the dogs. Do they still work? Yep, but not nearly as good as they used to.

I have noticed a huge trend *away* from hypish sales letters. I've not seen any hard and fast statistics about it, but from feedback in newsletters and posts on forums I can say that most people are pulling back from this approach.

Karon

[Peter (IMC)]

Farhan,

How are you?

There are different methods to persuave people. The one you are talking about is, I think, is the type that wants to make the reader feel stupid for not buying. Personally it is not my favorit, but some products seem to need this approach. Problem with this method is that this "stupid for not buying" feeling does not last very long. So all over the page there needs to be the possibility to buy.

Another method is to give the reader a good feeling so that the reader is more open to spending some money. In this case the reader will keep reading the complete text because he/she likes it. In this case one simple link to buy is enough. The reader won't even mind if it is necessary to scroll back to the top, but you can place this link anywhere on the page that you feel is best.

What method to use is not just a question of who is the audience, but very much also a question of what is the product. The combination of the 2 will determine the best method.

Best regards,

Peter

[ihelpyou]

Nice advice!

[Peter (IMC)]

Thanks Doug,

Like everybody I try to do the best I can and hope it will help the people that read it.

Regards,

Peter

[ihelpyou]

And you certainly are Peter! :thumb:

[scisoft]

One of very few usefull threads on this topic I have ever found. This is a pity that the discussion is already finished, there is much more I would like to ask.

[Farhan]

You are welcome to ask whatever you like scisoft, the topic is not closed.

[glengara]

There's a pretty good thread on this subject here:

http://www.cre8asiteforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=8127&sid=1946ca63efb5c011def101d735c6e2ee