Answer this question: Why do you buy what you buy? It’s commonly thought that people buy for one of two reasons: desire for gain (also known as pleasure) or fear of loss (pain). But what’s not commonly known might be causing 70% of your marketing to miss its mark.
In his work on influence and persuasion, social psychologist Robert Cialdini uncovered the forces behind the phenomenon of pleasure and pain. When you dig more deeply into his research, you can find out whether 70% of your marketing is missing its mark.
People buy for pleasure or for pain. Some of them want to increase or improve their condition, seize opportunity, and make life better. Always on the lookout for a way to be better off, they’re attracted by possibilities.
Others buy to preserve what they have, avoid risk, and keep themselves from becoming worse off. Always on the lookout for what can go wrong, they’re attracted to preservation.
Let’s assume that these groups are evenly split. Here’s how marketing money is wasted. Marketing that targets the 'be better off' group completely misses the 'preserve what I’ve got' group. In 22 years as a consultant, I’ve seen marketing that’s aimed at the 'be better off' group. That’s fine if you’re willing to accept that your message is missing half of the people you’re paying to reach.
Look at your own marketing. How much of what you say speaks to people who want to avoid losing and preserve what they have? Compare that to how much of your marketing speaks to people who want possibility — to feel better, look younger, be richer, and achieve more.
Cialdini’s research revealed an even more startling finding than the simple distinction between 'avoid loss' and 'seek gain' buyers. This unexpected finding could alter your marketing success forever: These two groups aren’t equal in number.
To Cialdini’s surprise, 70% of the buyers fell into the 'avoid loss' category, with only 30% of people buying to 'be better off.' For every person who wants more possibility, two want prevention and preservation.
Now, go back and take another look at your marketing. Read every line, look at every document, and scour the latest proposal on your desk. What percentage of your message speaks to the 70%? If the answer is very little, you can be sure that two-thirds of the people who get your message will never read it! It doesn’t enter their perceptual range if your value proposition conflicts with their unconscious drive for preservation. If they don’t read it, they’re unlikely to buy into it.
As you prepare your next marketing message, consider these suggestions:
TWO POINTS OF VIEW
Craft the message from two points of view. Seek representatives of each camp among your existing customers and use their feedback to help you hone your message to both the 'no worse off' and the 'be better off' groups. If the buyers of your product or service are clearly and predominantly in one group, send a message with benefits more heavily weighted in that direction. But for most products and services, buyers fall into both groups. Make sure your message reaches those who aren’t interested in being, doing, or having more.
BUYING MOTIVATION
Whether face to face or via phone, e-mail, ads, mail, fax, or Web site, find out early in every interaction the person’s primary buying motivation. Skillful questions and a desire to listen emphatically (seek first to understand) are the one-two punch of building trust and credibility.
Identifying the primary buying motivation is in everyone’s best interest; it establishes common ground for your conversation to have mutual benefit. Otherwise, the buyer is disengaged and you’re wasting time. When done ethically, this dialogue builds a bridge of understanding and a bond of relating between buyer and seller. This is the foundation of a solid, longer-term, mutually beneficial relationship.
Use this insight to help you to improve your direct interaction (face-to-face meetings, phone conversations, e-mail) and your indirect marketing (ads, postcards, Web pages, seminars, telephone messages, and any other communication in which the message goes one way).