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- Price comparisons you use in the ad. ["Compare
at $..."]
- Appearance of the store or Web site, including layout
- Display of the merchandise. Any gem placed on dark
velvet in a glass case and lit well seems
to be of higher value than the same gem in a cardboard box.
- Appearance and demeanor of the sales staff
- An "On Sale" sign
- Offered discounts ["20% Off"]
- Setting a time limit for a price.
- Using the words "Only" or "Just"
in the ad. ["Only $39.95 for a limited time"]
- Contrasting the price to a higher price for a
similar item. For example, a $499 recliner seems more reasonable when
it is sitting next to a $699 recliner.]
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JUAN AND SYLVIA own a small fast food restaurant. Since
they are close to many businesses, they have a Web site where
customers can order ahead at lunch. But they're having trouble
competing with nearby chains despite their unique look.
"Our restaurant is beautiful," said Juan, looking over
their dining area. The crisp white tablecloths were warmly
colored by a series of small chandeliers, which made the real
wood walls gleam. "Why don't we have more customers?"
Sylvia asked a marketing psychologist about their problem.
"You advertise yourself as a fast food place, not a restaurant,"
he told Sylvia. "One problem you have is the public's image of
the fast food industry. They expect acceptable food fast and at a
reasonably low price. They expect to make a tradeoff for that --
they eat in a plastic, utilitarian setting. Your place doesn't
fit into their expectations.
"Looking at all the work you've done on the outside and inside of
your place may lead some people to expect higher prices.
I know your prices are competitive. That will lead others to
think the fancy setting will be balanced out by lower quality
food. In other words, you are a victim of your industry's image.
And it is very hard to change an industry's image.
It will probably cost you a lot of extra money to try to overcome that image."
Juan took off the tablecloths, painted the walls blue
and yellow, and replaced the chandeliers with inexpensive
lighting fixtures. The outside of their place now looks more like
competing franchise operations. Sylvia revamped the look of their
Web site to match the look of their restaurant, clean, attractive and
utilitarian. They have gradually built up their business. And more
than one customer has commented that the quality of the food
seems to have improved.
LESSON: You can't fight city hall. Your business is
influenced by your industry's image. While you can position
yourself at the lower, middle or upper end of that image, it is
hard to go beyond that. Its very difficult to create
the image of a high class operation if you're selling fast food,
aluminum siding, taxi services, used cars, used furniture, etc.
Instead, use that image to help sell your products.
Take Dwayne's Discount Barn. His store is as utilitarian
as a Sam's Club warehouse. To sell his jewelry, he doesn't
run full-color ads featuring models in Dior gowns. He uses
the image of his industry to influence his buyers' perceptions.
Dwayne's ad for diamonds reads:
"Hi, Neighbor: We just got in a big shipment of fine quality diamond rings from
Spain, and your True Love can be wearing one on her pretty little finger tonight!
You can get her a real European Diamond at a price you won't believe!
We got 'em in all sizes to fit all budgets. We got 'em set in gold,
silver, platinum and clear plastic. Bring in your Honey and we'll
give you an ice cold Pepsi while you look around.
Your friend, Dwayne."
Dwayne sells more diamonds this way than he would with an
upscale ad, which would scare off the customers who will buy from
him, and would not attract those who refuse to buy a diamond from
any place that offers plastic settings. Dwayne's ad reinforces the
target buyers' belief that they can get good bargains from Discount stores.
Do your ads and Web site reinforce your customers' expectations?
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ARCHIVE:
Web Marketing Psychology Report
Issues:
-
October 2000
November 2000
December 2000
January 2001
February/March 2001
April 2001
May/June 2001
July/August 2001
WEB MARKETING PSYCHOLOGY REPORT
-
December 2000
JOHN and JESSE own an eyewear store. They
but it hasn't worked well. They have generated a
growing number of visitors, but most of them only
come once, and few of them become store
customers.
"We've tried to make our site sticky," said Jesse.
"What's wrong?"
"Maybe we're so close to our business that we
can't see the forest for the trees," said John. "Let's
get someone else to look at it."
They asked several friends to look at their site.
The answer surprised them. Most people said they
had the strong impression that John and Jesse
sold vision care, not eyeglasses. One of their
friends was a psychologist, who told John, "The
problem is in the perception you're creating.
You've tried to make your site sticky by giving a lot
of eye-related facts and pictures on your home
page. That leads people to the idea you are an
optometrist who sells glasses, not an eyewear
boutique. People see what they expect to see
based on their initial impressions. You're creating
the wrong first impression."
John told Jesse, "We've got to carefully control
WHAT is presented, WHEN it is presented, and
HOW it is presented on our site. By manipulating
those variables, we can not only create the right
impression of our store, but create the sort of
upscale image we want."
Jesse revised their site, focusing on their special
frames, personalized service, and partnership with
vision care professionals. And he used more
pictures of happy customers wearing their frames,
knowing that pictures can make a stronger
impression than words. When visitors started
getting the right impression of the business, they
started calling the store -- and they already had a
positive image in their mind.
LESSON: A person's initial perception of a Web
site helps to color every other idea and impression
they have. If you give the wrong impression on your homepage, you'll
lose or confuse many of
your visitors. Every element plays a part in
creating the overall image visitors have of your
business. The best home pages clearly show
visitors the benefits they can have in simple, direct
words and pictures which reflect the type of image
they want to present.
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LUCIA and PHIL have a carpet cleaning business.
Their Web site details services and prices, and
shows pictures of their technician in action. While
they have visitors, few of them have contacted the
store.
Lucia talked to a friend who understood human
motivation. Jenny explained to her, "Your industry
has a questionable image because of a few
disreputable companies, and that colors the
impression people bring to your Web site. What
they want you to give them is confidence that
you're different."
"Most people haven't heard of us, so we're just so
many electrons on a screen to them," Lucia told
Phil. "We have to convince them we're one of the
good companies."
"How?" asked Phil. "We already tell them all the
good services we provide, and we guarantee our
work."
"Jenny says we need third party credibility to build
confidence in our visitors. We do that by getting
testimonials from some of our customers. And, we
especially try to get a testimonial from Mr. Johnson
at the bank because he is a highly credible
source," said Lucia.
"Why don't we emphasize how long we've been in
business, too? And that we're members of the
Chamber of Commerce," suggested Phil.
Lucia added the new information to their site, and
even included a picture of Mr. Johnson at his bank.
They not only got quotes from customers, but
actually reproduced a couple of the letters to add more credibility.
And they looked for other ways,
too, like displaying the Customer Care award from
a trade association they had won, and showing the
results of a survey they did with customers, who
gave them high rankings in several "Customer
Satisfaction" categories.
The changes made a difference. More visitors
began calling the store, and many of them
mentioned Mr. Johnson's name or their Chamber
membership. It gave them confidence.
LESSON: People make buying decisions based
on both logic and emotion. Believing you build up
their confidence by simply telling them what you
sell can be a big mistake. Unless you or your
company already have credibility in their minds,
your customers will want to know what others think
about you -- your other customers, your peers, the
business community, and so on. This is especially
important on the Internet where a garage-based
business can create the same professional
storefront as a major corporation.
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WEB MARKETING PSYCHOLOGY REPORT
-
January 2001
If you find this Report useful, please consider
forwarding it to a friend or two. A Realtor in Texas did, and
received a listing in return for her thoughtfulness.
Several readers have suggested we broaden the
scope of these Reports to include offline marketing
because they have both Web sites and brick-and-
mortar companies. Please let me know if you like the
new approach.
JAMIE AND OSCAR own a furniture store and
also sell home decorations online. Their high-end
stock isn't selling well despite foot traffic and Web
visitors. And they don't know why.
Jamie talked to a marketing psychologist friend
who explained their store image and Web site didn't fit
their pricing structure. The store has a very ordinary
appearance, but their stock is high quality and is
priced high accordingly. The same problems are seen
in their Web site.
The psychologist told them,
"All consumers want a fair price, but fairness is not
objective. It is subconsciously influenced by many unrelated
factors. The look of the store influences the buyer's expected
price range for your furniture. When its in the upper end of
that range, buyers look for value-added features to justify
what they perceive of as a high price. It is entirely possible to
create the impression of "low cost" or "high value" with little or
no change in the actual price you charge. In a fancy furniture
store your mid-priced recliners would be at the low end of the
range buyers expected to pay, and be seen as a bargain."
Jamie first upgraded the look of their Web site to
favorably compare with those of exclusive furniture and
department stores. They worked with an interior designer
to remake the look of their store that created an image of
high-quality in the minds of customers. And it worked.
Now they sell more online and offline, and do it without
lowering their prices.
LESSON: A fair price is in the mind of the beholder.
A $1.75 cup of coffee at IHOP seems high to most customers,
but at Starbucks its a good value. That change in judgment is
influenced by Starbucks's high-end image, expected price range
for its coffees, and the fact that plain coffee is the cheapest thing
on the menu. Be aware of all the unrelated factors that influence
buyers' perception of your product's price.
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INFLUENCING PRICE PERCEPTION:
Here are some psychological influences on the buyer's
perception of an item's price which are not related to the
item's quality:
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