When trying to sell as much as you can from an eCommerce store, there are two ways you can look at it. On the one hand, you are trying to convince people to want to buy. At the same time though, you’re also try to overcome people’s urge not to buy. This is a subtle difference and something that’s key to understand.
Basically, when someone is thinking of buying something from you, it doesn’t only come down to whether or not they’re interested in the product. In fact, they can be entirely interested but not want to buy for other reasons. For example, they might not want to buy because they feel guilty about spending the money. This is called ‘buyers’ guilt’ and it’s a big part of the psychological dynamic involved in sales.
What is Buyers’ Guilt?
Buyers’ guilt is essentially the guilt that someone might feel when buying a product. Very often, people will feel guilty for spending money because they know that it could be spent on other things.
But if the buyer is sufficiently interested in the product, they will potentially be able to overcome this guilt. This is then when they can start debating with themselves whether or not buy. They end up with a devil and an angle on their shoulder as they try and make excuses for themselves to buy.
Your job as a seller is to make sure that that ‘devil’ wins by removing the guilt so that they feel they can go ahead and buy. There are a couple of ways you might go about doing this…
Strategies for Removing Guilt
One way to overcome buyers’ guilt is to explain why your product is an investment. In other words, you need to point out that your item can actually save money.
This might mean that your product is very energy efficient and thereby able to help you spend less money on fuel. Alternatively, it might mean that your product is going to last a very long time, which means that it won’t need to be replaced.
Finally, it might mean that your product is going to earn the person money. This is why it’s comparatively very easy to sell books about earning money – people are happy to spend that cash initially because they think they will make more money back as a result.
There are other methods you can use too. One is to make your product ‘good’ for the user. If you explain that it’s good for their health or for their peace of mind, then they might be able to justify the cost. Another option is to make the purchase go partly toward a good cause. Donate a fraction of the profits you make to a charity and this can help you to encourage people to buy.
Finally, another method for removing guilt is to make sure there is a very clear money back guarantee. If you can do this, then you can remove all risk which can otherwise contribute toward guilt.
