Similar to the Corona period, the current war also made many people stay at home.
The fear, the missiles and the uncertainty sent most of us to take solace, except for food, in online purchases.
This is not a big surprise, since dozens of studies over the past few years show that the feeling of excitement when clicking "purchase" or when receiving a package is almost as powerful as falling in love.
So what do marketers do to take advantage of this weakness and make us all buy more?
Here are some (legitimate) tricks that simply make us come back again and again and also increase the purchase amount from time to time.
1. Sale or new collection?
One of the most well-known and effective methods for maximizing sales is mixing a sale collection with the new collection, so that when scrolling through products, you will come across an item that you "really have to", only that its price will be almost 40% more expensive than what you planned.
Although today there are entire shopping complexes dedicated to sales, the companies sometimes still place the items at the regular price, among a cheaper group of products, as they build on the fact that customers who light up on a certain item will not leave it behind.
Golf demonstrates a smart combination between products on sale and new products./screenshot, GOLF
2. You have two more days to take advantage of the discount you received!
If the reward system works on children, there is no reason why it shouldn't work on us.
Distributing a benefit "especially for you" on the next purchase is always a good way to attract the customer to return to purchase.
And what better way to ensure that he returns?
Give this benefit an expiration date and thus ensure that the buyer rushes to purchase the item before the expiration date, so that God forbid he does not buy the product at full price.
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"Sale is about to end" style messages create urgency to buy./Screenshot, Hostinger.com
3. Out of stock but… we have a similar item!
The similar item feature is a classic in the field of user experience, whose main goal is indeed to find for the customer the items that may be to his taste.
However, the company has an interest in maximizing sales of all the items in its possession.
If you looked at a certain item and it is not in stock, the system will offer you another similar item so that you will be satisfied and the item will be added to the cart.
It is important to note that there is also a dimension here of improving the convenience of shopping for us as consumers.
This works mostly in large retail companies that have a large inventory of similar items.
Is the product out of stock?
There are many other products/screenshot, Shein
4. There are only 2 units left of this product
Another incentive whose apparent purpose is to show the customer how many items are left of a certain product - exactly the one he is considering purchasing.
When we see a sentence like "only 2 units left", psychological pressure is put on us.
The thought that there won't be another opportunity to purchase this item in the future encourages us to move it to the basket and make a quick purchase at that moment so as not to miss it.
5. Another NIS 50 and you have free shipping
The field of shipping in the world of online shopping has always been a good way to increase the total amount of the purchase, and the method is very simple - all customers want to feel that they are receiving a benefit, that they are not suckers, therefore many companies offer free shipping starting from a certain amount.
Common sense says it's better to spend a little more and get another item than pay for shipping.
The benefit causes customers to add to the basket items they don't necessarily need to reach the destination and win it, and thus both parties come out profitable.
Free shipping as a means of increasing the amount of the purchase./Screen shot, Amazon.com
6. Is it cheaper in dollars?
No matter how we look at it, at the end of the day prices are numbers, and what makes the significant difference here is the exchange rate we are looking at.
This is not about a method that companies use, but about us as consumers and manipulation that we do to ourselves.
If we see an item for NIS 200, it automatically seems more expensive to us than an item for $70.
Moreover, those who specialize in online purchases are able to go through several exchange rates just to find the rate that provides them with the lowest price.
At the end of the day it will always be about minor differences.
In conclusion
In the end, the goal of the user experience field is to provide users with the best digital experience and when it comes to online purchases it can be seen that a clear choice is made to interweave such and other methods that will ensure maximization of a purchase.
On the one hand, it is impossible to deny the fact that some of the manipulations do help us consumers during the purchase and contribute significantly to the experience, and on the other hand, how much would we really purchase, if only we were more aware?
The author is Chen Jarbi, director of the UX department at Moxie.
More on the same topic:
Online sales
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