It’s human nature to be intrigued by what’s behind the curtain. What’s behind the unmarked door?
Then there’s the anxiety of not knowing what other’s are getting (that I’m not). The fear of missing out. It’s how you feel when you see that ‘Insert voucher code’ form on checkout.
You’ve got the 5% code. Does the 10% code exist? Admit it, you’ve tampered with that SAVE5 code just to see…
Intrigue and FOMO (fear of missing out) are two powerful, yet under-utilised, motivators.
You know who should access the insider knowledge and the best deals first? Your subscribers.
Which is strange when you consider the lame ‘register for updates’ and ‘sign up for offers’ subscriber call-to-actions that proliferate our retail world.
With the wonderful technology available at our fingertips we still have a frustrating tendency to default the message. To accept the template.
Your subscriber list is something to cherish. It’s hard work persuading a new customer to register. It’s even more hard work if you’re not providing them a reason.
Start a club
Ecommerce marketers skirt around the club mentality. We offer discounts. We offer updates. We offer loyalty rewards. What happens when you wrap them all together? You form a club. A members only club. What’s the password? Your customers’ email address.
Create your virtual presentation cabinet
In my days of retail store ownership we had a single glass display cabinet set within a wall of conventional racking. No lock, just a simple presentation case (with led uplighters for a truly dazzling experience). Whatever went in that cabinet we sold. It created intrigue.
‘Why was this product so special? so different?‘ cried the voices in our customer’s heads. Straightaway the product’s backstory was anchored in intrigue. You need to create that feeling yourselves. Let your subscribers hear the stories first. Let them get their hands on the new products (or the products you know people need, they don’t yet know it)
Consider how your customers buy. Consider the trend setters, the early adopters on the product adoption curve…
These are the people where intrigue is at it’s greatest. They’re the people that will buy if you know how to sell. Create your glass display cabinet. Place a velvet cover over it. Let your newsletter subscribers take a look inside first.
When you frame your newsletter as a club, an insiders club, you will see a greater signup rate. When you deliver a newsletter that acts upon that promise, of insider firsts, you will see a greater rate of purchase.
The secret word here is ‘access’
Give your subscribers ‘first access’. It’s a tremendous hook to use in your call to action.
‘Gain first access to….’ knocks ‘Receive updates’ out of the park.
As Ecommerce people we’re popping up, overlaying and throwing discount codes left, right and centre at people exiting our sites. Let’s start using this smart tech to our own advantage. Let’s start taking ownership of the messages we communicate. Let’s not default to the one-size-fits-all mentality that we see our competitors using.
It’s not a race to see who can employ the best tech.
It’s a race to see who can use the tech to drive real business results.
Go start a club. Let me know when I can join.
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