This article will teach you about the sales psychology that relates to dropshipping and how you can use it to take your online business to the next level. If you learn sales psychology, as in, why people buy products and why people click on ads then you can have a secret weapon over your competitors. With the right hacks you can take a product that previously would have lost you money and turn it into a product that can make you money.
Always use percentage discounts over number discounts
One of the key ways that you can stop a customer from price checking your product is to place it on “sale” for a “limited” amount of time. By doing this when prospective customers come across your ad for your item both they’ll think that it must be a great price already because it’s 50% off and because this offer is going to expire tomorrow this means that they only have a limited amount of time to get it at this kind of price and they need to act now.
This stops them from price checking, gets them to act right now before the offer disappears. Something that is important to note though, is that if you offer a product on sale, you’re going to have far higher conversions if you offer it as a percentage discount rather than as a number discount. So let’s say that you’re selling an item for $15 discounted from $30.
You’ve got two options: You could either advertise it as being $15 off or advertise it as being 50% off. Out of these two options the best one to pick to maximize conversions is to say that it is 50% off and the reason is simple:
It’s because the number 50 is bigger than the number 15. Even though, they are mathematically the same discount, one looks a lot bigger than the other. This sales psychology hack is the rule of 100. It states that as long as the discount is under $100 you should addvertise it as a percentage discount.
Always add a reason for a discount
It’s a really good idea for sales psychology reasons to add a tag line in your product description explaining why this product is on sale. For example, you could say that you’re getting new items in stock and you need to clear out last season’s products or it could be celebrating something that only comes along once a year like Christmas Easter Thanksgiving or your stores birthday even.
Why does this increase conversions? That’s because it reinforces scarcity. It reinforces the fact that this is a temporary price, when the reason for the discount ends, like say Easter passes, then this discount is going to end.
This creates a further sense of urgency in the customer and makes them feel like they need to act now, so that they don’t miss out.
Focus on highlighting the benefits rather than features
Let’s say you’re trying to sell a cool mug. Most dropshippers will try and think of all the features that would make someone want to buy it. “You should buy this mug, because there is a cool wolf on it and its rather sturdy”, etc.
It would be a huge mistake because the reality is that people don’t actually buy products for the features. They buy it for the benefits. There are three reasons why people purchase it:
Firstly, it’s because it levels up their coffee drinking experience. When they were previously drinking coffee out of their boring everyday mugs then they were not using that time as an expression of their personality. But now by drinking out of this mug, they can turn their coffee drinking experience into an expression of who they are.
Secondly, this mug gets an amazing reaction out of people. Everyone thinks it’s super cool and are very impressed by it.
Thirdly, this is a super popular gift.
You see, people are buying this mug all the time not for themselves, but for their friends and family that that absolutely love animals. Yes, all of these benefits come from the unique features of the mug like having a unique design and a super sturdy build.
However, by doing the work for the customer, by explaining to them how this mug is going to impact and benefit their lives, rather than make them figure it out by looking at the features, you are going to have much higher conversions.
Plus by painting a picture of how this mug is going to impact their lives, you’re going to create strong emotions in the prospective customer, as they imagine themselves benefiting from it. And of course emotions are key to selling, especially when you were trying to impulsively get people to buy now.
If you can’t think of what the benefits of a product might be, it’s a good idea to see if the product is selling on Amazon. If it is, read the reviews and see why people that left a positive review liked it. You might find that a lot of people who left a positive review had a great experience buying it if they bought it as a gift for their family and friends.
And of course, you can go through AliExpress product reviews and see who the happy buyers are and why they purchased it.
It is worth stating at this point, that in order to stay ahead of competition, it is vital that you use specialised product research tools, such as SaleSource – the capabilities are truly endless.
Use jargon and slang
One of the more challenging aspects of AliExpress dropshipping is that you’re trying to get a customer to purchase an item from you despite not really knowing that much about you. And that is why it is crucial to take every single opportunity that you can, to build trust between you and your perspective customer.
That’s why it’s a really good idea to run a Facebook like campaign to your store’s fan page before you run product ads. Why? It’s because those likes on your store’s fan page makes it look more legitimate and trustworthy to potential buyers.
But there are other ways to make customers feel like they can trust you and one of those ways is through using niche-specific jargon and slang. Niche-specific jargon or slang is like having a secret language and if someone else also understands that secret language, it creates a bond between you and them.
Apart from creating a unique bond between you and the customer, it also signals to them that you are an expert in the niche. It means that they’re gonna trust the products that you were selling more.
For example, if I was trying to sell coffee accessories, that would be a good idea to try to work in the names of different types of express our drinks, like Latte, Mocha, Macchiato, Americano – things like that.
Use pictures creatively
Pictures can be far more powerful than simply just showing the prospective customer the item on sale. If you use them right you can do the following two things:
Overcome customer objections
Objections are when there is something stopping the prospective customer from buying an item from you. Let’s go back to the wolf mug. Customers like the mug, but they’re not sure if it’s going to hold enough coffee for them.
What you can do is include an image that shows the image sizing on it:
Use pictures to paint a picture to help the customer visualize
Another psychological hack to remember is that if a customer can picture and see themselves using an item, they are far more likely to buy it. Don’t just include photos in your image gallery that showcase the product like the standard product on a white background shot.
Show the product in a real-life environment context as well. It will help the customer visualize themselves using it in their day-to-day life.
Of course, the reality is that not all the products you’re going to find on AliExpress are going to have images like the one above and that’s OK. You don’t need these to make sales, but they do help increase conversions.
So if you do find yourself having success with a product that has limited stock images available, be sure to purchase it and to take your own additional photos.
HD photos are a must
Amazon has proven that having photos large enough that a customer can zoom in on them greatly increases conversions and it actually makes sense why it would. If you’ve got HD photos of your product on your site, then it really makes it look like that you’re selling the product and that you really truly care about it.
After all, if you took the photos yourself, then surely you would have HD copies of the photo. If you’ve just got standard definition photos that customers can’t zoom in on, then it really makes it look like you’ve just copied them.
In addition, customers like to see the finer details of an item before they buy it. It helps them feel more secure in their purchase. So do go to the effort of trying to find HD versions of stock images that AliExpress suppliers have created.
This isn’t a deal breaker for a product, it’s just a nice bonus to help you increase your conversions.
Your product descriptions need to be short
When writing descriptions for products that you’re promoting with Facebook ads or Instagram ads, it’s been shown that usually short product descriptions convert best. When a customer is looking at an ad and they click on it to potentially buy the item, they are in an impulsive State.
You don’t want to distract them with a long product description. And this is why I usually recommend that you focus on either paid ads or free SEO traffic and you don’t try to do both at the same time.
That’s because to perform well in the Google search engine, you’re probably going to have to be using product descriptions that are long, at least 400 words which can distract the buyers.
Trust words and emblems
We’ve already established that jargon and slang can psychologically trigger feelings of trust. But there are also other ways that you can do this too. Some of these you’ve probably already thought of and are using some of them though may surprise you.
Credit card companies
The phrase secure checkout with MasterCard and Visa is a fantastic example. Prospective customers recognize these companies and payment options as ones that they trust. By featuring them on your product page, a bit of their trust rubs off onto you as well.
That’s why when you use Shopify payments, they automatically add the credit card emblems and Logo to the photo of your store. It’s because it makes it look trustworthy and secure.
Shipping companies
ePacket is a USA and China shipping agreement. It is USPS that control ePacket delivery. So you can use their logo and say that it is delivered by them
SSL Certificates
The simple way to describe SSL certificates is that when installed on a site they create a secure connection between the website and the user’s browser. Basically, it is used to protect users when they are entering personal private data, especially credit card information.
You can tell if the page has it, because the web address is HTTPS instead of just HTTP. All Shopify stores include the SSL certificate by default, which is a really nice bonus if you were using one and if you are accepting payments on your website with stripe, you need to then you can always use the SSL certificate emblem on your site.
Use words that provoke emotions
In both your product add in your product description, you should be using emotive words, even if it feels silly to do so. So what is an emotive word? It’s a word that makes you feel something and there are three main types of emotions that I recommend focusing on when writing your product ad and description.
Feeling of getting a great deal
This is the most powerful emotion to evoke in someone when you’re trying to convince him to purchase something. This is a key emotion to trigger when you’re trying to get someone to impulse buy. Some words that can evoke this feeling: “Limited”, “Massive”, “Reduced”, “Last Chance” and “Bonus”.
The feeling of curiosity
When something piques your curiosity it makes you want to click on it and find out more. A related emotion to this is the feeling that something is unique. If you don’t think that you can find that anywhere else, you want to check it out.
Some words that can evoke this feeling: “Surprise”, “Little-known”, “Bizarre”, “Odd” and “Trick”.
The feeling of looking good
Going back to our beloved wolf mug, there were three reasons why people usually purchased it and one of them was a personal reason. It was because of the fact that drinking out of it made coffee more fun.
But there are also two other reasons and both of them related to other people. Some people go ahead and purchase a cool mug because of the fact that other people are going to think it’s cool and they’re going to get a great reaction. Whereas others by the mug because they think it’s going to be a great gift for their friends or their family.
It’s been shown time and time again that one of the main reasons why people purchase products is because of social reasons. We buy things to make us look good. Why do you think that so many people like to show off their exotic cars and in their videos?
It’s because it makes them look good. So, remember when you’re trying to sell products to someone, think about how you can show them how it will impact their social status. Here are some words that can evoke the feeling: “Epic”, “Gorgeous”, “Stunning”, “Elegant” and perhaps the most powerful word of all – “YOU”.
After all people like to know how this product is going to make them look good.
Use the word FREE
FREE is the most powerful word. You can’t always use this word, but if you get a chance to it will have a very good impact on your conversion. The best way to utilize that it is to sell products for free when customers just pay for shipping.
Anyone that says this method is dead doesn’t know what they’re talking about. The “free, just pay shipping model” has been used for years – well before dropshippers picked it up. But remember don’t charge more than $9.99 for shipping, because once you move from single-digit pricing to double-digit pricing for shipping, people tend to figure out what you’re doing.
Final Words
Because most of the dropshipping is automated and done remotely from anywhere in the world, dropshippers often forget that they’re dealing with real people – ecommerce is still a form of selling and in order to sell, you have to understand the buyer’s psychology.Go ahead and implement these 10 psychological sales techniques in your store and see the difference in conversions.