« A Story of Creation. | Home | Missing or Misrepresenting the Key Benefits »
Distracting From The Main Goal
By Hans | March 25, 2009
In today’s world, there are options for just about every single decision you make. From which of the 15 brands of toothpaste to use to which of 50 flavors of ice cream you want to eat.
Most of the time having all of these options is a good thing. It enriches your life.
This is why there’s always a temptation to create lots of options for your visitors.
It seems like if there are more choices, then you’re more likely to have a product the visitor wants to buy.
This may be true. However, a deadly mistake occurs when your prospect is presented with too many options at once. It slows your sales presentation to a halt. He or she isn’t making just one decision, but multiple.
It’s no longer a simple “Buy this product or not” decision.
The problem with bigger decisions is not that your customers can’t figure them out. The problem is that they distract from your main goal – which is to transform prospects into customers.
They “suck” your visitors’ attention away from the most important action you want them to take.
With this said, there are times when more options boost response.
For instance, adding a payment plan or selling a complimentary product as an up-sell can be effective.
You should test to see what options boost response and which don’t. But, generally, outside links to other websites and offering multiple products at once almost always reduce response.
Technorati Tags: copywriting, direct-response, web copy, web copywriting, online copywriting, copywriter, marketing
Topics: Copywriting Lessons | No Comments »