Posted by Pick pretty much any city in the world on a workday morning, and you’ll see coffee shops with long queues leading to the counter. It will be filled with people seeking their morning fix of caffeine.
We’ve probably all done it, stood in the queue knowing what we wanted to order, to finally get to the front of the queue and be completely flustered by the array of choices. Even though we’re more than likely going to get the same thing we always get, when the barista asks, you’ll invariably look blankly at the menus above the counter and then choose what you always choose.
The phrase “What do I want?” reverberates through your brain as the barista waits patiently for your answer, and the ever-lengthening queue behind you seems to huff like a grumbling dragon. Then the next question, what size?
These questions are all very lovely and with no time frame – no queue- you’d maybe muse a little longer, try something different, if you had time to think, to ask and to wonder. It’s hysterical when you think about it: that flash of panic that we get those mornings when the stress of being in a queue shuts down our brains at that vital moment. We are so worried about the people’s opinions behind us.
In online business, sales techniques for online product campaigns can often create the same effect in customers, closing them down and not allowing them to breathe and decide from a place of strength and curiosity. It can be very easy to bombard our customer with too much information and too many options at once! We all understand the value of up and down selling, it’s a vital arrow in the quiver of our sales and marketing techniques, but at the same time, it’s important that we also understand how and when to properly apply those techniques so our valuable customers don’t feel overpowered and just want to click off our site. Often, they’ll have come to us for one product and whilst they may well be interested in taking advantage of extra features, we want to “soft sell” them not panic them, that’s where we’ll get satisfied and happy customers. As you write your campaigns and plan your enhanced sales paths, have a think about your reactions in that stressful coffee shop queue, how could that be made simpler? When you’re there, what do you want and what would you want to be asked and offered to make your experience as stress-free and pleasurable as possible… without pressure to buy?