This is a continuation of a 4-part series providing specific instructions and examples of how to write effective copy for your website and emails.
Each day we're providing you 3 tips.
7. Consider Seven Dollar Pricing.
Many online marketing guys claim that any selling price ending in a 7 will outsell a similar one ending in any other number. So $997 or $977 should sell better than $999. And $499.77 will outsell $499.99. You could even try $477.77.
We've been doing this for more than a year with our own pricing at Sapphire Collaborative (www.sapphirecollaborative.com) and we've noticed one thing. Fewer people say "$49.99, oh $50... okay." Does that sound familiar? Instead, we hear "okay, that's $47."
One other point of note: We've also learned the magic number for online sales is $487. Any item over that price has a built in resistance factor for purchasing by average folk watching their spending.
8. Employ At Least AN Eight Week Guarantee
Basically, the longer the return policy, the fewer returns you will have. You won't find a study on this one anywhere. After several years of e-commerce testing, our friends in all areas of e-commerce sales report the same thing: The longer the return policy, the fewer returns.
An important caveat to this is the item has to be in sellable condition. The psychology behind it is simply that you are providing an extreme comfort level to the buyer, and lowering their defenses.
Some 3rd party payment systems will require extended return policies. Using PayPal, or Google Checkout or any other 3rd party payment gateway requires you to abide by their return policy rules.
Clickbank.com requires an 8 week return policy. They are the largest online gateway to single item sales, and squeeze pages. They've affected the way many people view return policies. Also note that every year starting in October HSN institutes a Holiday Return Policy whereby all purchases can be return until early January.
If you extend your return policy right now you could start your holiday sales with customer peace of mind that they can return it until January.
9. Give Us Groups of Odd Number Bullets.
Our testing shows that you can list items in clusters for various effects. Left navigation links should be clustered in groups of 5. A list in an email could be a group of 7 or 9 or 11. The odd number lists seem to work best.
Your bullet points should also be creative.
Don't just say "She will love this," instead say "1 Month Dog House Protection."
Don't just say "The best watch for him," instead say "His Co-Workers Will Be Jealous"
Think of good, unusual verbs. Check out thesaurus.com for help.
On Monday we'll give you the last set of writing ideas.
Until then, we hope you take the time this weekend to celebrate Halloween. The USA is the only country where it's widely celebrated. Halloween parties in other parts of the world seem to be attended or hosted mostly by Americans. New York City is Halloween Central for the entire country as millions turn out to watch NYC's largest parade of the year.
