A new study out of Harvard says most people will like what they see first as best. As Network Marketers, how will this affect our offers? An article in the Economist Magazine caught my eye with the headline, “IS THIS the first article you read today? If so, there’s a good chance you’ll enjoy it.”
What they have proven is what people experience first affects their opinion of them: they tend to like the first option best. A new study by Dana Carney of Berkeley’s Haas School of Business and Mahzarin Banaji of Harvard University shows some important results for online marketers.
This flies in the face of the common online marketing idea that people need to see three options and will pick the middle one. We now know that is not true!
They conducted a series of experiments. In one volunteers were shown pictures of two violent criminals. They were then asked which one deserved parole. Most felt more merciful towards the first one they were shown. Subsequently volunteers were shown different pictures first.
What they have shown is that these biases effect commercial decisions, too. They asked which type of chewing gum they preferred and 68% of respondents at a railway station in Boston picked the first stick they were offered. In another, volunteers wanting to buy a car showed they more often wanted to buy a car from the first salesperson they met rather than the second.
In their paper, “First is Best”, they state the first option in a series will be “consistently preferred” if the chooser is under time pressure or slightly distracted. Thanks to mobiles, meetings and toddlers that pretty much describes modern life for many people.
Clever companies have noticed, and compete to bump whatever they are selling to the front of the queue. Did you know the the first slot in an advertisement break on television costs more than the second; it’s roughly 10-15% more. Advertising firms themselves like to go first when pitching for an account saying, “It sets the benchmark for everybody else,” according to Bridget Angear of AMV BBDO, an advertising agency.
BEING FIRST MATTERS EVEN MORE ONLINE
People are lazy. they don’t scroll through dozens of pages of search results, says Kate Devine of mysinglefriend.com, a dating website. The site tracks participation to reward its most loyal customers. When a woman enters search criteria for for a potential match, the matches appear in an order determined by the last time those potential matches logged on to the site. This is good for traffic, but the most suitable matches may not show in the top results. Many other sites provide results the same way, meaning your results might not be the best suited to you but based on the last people that logged in (most desperate).
The most important place to be first is on Google! Because Google has become so powerful it has come under increasing pressure to make its search algorithm more open. The online giant recently started punishing websites that infringe copyright by listing them further down. This will make anyone that owns a web site put Google first and prominent on their sites. Once this has been done the visitors and traffic will follow.
YOUR TAKE AWAYS
1) Present your best offer first. Do not present three offers assuming they will take the middle one. Research now shows that is not the case. Pitch your best offer first and then step down.
2) Google+ is the most dominant search engine in the industry. Make sure you create a Google+ page for your site and link to it from the site. When you create the page on Google+ for your site you will see a link that says “Link to Site”. MAKE SURE YOU DO THAT!
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