Exactly Why They Buy

Should be Added to Every Marketing Plan Outline

Did you know that nobody is willing to be your first customer? Take a look at your website. Is there clear evidence showing a visitor that they are not your first customer? This nugget refers to one of the most enlightening and entertaining case studies ever recorded.  This hilarious case study showed the world the strongest psychological reason why your potential customers will probably by your product.  Surprisingly, it has little to do with your actual product or service. This case study showed how 65 people in a 2 hour period of time bought something that turned out to be absolutely nothing, and THEY LOVED IT.

No matter what your website looks like today and no matter the size of your company or industry, this nugget will enlighten you and set you on a course to gradually or immediately switch your website into “Deserving” your potential client’s business. No question, this is in the “Not Optional” category.

(0:00 – 0:32)
Doing a talk titled Trust Trumps Everything. And about a year, year and a half ago, maybe as far back as two years ago, we were analyzing at that point our portfolio and we noticed some of the sites were drastically out earning some of the other sites with the same exact amount of traffic and they were all similar industries. So they were all insurance or mortgage, same industry, had almost identical traffic across 10 sites, except two of the sites were making, you know, just a gob more money.

(0:32 – 0:45)
I think some of them were five to 10 times more money. And we were, you know, kind of scratching our head. I had a hunch it was something called social proof, but at this point it was just purely a guess.

(0:46 – 1:00)
Social proof is something where it’s defined by saying that if the world says it, so it must be so. Meaning, you know, if you say something, you’re just a sales rep. If your website just says something, your website’s the biggest sales rep for your company.

(1:01 – 1:15)
Nobody trusts a sales rep. So if you say you’re the best, nobody believes you. But if the world says you’re the best, if the media or the J.D. Power and Associates, some credible entity says you’re the best, well, then you know what? You’re probably even better than they’re saying.

(1:16 – 1:27)
So I thought that based on the design of these sites that were really performing, there might be something to this social proof thing. But, you know, I wasn’t sure. So anyway, here’s what’s cool.

(1:27 – 1:39)
I come home from a trip and it is about 12, 1230 in the morning. I’m a little bit tired to say the least. I get into my bedroom and there’s my six year old son propped up in our bed.

(1:39 – 1:45)
I walk in the door. He’s like, daddy, daddy, we’re going to watch brain games tonight. And I put my suitcases down.

(1:46 – 1:49)
I looked at him. He’s six years old. He’s so stinking adorable.

(1:49 – 2:05)
And I said to myself, you know what? We’re going to watch brain games because the average father locks eyeballs seven minutes a week with his children. I don’t consider myself average. So if my son says we’re going to watch brain games, well, we’re going to watch brain games.

(2:05 – 2:12)
So here’s what I did. You can’t make this up. I sat in bed next to him and I grabbed the Xfinity remote.

(2:12 – 2:23)
I went to brain games. I pressed arrow down and I randomly chose an episode. I let my finger off the clicker and or as we call it, the ZGAD.

(2:24 – 2:44)
I took my finger off the ZGAD and it landed on all things in the episode called Social Proof. So I basically looked up to the sky, pointed to the sky, said, God, you are awesome. Kissed my son, gave him a noogie, hit record and watched an episode of brain games titled Social Proof.

(2:44 – 2:57)
So I urge everybody to watch that episode. But I’m going to kind of give you the highlights of why this was literally world changing for our company. And I think it’ll be life changing for you as well.

(2:58 – 3:07)
So we’re watching this episode. Social Proof is all about, hey, if the world says it, so it must be. So if one person says something, it’s, it’s quite frankly, not even believable.

(3:08 – 3:24)
So we’re watching this episode and the episode of all things starts out in Las Vegas on old Fremont Street with the 2 million canopy of lights. And National Geographic is the, the parent company of brain games. And what they do is they set up these ropes, just like you’re going through security at the airport.

(3:25 – 3:46)
They set up these ropes in the middle of Fremont Street, in the middle of nowhere, in front of nothing. And they set up these ropes with a sign in the front that says the line starts here and they have cameras on the rooftop of all the local hotels and they’re recording and they showed a time-lapse photography. People walk up to the sign, line starts here.

(3:46 – 4:04)
It’s in the middle of nowhere. Everybody walks by, everybody. You, a couple hours ago by finally National Geographic plants an individual, like a 25 year old single kid at the front of the line and people start walking up, excuse me, people start walking up and they say, Hey, what is this? And he says, you know, I don’t know, but it’s Vegas.