Technology Marketing and Behavioral Economics

Melina Palmer, longtime host of “The Brainy Business” podcast, has a new book out called “What Your Customer Wants and Can’t Tell You”. The book, like the podcast, reveals some very useful insights regarding subconscious consumer behavior. Many, if not most, of these insights apply to technology companies that sell to other businesses. As a marketer focused on the technology industry, here are some takeaways that I found useful:

· Determine what information buyers need to make a decision.

· Ask yourself is “Why aren’t people buying my solution already?”

· Remove as many steps in the buying process as possible.

· Focus your research efforts on determining the right question, rather than finding an answer to the wrong question.

· Don’t shy away from using the word “free”. It always has positive connotations.

· People are 2X as motivated to avoid loss as they are to receive gain—focus on what people are missing out on by not buying your solution.

· The Scarcity message still works. In the case of technology products, focus on being able to procure anything that is in demand and in short supply and also any customizations you offer.

· Social Proof is important. For the technology sector, this means case studies, references, referrals and partner certifications.

· Most people will stick with the default unless there is a compelling reason to change. For technology companies selling to the private sector, a modest price difference isn’t important, but expertise and support are.

· Extra courtesy goes a long way, this can come in many forms—most memorably service and support.

· What buyers remember most about any experience with sellers is the peak of the experience and the end; the highlight (whether good or bad) and whatever happened at the end of the transaction. So if you’re pretty sure the buyer will remember a negative experience as the peak, before the transaction ends, create a new peak that is positive—what some would call a Grand Gesture. This has the dual purpose of creating a positive peak and a positive end experience.

· Give something away to encourage reciprocity.

· Get in the habit of offering a decoy product alongside the one you actually want to sell. The decoy should be significantly more expensive and offer only slightly better features than the standard product. This has the effect of confirming the value of the primary product.

· Adding a Post-It note with a personal message is surprisingly effective. The caution here is to be sure that it actually is a personal message and not a mass-produced note posing as personal.

· Always end prospect/buyer communications with a question.

There are many, many more great insights in Melina Palmer’s podcast and in the book (which is essentially highlights of the podcast).

For a no cost discussion of your situation, some great tools that may work for you and the volume of quality traffic we can drive to your website via content creation and organic search call 630-363-8081 or email jeanna@smartprcommunications.com