eCommerce Blog

Impulse purchases are one of the more unpredictable and uncontrollable facet of online sales. Encouraging new or current customers to fork over their hard-earned cash for something that wasn’t on their shopping list takes more than just a great product or service – it takes an attention-getting sales pitch and a unique spin on the item that makes it seem absolutely essential, something they need to have in their homes and their lives RIGHT NOW.

Motivating impulse purchases takes finesse. Read on for some tips on how to encourage your customers to indulge, even when it goes against their budget and even, in some cases, their better judgment.

1. Set Your Product Apart

The single best way to boost impulse purchases is to offer a product (or service) that is unique, attractive, and useful. If it’s exclusive, it looks good, and it does something that makes the customer’s life easier or more enjoyable, it’s a perfect candidate for a spontaneous add-to-cart.

The marketing, of course, is even more important. Even if your product puts all others to shame, no-one will buy it unless they hear about it first. If you’ve got something special, don’t hesitate to tell customers all about it.

Having a good, charismatic sales pitch is key to generating impulse purchases—but only if it’s credible and probable. Claims like “world’s best!” and “amazing!” can send the red flags flying for careful consumers, so avoid sensationalizing your offering. Just deliver the facts and benefits, pure and simple. A great product or service will speak for itself.

2. Make It Easy and Accessible

If you’ve got a great Home page banner touting the benefits of your great new product, be sure you have enough inventory to support the potential surge in demand. Rewarding a customer’s excitement with a “Sorry, not available” message isn’t likely to encourage future on-a-whim purchases.

Before pushing a product into the limelight, make sure it’s readily available. If you’re running low on units, pause any active marketing campaigns to avoid disappointing customers, and be sure to include availability notifications throughout the checkout process in the event of backorders.

3. Offer a Discount They Can’t Refuse

Discounts and special offers assure customers they’re getting a better price than they would at another time or place, and help to encourage quick purchases. However, not all discounts are equally effective; there are good ways and better ways to advertise reduced pricing.

If you’re offering a special price, brainstorm various ways it could be presented and think about it from the customer’s perspective. Consider which version is more appealing: “Buy three, get one free!” or “Buy four at a 25% discount!” Both slogans mean the same thing, but the first one is much more likely to engender impulse purchases.

Incentives can also be used to increase purchase sizes. Many online vendors offer free shipping for orders over a certain dollar amount, or lower per-item prices for high-volume orders.

Also consider building a slight discount into the item’s dollar amount as a presentation tactic. For example, a customer will probably be more likely to close the deal on an unplanned purchase that costs $49.50 rather than $51.73.

4. Market Your Product at the Right Time and Place

It may be impossible to predict the stock market, but timing bargains and promotions to take advantage of marketing trends is a bit easier. Google, Twitter, and other websites make it easy to track consumer behaviors and preferences so you can more knowledgeably schedule promotions when certain products are selling well.

Relevance is key, too: advertising your new carpet cleaner on a pet products website will probably garner more sales than the same ad placed on a bookselling site.

5. Everyone’s Doing It

Finally, you can increase the desirability of products by letting existing customers do the marketing for you. If you’re selling good products, anyone who buys them becomes a free advertisement for your online store – and because most people want to cash in on the same benefits as their fellow shoppers, customers will be more likely to purchase on a whim if they can see firsthand raves. Amazon isn’t the only site that benefits from implementing customer testimonials—online reviews have become an industry standard across all product and service sectors. If 30 previous customers are enthused about their new purchase, an on-the-fence shopper could be swayed to jump on the bandwagon.

You can never completely control or predict what customers will or won’t buy on impulse, but with a little encouragement and marketing savvy, you can boost sales by indulging their whims– and, in many cases, win lifelong customers.

This entry was posted on Monday, June 15th, 2009 at 9:36 am and is filed under Conversion Optimization. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.