Why a Top Sellers List Rocks
Scenario: "Dude, we're offering everything -- and selling nothing. What do I do? Ahh!" It's the classic entrepreneur's nightmare:
- Throw up all of the products you offer.
- Hope for the best.
- Get mediocre sales.
- Cry.
It happens to all of us.
"Why aren't they buying?"
When you're offering a million products, you'd hope your buyers would be smart enough to analyze each one -- and buy the one they think rocks. But, in a world of a billion offerings:
- We get lost in a maze.
- Then, we humans go through a twisted phenomenon known as analysis paralysis.
- Instead of choosing something among the plethora of offerings, we choose nothing. Nada. Zilch.
What inevitably happens? Lost sales. Lost profits. Lost customers. Lost future sales. Ouch. It doesn't have to happen. An easy way to boost profits this week? Have a top sellers list! Sexy.
Why a Top Sellers List Rocks
Three ways:
- Your prospect buys what other people buy.
- You limit the # of items the prospect rejects.
- The prospect leaves with a good first choice.
Let's dive into each one like a dolphin in search of bananas:
Tip #1: Your prospect buys what other people buy.
The psychological rule: If Bobby B is unfamiliar with a Store S, he bases his buying decision on what other people buy in Store S. Robert Cialdini terms that: "Social Proof." It's akin to running with the herd: If you don't know what you should really do, you unconsciously do what other people do. How can that help you increase sales? It fattens your wallet by transforming first-time lookers into first-time buyers, telling themselves:
- "Other people do buy at this store."
- "And, they are buying these specific items in abundance."
- Unconsciously: "So, I will follow them and buy these things too."
Some bad kats could really abuse this phenomenon, so we do caution: Do it ethically; you'll protect yourself for the long-run.
Tip #2: You limit the # of items the prospect rejects.
The scenario:
- You offer 1000 things.
- You present them with 999 things they have to reject to make a sale.
The second psychological phenomena: People much prefer to avoid loss, than risk it to win. A top sellers list then helps you limit the number of items they "lose" or reject.
Tip #3: The prospect leaves with a good first choice.
A cool side benefit to a top seller's list: Your best mutha-!@#$%^ products that have the best mutha-!@#$%^ chance of making the best mutha-!@#$%^ first impression. "Oh-my-shizzle. I just bought such a super sexy product. Woo-mutha-hoo!" they start telling their bad-selves after their smart purchases. How does that benefit you when you get an ecstatic customer? You boost:
- Customer morale.
- Referral rates.
- Sexy sales.
Yay for your badass. The template to get your fabulous self started -- and start increasing your fabulous sales:
"Here's our top sellers, playa: __________________________."
Read More Business Tips From Trizle »
12 Comments
on Why a Top Sellers List Rocks
anon
2007-02-20 05:45:06 UTC
Glad you're back writing another useful article after President's Day. Welcome back! :-)
John Wesley
2007-02-20 08:09:45 UTC
Great post. The explanation makes perfect sense. I will definitely be implementing this when I put my online store together.
sg
2007-02-20 19:20:44 UTC
yes, yes, yes, yes . thank you THANK YOU!
Hendy Irawan
2007-02-21 01:11:06 UTC
Phew! The Trizoko strikethrough(tm) are actually going test-drive making its best mutha-!@#$%^ first impression this week!
I can't wait to see it in action! :-)
The Trizle Team
2007-02-21 04:56:41 UTC
anon,
You rock. Thanks for the compliment! Hope you had an amazing long weekend like we did.
-Andrew
The Trizle Team
2007-02-21 04:58:40 UTC
Hi John!
Thanks for your fab compliment, man. We do appreciate it. Good luck with your online store! A top seller's list is one of the -- if not the -- first things visitors look to in an online store. So (my opinion anyway), I think it's essential.
Good luck with your store, John!
-Andrew
The Trizle Team
2007-02-21 05:00:53 UTC
Hendy,
We owe it all to you. Thank you! If you're looking for a great programmer, Hendy's your man. You rock, as always.
-Andrew
Danny
2007-02-23 13:27:23 UTC
Great post! This can actually be taken in another direction: For each product your customers view, show them a complimentary product/service that truly benefits them (win - win situation = good).
Who already does this? Amazon is king of this technique. 10 or so books I have purchased from Amazon were because they offered it as a compliment to the book I already knew I wanted. It was a good price and looked valuable, so I said "hey! why not, $20 isn't a big risk to take on learning material". 10 times out of 10, I was happy I made that decision.
This technique can be used in online stores, and even brick and mortar stores (although, fllor/shelf space limitations makes it harder).
Showing a top sellers list on the front page (or sidebar) and complimentary products for each individual product is sure to boost sales.
You can further improve this by showing pictures of the products in relevance to what they offer, and not just on a white background. i.e. show those running shoes on a hot person's feet, running the track.
Hendy Irawan
2007-02-24 08:22:57 UTC
Wow Danny... your comment makes me really want to run my own mutha-%&*@^*( store!! :-)
The Trizle Team
2007-02-26 06:05:31 UTC
Danny,
Wowzers! Great post, man. Thanks for the input. Our readers really appreciate your awesome comment. Amazon -- I think, anyway -- is the king of ecommerce. They have a plethora of material in their queue, so they're bound to be the best at getting products through their sales channel. Just looking at what they do provides a great model to structure your ecommerce store. It's like modeling after Jordan. Haha..
Great comment once again, Danny! Thanks, man.
-Andrew
The Trizle Team
2007-02-26 06:06:05 UTC
Hendy,
Danny's post wants us to run our own online store too. Hmm...what should we start?
-Andrew
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