🛑Why buyers procrastinate?

If a friend forwarded you this link, get a free subscription. Inbox Hacking is packed with marketing insights, tools, & tactics. *Content below contains sponsored offers we’d love you to take a gander at – thanks!

It’s Wednesday. I can’t lie and tell you the week’s nearly over, folks. Ok, I can – week’s almost done. We’ll celebrate with today’s Feature Story covering a Googster study about encouraging consumer confidence so they don’t delay purchases. Then we’ll slide into:

The Knowledge Base
~~Self~~ Help
Facts & Stats
Get Hacking

Let’s see what Google found out about your potential buyers.

Shopping’s a Pleasure for 88% of People

But only when they are not overwhelmed with information during their search. No one likes feeling stupid after purchasing, so nearly everyone does research. The problem is the ocean of info and unhelpful formats in which some info is presented.

“Two-thirds of consumers say they delay or avoid making decisions when faced with too many options or information.” ~Think w/ Google

How can your brand prevent those kinds of lost sales?

Make your info easy to find and sort through
Simplify your marketing messages
Put fewer products on single pages
Cut out flowery product descriptions that say nothing
Don’t depend only on the web to get eyeballs on your content/info (details coming)

And… study psychological reasons humans procrastinate in general:

People want to avoid negative emotions associated with a task
They see a task as boring or unenjoyable
Fear of being judged for making a mistake
Perfectionism
Low self-esteem causes some to seek easier activities
Underestimating time required for a task
Overestimating their future self’s ability to finish a task

Yeah, buying something is a “task.” So, work on clearing mental hurdles that let procrastinators avoid pulling out their wallets.

I could spend all day on this next finding from the Googsters (their study is here, BTW).

Sales Plus Recommendations

In the old days, before the demonic birth of the web, you’d ask your mom or brother-in-law where to shop for tires, headphones, or illegal steroids. “Search” was a phone call.

My dad never paid for ads or created content. People found his house painting biz by asking their neighbors who “their guy was.” Then they called Dad and hired him (half the time without caring about the price). His content was created by… talking to these potential buyers.

It was a simpler time. But don’t fret. That kind of offline marketing is still available. More than ever, really, since most people are too busy to invest in it or they believe tech bro hype that “offline anything” is dead, dying, or COVID-positive.

My dad made sure his customers were happy – no – thrilled with his crew’s work, proving Google’s finding that…

Consumers who are highly confident at the point of purchase are 18X more likely to recommend the brand to family or friends than those with low confidence.

Make it easy to find your business, easy to understand what you offer, and make it clear why your brand’s better than all the others.

Then be 100% sure buyers are happy — follow up after they purchase. Brands afraid to ask buyers if they’re happy have bigger problems than consumer procrastination and information overload.

Now for a way to pump your marketing brain up in 60 words or less.

Becoming the Smartest Marketer in the room is… gonna eat up all your free time. But not if you get these quick 60-word pieces from Marketing Scroll.

The Knowledge Base

IKEA walks the walk of sustainability (& guerilla marketing)

Rookie guide to LinkedIn Ads

Googsters’ AI is doing cardio with scissors

Getting attention – maybe just avoid it?

Email reminders guide (includes ethical concerns)

Useless AI feature? No way!

Funding for small biz folk ($10k grant application)

Baffled by PPC Ad Groups? Splained here

One way to know if you can trust a website

*Want the same access to lead generation tech that successful Fortune 500 Companies get to use? Then, use Smart Recognition to gain that same advantage. Book a free Demo.

Self Help

A good laugh means a lot. Reasons to laugh are everywhere and this one has the bonus of relieving pressures related to keeping your business’s reviews perfect.

All you do is go to Yelp and… read. Here’s what you’ll notice. A lotta dum-dums. Same with Google Reviews. Many people leave negative reviews without even having done business with the business! I saw one lady hit a lawn company with 1-star after their employee blew the horn at her in traffic.

Yelp Bot: “Rate their sprinkler knowledge.”

1-Star Sara: “No idea. Horn was loud, though.”

Facts and Stats

74% of US shoppers use their phone for product research when shopping in-store versus 79% of Canadians (Statista)

15% of US adults are mobile-only, meaning they only go online via smartphone (Pew Research)

75% of shoppers cross-check multiple sources to see if information they find is true (Think w/ Google)

Bonus: Two-thirds of consumers say “making the right purchase decision requires more effort than it used to.”

Sponsored

Wondering about your email list quality?

Inbox Activity Checker reveals how good that list is by showing:

What percentage of your list is engaging with OTHER email campaigns
Which dead segments of your email list will harm your deliverability
Addresses with the highest engagement that are primed for targeting

Try Inbox Activity Checker for free – upload your list here.

Questions? Schedule a free 1:1 Demo.

Get Hacking

If there’s a perfect product or service, I have not found it.

Use that to your advantage. Point out imperfections in one of your products/services. See if honesty is the best policy for removing shoppers’ objections (they can spot imperfections anyway).

If you only have perfect offerings, send me a link – I’ll buy some (or spend the rest of my day searching for the flaws 😁).

Thanks for making time for us. If you know another worthy marketer, please share Inbox Hacking with them.

Shane McLendon, Copy Kingpin – Inbox Hacking