An increment is a small change. If you count to ten by going from 1.1 to 1.2 to 1.3, then you are counting in increments.
In psychology, increments are a powerful concept that has been shown to accomplish incredible things. And in selling, this psychological concept becomes an incredibly powerful tool.
So what is an increment in this context and how can you use it to your advantage to sell more?
Cognitive Biases and Psychology
The reason an increment is a powerful concept, is because we are less prone to notice small steps. This is due to a flaw in our thinking (known as a ‘cognitive bias’) that causes us to look at things as they relate to other things.
For example, if you are buying a house for $260,000 and the vendor asks to increase the cost by $1,000 – chances are that you won’t bat an eyelid. After all, what is $1,000 in relation to $260,000?
But now imagine that you’re buying a $5 chocolate bar and the seller wants to increase the value by $1,000… how do you react? You just lost $1,000!
But here’s the thing – you still lost just as much the first time around. You should still have fought just as vehemently not to let the price increase. But you didn’t… And as a result, the vendor got to keep $1,000 extra of your cash!
Increments are similar – they mean gradual increases in price that make the item seem cheaper because it’s only X amount more expensive than it was previously. People are never afraid to spend just $1 more. But if they do this 1,000 times – suddenly they’re spending $1,000!
Selling With Increments
So how are you going to use this in your sales funnel? Simple: by slightly increasing the cost of each item that you sell, so that your customers will gradually be spending more and more money with you and not noticing it.
If you tried to encourage your visitor to spend $1,000 right away on a training course, chances are they wouldn’t be interested.
But sell them an ebook for $100, a video series for $250 and a workshop for $600 and suddenly the jump to $1,000 doesn’t seem quite so much. They’ve already spent $600 with you, they’ve already had a good experience doing that… so what is $400 more? Why should that matter?
Recent Comments