I filled my cart with a few items. There was a bit of sticker shock when the duties and taxes were added at checkout (note to e-tailers: the earlier in the transaction you can give an idea of the total bill, the fewer abandoned carts you’ll have).

But just in case I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go through with the transaction, L.L.Bean reiterated their offer across the Review and Submit Order page, as shown here.

In Sway – The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior, authors Ori and Rom Brafman describe our psychological aversion to loss, which is much stronger than our positive feelings of experiencing a gain. It’s why car rental companies sell “loss damage” waivers, and why flat-rate plans tend to out-sell pay-by-the-minute plans.

For my shopping excursion, although I had to spend over $25 to receive a $10 gift card (which isn’t redeemable until the next purchase, I might add, meaning I need to spend even more money to earn my reward), I can’t help thinking, “Well, if I don’t buy, I won’t receive the $10 card, plus I’ll lose out on free shipping which may not be available the next time I shop.”

Although this example might not fit perfectly with the Brafmans’ theory, your copy can impart the feeling of “missing out”.

For L.L.Bean, the copy for this offer could be rewritten:

“Don’t miss out on this FREE gift card offer. Click Submit Order to earn your $10 L.L.Bean gift card.”

If you’re offering free shipping, consider this call to action at checkout:

“Don’t miss out on this free shipping offer. Choose Continue Shopping to take advantage of free shipping on your entire order.”

I write a regular email newsletter for one of my clients, and we find that in any month that we run a “Last chance to enter such and such contest” feature, click-through rates tend to soar. It’s that potential for missing a chance to enter that prompts the click.

It’s also the same reason why home lottery marketers like to remind you that their tickets are “70% sold”.

So don’t miss your chance to comment on my blog.

One of my favourite U.S. home retailers is Pottery Barn. But with only one storefront here in Vancouver, I do much of my browsing online. I know from past shopping that Pottery Barn has beautiful Christmas décor, so I went to www.potterybarn.com to see what they’re selling this year.

Here was Pottery Barn’s homepage (above the fold) from a few days ago.

Other than the “peace” ornament, I couldn’t immediately see a link or image taking me to a holiday décor landing page. (And I say “immediately”, because there is indeed one. Read on.)

This is roughly how my eye tracked the page, starting in the upper-right part of the screen (pardon my sophisticated tracking “software”).

The ornament gave me some clue that there was a décor landing page. But I wasn’t interested in ornaments specifically, nor free shipping on said ornaments, and so I didn’t bother reading the copy under the image.

Being the patient shopper I am, I decided to use the Search feature to look for the hangers. Lo and behold, near the search feature was a link to Holiday Décor.

Meeting multiple customer objectives

Pottery Barn has chosen two primary customer objectives for their homepage: gift giving and sales shopping. Given the season, choosing gift giving as the main focus makes sense, and likely meets the objectives of a large percentage of their audience.

However dedicating four boxes to specials and sales (in some respects, a very “bricks ‘n’ mortar” tactic), ignores one of the top reasons people surf: to gather information and research.

By seeding these boxes with trigger words that address objectives other than just sales shopping (which could be accomplished with one box), Pottery Barn has an opportunity to be relevant to a wider audience.

Compare PB’s homepage to Crate&Barrel’s. Crate&Barrel’s homepage is a lot busier above the fold than PB’s, but look at how they’ve used categories in five boxes to appeal to different buying objectives. You can also see that “Gifts” and “Holiday” in the navigation are in red, making them very easy to spot.

I do think some of Crate&Barrel’s copy is a bit too clever (“deck the halls” could have simply been called “holiday décor”). And what is behind  “give red, save green” took me too much guesswork. But overall, their homepage tries to appeal to more kinds of buyers and their objectives.

Here are the takeaways from my shopping excursion:
- Seed your homepage with trigger words that meet more than one buying objective (e.g. just browsing, bargain hunting)
- Use words that your buyers use, and avoid anything too clever
- Keep your homepage clean and focused, with the information most relevant to your shoppers above the fold (i.e. before scrolling is required)

p.s. I’m still sans stocking hangers. I’m holding out for Boxing Day.