4 ms·
"When we make a sale, we want it to be because the copy addressed customer pain and offered a solution they could connect with on an emotional level. We don’t w
by rsync 14y ago
"When we make a sale, we want it to be because the copy addressed customer pain and offered a solution they could connect with on an emotional level. We don’t want to make a sale because a customer is smart enough to swim through a list of features he doesn’t care about, and come up with a reason to pay money on his own."
I completely disagree with this.
From day one, we've eschewed all of the little tricks and the mind games. We have no time for users that pull the trigger based on our font sizing or our color scheme.
On a deep, gut level, I just know that this monkey business ends up being zero-sum.
Ask yourself this: as an end user ... as a consumer ... do you think you should be trying to make yourself more or less susceptible to this kind of work ? And then what does that say about practicing it on your products ?
- nateberkopec 14y agoSeems to be working well for them, and they've got a lot of happy customers. You could hardly call 37signals a "bait-and-switch" company.
- rsync 14y agoI'm not sure if you responded to the wrong comment, or ... ? I'm not talking about blatant dishonesty (bait and switch). I have no idea what 37signals does.
- cpher 14y agoI'm not trying to be a jerk, but how is it possible that you've had an HN account for 172 days with 229 karma and you "have no idea what 37signals does."?
- djt 14y agoto put it more politely ;) Maybe you should do some research to find out about the article before writing comments. If you don't know who 37 signals are then its extremely easy to find out and would probably allow you to frame your argument in a way that other people will better understand.
- kaliblack 14y agoIt sounds like your philosophy is actually aligned. The core of the quote is about making a buying decision simple, not about tricking someone. The article talks about really understanding why people buy your product and using that in your copy. A crude example can be shown with water. A features list would be: - Clear fluid - 2 parts hydrogen - 1 part oxygen - Becomes a solid at 0 degrees celsius - Becomes a gas at 100 degrees celsius Informative, but not super helpful. Instead, addressing a problem water solves with, "The healthiest way to quench your thirst," shows what it can be used for and why it's a good solution for it. That's not a trick. I think the key to this is to focus on helping your customers.
- davemel37 14y agoThese tactics are meant to make your life easier. Help you think less about things you dont need to think about, so you can get on with the more important things in your life. As a consumer, I would much rather a company put the time and effort into making it EASIER for me to understand their value proposition. It just seems foolish to me to build a product that solves a pain point and fail to make it as easy as possible for your customers to understand what you do and why they should buy it. If this means using a font that is easier on the eyes, or words that everyone can understand, what a waste it would be to make things harder for your prospects...