Val Geisler - can I get your thoughts on this?

Way back in March of 2018 (approximately 34 years ago in covid years), I worked with the team at Stripe Atlas to write a guide on ecommerce email marketing.

I recently read through it noting a number of things I would (probably will) change/update but this part stood out to me:

Reciprocity is a powerful psychological trigger because it's starting with a small request and then eventually moving toward a larger one (like making a purchase).

Reciprocity is how your spouse asks you to put a pot of water on to boil and then you wind up making the whole pasta dinner.

When you ask for something small, like an email address or a free trial or a low price point product, your customers are more likely to respond to a larger request later on. Gain the respect and trust of your customers with small asks in your subject lines.

Try something like:
Do me a favor
Can I show this to you?
Don't miss your extended trial

Since writing this guide, I've met some incredible brand operators in so many different industries. Hands down the most successful brands I know put a focus on the psychology of running a brand.

And psychology is everywhere in marketing:

Price anchoring, sometimes called "framing", is when you put the price of something against two other things to show how much value that first thing has.

It's why you see pricing charts for software companies with tiered pricing on the same page.

That's price anchoring.

And you can do it with your subject lines.

Let's say you're Vitamix. Your customers report back that they use their Vitamix, on average, 4 days a week.You sell your Vitamix for $599.95 and you could list the price that way and talk about that exact price in every email you send. Or you could anchor that price based on a per day price:4 days/week x 52 weeks/year = 208 days of use$599.95 divided by 208 = $2.88/day

Subject line: Less than three dollars a day

When you write an email telling your potential Vitamix customer that they're looking at spending $2.88/day, they start to look at the investment differently.

You could also do price anchoring with coupons (something not enough e-commerce brands do, to be honest).

Do you offer a 15% off coupon in your abandon cart process for that Vitamix?

Frame that percentage as the cold hard cash it is: $89.99.

Subject line: Save $90... but only until Thursday!

When you tell your customer they can save nearly $90 (as opposed to 15%), it sounds much more appealing to take action asap.

Some of the best brand owners and marketers I know have a deep understanding of psychology. I firmly believe the best business book I've ever read (that's not actually a business book) is Atomic Habits by James Clear.

Onboarding a subscription customer is all about building 1) relationship and 2) habits.

And that's what you're able to do when you start by better understanding our customers.

My team and I won't touch your email campaigns until we've dug into who your customers are, and neither should you.

Here's my ask:

I'm working on a guide to help you do better customer research so I need to know: where do you get stuck? How can I help you know your customers better?

Hit reply and let me know the hard parts.

-Val

PS: If you've read my Stripe Atlas guide and took something away from it that you found valuable, I'd love to hear what that was.