Before you sell a single item online, you should always do proper market research. But as any good marketer knows, some products are easier to sell than others.
Of course, the question on every online entrepreneurs mind is – what’s the easiest thing to sell? As it turns out, there are lots of products and services that fall into this category – and it all has to do with the way the human mind works.
You see, our brains are hard-wired to seek out pleasure and avoid pain. It doesn’t matter where you’re from, what your social background or financial situation. Think of it as an evolutionary bonus left over from our knuckle-dragging caveman days.
And marketers have tapped into this psychological part of the mind and figured out precisely what pushes our “hot buttons” and makes us want to buy.
Advertisers use this to great effect in commercials, billboards and even sales letters. And now, you can use it too:
Alleviate Pain or Solve a Problem
These two issues are the easiest to sell products around – because the desire is so great to soothe the pain or solve the problem that a prospect is more likely to buy immediately versus procrastinating until later.
If the product you are selling can somehow solve a pressing issue or help the prospect cure their pain, they’ll gladly pay for it.
But there’s another lesson to learn here, from the health product market – you’ll have better luck creating a product or service that actually stops the pain rather than preventing it. Although products in the “prevention” category do sell, they don’t sell as easily as those promising a remedy.
Products Based on Pleasure
Here again, we’re genetically wired to seek out pleasure – whether it’s an object, experience, or even a statement.
Clothing brands use this concept to showcase the experience of wearing their clothes, and how much happiness the wearer derives from it.
Or the act of preparing food using a certain brand of oil or other cooking supplies, and how much the family enjoys eating it. Watching these commercials tells our brains “if you do this, you’ll get that” – and that’s a kind of pleasure that everyone strives for.
If the product you’re selling enables someone to gain more enjoyment, satisfaction or pleasure from their relationships or for themselves, you’ll likely have a hot seller on your hands.
By fulfilling our basic needs to avoid pain and seek out pleasure, marketing pros have found a way to make their products and services irresistible.
Look at some of your favorite products and ask yourself “why do I use that?” Chances are it’s because you like the comfort, feeling or satisfaction of it and would readily recommend it to others.
It’s these kinds of feelings that product creators strive to bring out whether they’re creating an e-book, a t-shirt, or a new kind of service.
Although your feelings toward a particular brand may be deeper than you imagine, looking at the core reason why it sells so well is a great roadmap toward creating your own sales supernova.
And always keep in mind that in most cases we don’t buy things because we NEED them; we buy things because we WANT them.
Please share your opinion by leaving a comment below.
Thanks.
Comments 10
Hi Alex
I just went over and read your post “The Importance of Online Market Research” as well, and they are both very good. My bounce rate at the moment is very high on my money sites; which means I’ve not engaged my visitors by letting them know quickly that I have a solution to their problem. The two areas of ‘what is the problem’ (research) and ‘how to tell them I have a solution’ (webcopy) are a real challenge for me at the moment.
Even with my existing traffic, if I can increase even slightly my visitors clicking on my affiliate links I would be so much more profitable.
Great post.
Cheers
Keith Erskine
Author
Thank you Keith,
Yes market research is a very important part of marketing.
Peter Drucker puts it perfectly: “The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well the product or service fits him and sells itself”
Great Post Alex, “Proper Market Research” such a simply sounding phrase, but boy what a bear it can be sometimes.
Sometimes I can get my research done in a fair amount of time and feel pretty good about the results. Other times I go round and round and end up right where I started with nothing useful.
I went back and read the other post too and it was good to refresh some ideas.
I always get something useful out of all your posts. Keep Up the Good Work!
Herschel
Author
Thank you Hersch,
Glad to hear that you’ve found the information useful
Thanks for this tip! Very useful
Good advice as usual Alex and knowing which of your visitors phychlogical buttons to push or how to uncover them is always a challenge.
Finding the difference between the want and the need buttons is often triggered by the differences between pain and pleasure.
It’s ironic that some folks find pleasure in pain
Either way, your last statement “The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well the product or service fits him and sells itself” is spot on!
Author
I wish I could take credit for that quote but that’s from Peter Drucker.
Thanks Again Alex… your absolutely right when you say “It doesn’t matter where you’re from, what your social background or financial situation.” I have been the the fight depression niche now for over two years and I can vouch that prevention or “promising a remedy” does work and brings in lots of organic traffic.
Again thanks for another GREAT post.
Kind Regards
Shane
Another rocking post, Alex! Plus, anyone who quotes Drucker is A-OK in my book. 🙂
Author
Drucker i the MAN