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Too Good to Be True
Guess what happens when the reader reads your sales pitch and encounters something that feels too good to be true? That’s right, it’s an immediate credit card block. But why is that?
The Biological Basis for ‘Too Good to Be True’ Caution
For 190,0000 years, humans lived in an unpredictable world. Dangers outnumbered safety, so our brains evolved to be overly cautious. Imagine you are part of a hunting tribe. Your people are starving; you haven’t eaten in days. You’ve been scouting and haven’t seen a single animal. This is highly unusual. Then, on a desperate hunting trip, you spot a dead animal. It’s right there. What are the odds? Normally, even if you spot something, you would have the impossible task of bringing it down. Most of the time, the animal was smart enough to escape.
Anyway, now you are staring at an uneaten animal. This seems too good to be true. Maybe it is. Maybe this animal was sick. If you eat it, your tribe might get sick and die. Why haven’t the hyenas been gnawing on this carcass? That seems very odd.
So, while part of you is deliriously happy, it also seems highly unusual; too good to be true!
What would you do?
Those life decisions are much rarer now, but our brains have not adapted as quickly as our environment. That self-protective mechanism is still deeply embedded in our operating mechanism. Now, we just use it for online shopping decisions.
“We have become so accustomed to hearing everyone claim that his product is the best in the world, or the cheapest, that we take all such statements with a grain of salt.” โ Robert Collier
Making the Marketer’s Life Harder
It’s not easy being a marketer. You have to get into the heads of your visitors and see the world as they see it. Feel the things they feel. Ask the questions they ask. When a shopper encounters something that seems too good to be true, they don’t send you an email to ask for an explanation or call customer service to understand exactly how your motor can be 60% more efficient than the competition. It would be awesome if shoppers did that. Do you know what they do? They say, “I call BS and leave for your site forever.” This is why solving this is so important: you’ve already spent a lot of money to get visitors to your site and designed a site to engage them. Don’t lose them at the last step.
Exampleโ Solving Too Good to Be True
We all hate popups. This is a great newsletter signup pitch. It makes a claim (+45% open rate) and backs it up:
Another Example
Make your product description feel balanced.
You can praise your breakthrough but follow it with a humble statement like:
๐๐ฎ๐ซ ๐ฃ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ง๐๐ฒ ๐ก๐๐ฌ๐ง’๐ญ ๐๐๐๐ง ๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐๐๐๐ญ; ๐ฐ๐’๐ฏ๐ ๐ฆ๐๐๐ ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐๐ง๐ญ๐ฒ ๐จ๐ ๐ฌ๐๐ซ๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฉ๐ฌ ๐๐ฅ๐จ๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฐ๐๐ฒ. ๐ ๐ฒ๐๐๐ซ๐ฌ ๐๐ ๐จ, ๐ฐ๐ ๐๐๐ญ ๐จ๐ง _________. ๐๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐๐ฌ๐ง’๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ซ๐ข๐ ๐ก๐ญ ๐๐ก๐จ๐ข๐๐ ๐๐ง๐ ๐ฐ๐๐ฌ ๐๐ง ๐๐ฑ๐ฉ๐๐ง๐ฌ๐ข๐ฏ๐, ๐ก๐ฎ๐ฆ๐๐ฅ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐ฑ๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐ง๐๐.
Without this humble statement, the reader could say, “Of course these guys think their product is amazing; they want me to buy it.”
The humble statement balances things out.
Next Steps
Now that Too Good to Be True is clear, you must master the next item in our conversion optimization checklist: Shoppers find expertise sexy.
Comments 2
Hey Rishi
Case in point. I couldnโt even read your argument because I was so put off by your too-good-to-be-true claim that the average shopper sees 4000 ads per day. I know everyone says it but really???? If itโs true (big lump of salt) Iโm clearly not average. Even when I was scrolling social media, even when I watch free to air tv, even if Iโm actively shopping online for something and you are saying that every product image in a grid counts as an ad, I donโt come anywhere close to that 4000 number. Do you have any info as to how that number got calculated and by what marketing company selling what? Iโd be willing to stand corrected.
ReplyRishi Rawat
Hello, Helen. I’ve thought a lot about this 4,000 stat. I know the true number is most likely bloody high. If the metric is “ads people are exposed to” then that means in a 20 walk itself I’m immersed in 500 ads (ad for the local deli, billboards, bus stand chair ad, etc.).
But this number is very high to actually measure. Still, I wish there were a more academic stat that I could use. The one stat everyone seems to parrot is this. It’s not satisfying but it’s all I have: https://www.redcrowmarketing.com/2015/09/10/many-ads-see-one-day/
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