An increment is a small change. And, for most people who are in the process of making a purchase, it's a lot easier to commit to the process incrementally. In psychology, increments are a powerful concept that have been shown to accomplish incredible things. And in selling, this psychological concept becomes an incredibly powerful tool.
So what is an increment in the context of marketing and sales and how can you use it to your advantage to sell more?
Psychology & Bias At Work
The reason an increment is a powerful concept, is because we are less prone to notice small steps. This is due to a flaw in our thinking (known as a ‘cognitive bias’) that causes us to look at things as they relate to one another.
Let's look at the example of buying a house listed for $360,000. You make your offer at the asking price, but the seller comes back with a counteroffer of $1,000 more. In this situation, chances are that you won’t bat an eyelid. After all, what is $1,000 in relation to $360,000?
But now imagine that you’re buying a $5 gourmet chocolate bar and the seller wants to increase the price by $1,000… how do you react? I'm guessing you're probably not going to fork over that extra grand.
But here’s the thing – the increase was exactly the same in both situations. You should still have fought just as vehemently not to let the price increase on the house as you would have on the chocolate. But you didn’t… And as a result, the home seller got to keep $1,000 extra of your cash!
So when you are applying gradual increases in price, buyers will consider the relative change from one price to the next. An increase of 1% is dramatically different to an increase of 100% or 1000%. People are never afraid to spend just $1 more, assuming the original price wasn't one cent.
Selling Incrementally
With you sales process, the same concept applies. A classic example is the fast food upsell – adding more food or upsizing the quantity for an small incremental increase in price. But the concept extends beyond price as well.
Very often, buyers and prospects need to be convinced of the value they are getting before making a commitment to parting with their money. And incrementally revealing information, followed by getting their commitment, is a tremendously successful way to sell. In some circles, the concept is known as getting a series ‘micro-commitments,' and it's among the most effective ways of constructing an online marketing funnel.
And the best part is, this model works in all sorts of different media types. You can build micro-commitments or introduce increments through surveys, email campaigns, videos, webinars, and elsewhere.
Automating Incremental Sales
The real art of utilizing incremental selling is knowing how to automate the process. And, especially, how to automate it best to fit your business and the way your prospects want to be treated. That's the entire idea behind a marketing funnel, the sequenced process of getting people from their initial point of contact with you to the moment they become a customer. And creating the perfect funnel formula is an important part of marketing in all types of online business. Want to discover a complete formula for yourself? Check out our case study video on how to automate your marketing funnel to get more leads and make more sales like clockwork.