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Multiply your sales with this simple sign trick

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“People are four times more likely to buy something they can touch.”

That’s quite a promise. The quote is from Scott Taddiken, of the Washburn Small Business Development Center, quoted in the Agurban in 2009 and repeated this week.

Smell Me Sign
Photo by revger, on Flickr

I went searching for the source of that “four times more likely to buy” statistic. What I found was a great article by Bruce Baker in The Crafts Report, How to get Customers 4x more likely to buy.

“Once a customer holds something in their hands, they are four times more likely to buy it,” Baker said.

Baker continues with a specific trick to make your signs and displays much, much more effective.

“Signs that appeal to the senses and involve the customers in noticing or experiencing an item are key—to make customers literally see, touch, smell, hear or taste (when appropriate) an object.”

He gives two brilliant examples:

Moreno Wool Blankets
$78
The softest blankets you will ever feel!

Basil
$1.95
Smell it!

[While I didn’t find the source for the “four times more likely” claim, I did find quite a bit of research backing up the idea of touch influencing purchase decisions, including a study titled, “If I touch it, I have to have it: Individual and environmental influences on impulse purchasing” by Joann Peck and Terry L. Childers in 2006. It’s very dry academic reading, but the headline tells the story.]

How could you make this work in your business? 
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About Becky McCray

Becky started Small Biz Survival in 2006 to share rural business and community building stories and ideas with other small town business people. She and her husband own a retail liquor store in Alva, Oklahoma, and a small cattle ranch nearby. Becky is an international speaker on small business.

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Comments

  1. Hi Becky

    Wonderful advise. I wonder how do you bring in then senses and emotion when you work online or a consultant without using fear or what I call hard sell.

  3. Great articles in this series. Very helpful for any retailer this “buying season.”

    Honest to gosh true story. Back in the day, I had several retail jobs. My first ever real job was in the flower shop. I didn’t know I had sales skills, but it came so natural to me. We carried stuffed toys, called plush now..I would carry a soft furry one around to let people hug. Once hugged, many times it was bought on the spot. Also, always let people smell the flowers, helps them decide.

  4. That’s why the “freemium” business model works for online stuff. People can virtually “hold” the product or service before they buy. Eliminate the risk for people to try it and they are much more likely to buy! :)

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