People are lazy.
I mean, reallllllyyyyy lazy.
Think about how many people, myself included, start getting very judicious about toilet paper as it gets lower on the roll, or how we water down our shampoo when there’s a drop left because we don’t want to have to go to the CVS next to our office. It’s not that we’re trying to save money, if we were, then we would’ve been watering down the shampoo from day one. We are lazy by habit, ney, by nature.
We are creatures of efficiency. We want things down quickly with the least amount of effort.
So the question becomes, If people are inherently lazy, how do you, as a business owner or marketer, get people to buy your products or services when you know that they have this fatal flaw?
Amazon discovered the answer to this question.
They understood their customers. They knew that one of the main reasons behind their customers using the site, besides price, was convenience. People would rather order a book from their computer while lying in bed than having to go to the Barnes & Noble down the street.
Some people are more lazy than others though. So if the appeal of ordering from your bed isn’t enough there needs to be a way to make it even easier to say ‘yes’. Set the barextremely low in order for them to buy. This is where Amazon birthed a revolution…
The One-Click Checkout
Until the day that you can order a product telepathically, you literally can’t make it any easier for someone to buy than to give them ONE clear, direct, and simple action. The One-Click option eliminates all of the confusion and hassle and procrastination that is often the bane of customers, particularly when ordering online.
In the book, Switch: How to Change Things when Change is Hard, Chip & Dan Heath explore the idea that, “what looks like resistance is often a lack of clarity”. Many times, people want to do what you are trying to get them to do, but they just don’t know how to do it. Sometimes, what seems simple and understandable to you has a lot of other interpretations to the people you are trying to affect.
Example: You tell people to wear hard-hats when they are operating machinery. Simple Enough.
But what if they are helping someone else operate the machinery, or assisting them, or just standing near the machinery, do they still need hard-hats? What machinery are you referring to, all machinery or only the dangerous looking stuff?
Solution: Paint a big yellow line down the floor and make it clear that every single person, every single time they cross this yellow line they are required to be wearing a hard hat AT ALL TIMES regardless of what they are doing. It is a black and white decision, no grey area or exceptions. No room for interpretation. No loopholes. No ambiguity. One, clear, simple action taken every single time.
How can you apply this?
By getting a deep understanding of your customers. Comes to terms with the fact that people are lazy and that the easier you can make it for them to say ‘yes’ the better success you’re going to have. How long can you set the bar for them?
amateur entrepeneurs think that their business or idea is the most important thing in the world and they think that since they spend all their time thinking about their company than everyone else must be doing it too. Obviously, that’s not the case. Meet people where they are at. The aspects of your business that you think are the most important may not be seen that way from your customer’s perspective. Find out what they are looking for. Don’t build a business in a cave, get out and meet people and learn what makes them tick.
How can you incorporate the one-click principle into your business?
I mean, reallllllyyyyy lazy.
Think about how many people, myself included, start getting very judicious about toilet paper as it gets lower on the roll, or how we water down our shampoo when there’s a drop left because we don’t want to have to go to the CVS next to our office. It’s not that we’re trying to save money, if we were, then we would’ve been watering down the shampoo from day one. We are lazy by habit, ney, by nature.
We are creatures of efficiency. We want things down quickly with the least amount of effort.
So the question becomes, If people are inherently lazy, how do you, as a business owner or marketer, get people to buy your products or services when you know that they have this fatal flaw?
Amazon discovered the answer to this question.
They understood their customers. They knew that one of the main reasons behind their customers using the site, besides price, was convenience. People would rather order a book from their computer while lying in bed than having to go to the Barnes & Noble down the street.
Some people are more lazy than others though. So if the appeal of ordering from your bed isn’t enough there needs to be a way to make it even easier to say ‘yes’. Set the barextremely low in order for them to buy. This is where Amazon birthed a revolution…
The One-Click Checkout
Until the day that you can order a product telepathically, you literally can’t make it any easier for someone to buy than to give them ONE clear, direct, and simple action. The One-Click option eliminates all of the confusion and hassle and procrastination that is often the bane of customers, particularly when ordering online.
In the book, Switch: How to Change Things when Change is Hard, Chip & Dan Heath explore the idea that, “what looks like resistance is often a lack of clarity”. Many times, people want to do what you are trying to get them to do, but they just don’t know how to do it. Sometimes, what seems simple and understandable to you has a lot of other interpretations to the people you are trying to affect.
Example: You tell people to wear hard-hats when they are operating machinery. Simple Enough.
But what if they are helping someone else operate the machinery, or assisting them, or just standing near the machinery, do they still need hard-hats? What machinery are you referring to, all machinery or only the dangerous looking stuff?
Solution: Paint a big yellow line down the floor and make it clear that every single person, every single time they cross this yellow line they are required to be wearing a hard hat AT ALL TIMES regardless of what they are doing. It is a black and white decision, no grey area or exceptions. No room for interpretation. No loopholes. No ambiguity. One, clear, simple action taken every single time.
How can you apply this?
By getting a deep understanding of your customers. Comes to terms with the fact that people are lazy and that the easier you can make it for them to say ‘yes’ the better success you’re going to have. How long can you set the bar for them?
amateur entrepeneurs think that their business or idea is the most important thing in the world and they think that since they spend all their time thinking about their company than everyone else must be doing it too. Obviously, that’s not the case. Meet people where they are at. The aspects of your business that you think are the most important may not be seen that way from your customer’s perspective. Find out what they are looking for. Don’t build a business in a cave, get out and meet people and learn what makes them tick.
How can you incorporate the one-click principle into your business?