Do you know that feeling you have when you’re about to buy something and you’re just unsure? You’ve got your wallet out and you’ve got the credit card ready to go and you just can’t make that final decision on whether or not you actually want that item or not. That’s something real. That’s called Purchase Anxiety, and at some point in time, you are going to feel that. You may have already had that feeling a number of times before. As business owners and entrepreneurs, we’ve got to make certain buying decisions. I too, sometimes, have got the credit card out but I’m unsure:
- Is this really worth it?
- Am I going to get value from what I’m about to purchase?
- If I’m buying a service, can I trust the other guy? Do I feel that he’s going to do right by me?
This is what’s called Purchase Anxiety.
Now, as business owners and entrepreneurs, we are selling ourselves and our products, and especially if it’s a high-ticket item (something I do in business advisory and consulting where we’re talking a few thousand dollars at a time), customers have to be confident and have to have that trust in you so they are happy when they hand over their credit card to pay you.
I want to share with you some of the things that you could possibly do to reduce purchase anxiety in your customers.
1. Establish Yourself as an Authority
The very first thing is you’ve got to be establishing yourself as an expert, the go-to person or the authority in your industry. When you do that, that already builds that kind of credibility with the customer to say:
“This guy is an expert. This guy does know his thing (or this lady knows her thing), so I feel confident in purchasing from them.”
2. Provide Testimonials
The other thing is you want to provide customers with certain testimonials. So whether it be on your website or on your social media platforms, you can showcase success stories from customers or clients that you’ve worked with in the past or current clients that you work with. Video testimonials work really well because, obviously, they create that social proof for customers.
So, those are a couple of options. You’ve got building credibility and authority. The second thing is getting testimonials.
3. Develop a Framework
The third thing that you can do is ensure that you have a framework or a roadmap that you can show customers so they know exactly how you do things, what they can expect to achieve when they work with you and the process that you follow. This way, they will feel more comfortable because if they compare you to someone else, they could say:
“This guy has a system. He has a process. He has a framework of how he does things versus guy number two or business number two who’s just going to wing it. I’d rather deal with someone that has a proven system and framework in place.”
4. Offer a Guarantee
And then finally, one of the last things that you can do, and it depends on the business that you’re in and on your type of service offering as well, you could probably offer some sort of guarantee.
- What can you guarantee to the customer if they are unsatisfied?
- If they’re not satisfied with the purchase or with your service, can you offer a money back guarantee?
- Can you offer something to say:
“If you’re not satisfied with the service that we deliver, then that service is free of charge.”
That, again, makes the customer feel more comfortable. That way, they reduce the anxiety of making that purchase because they know that if things don’t go as planned, there is an alternative option and a way of them not losing money unnecessarily. And, that’s the main thing. The customer wants to know that they’re going to get value for the money that they pay.
