8 Reasons Why People Choose To Buy Nothing
There is a much BIGGER THREAT than your competition that has been stopping your business from growing since day one.
This happens every day and you have never noticed it.
It has been proven that 80% of the clients who make it to the end of the sales cycle choose NOTHING.
That means 20% are going to you or the competition. Only 20%.
If you look at the image for this post you’ll see how many people there are that choose nothing.
If only 4% buy from you, then 16% are investing in alternative companies, options, products or services.
There is an untapped pool of 80%!
Put it this way,
If your total pool of prospects was 100,000 people and you were able to get in front of all 100,000 people, then there are 80,000 people who end up not making any decision to go with you or the competition at all.
If you are focusing on being able to serve your customers better than anyone else and you know how to overcome inaction, then you can tap into the larger pool of clients rather than competing for the 20%.
“I already am the best in the market so why aren’t they all choosing me?”
Let’s say you do offer the best value for your current prospects.
Here are the 8 reasons why people choose nothing.
Consistency: People like to keep their word on what they have said to themselves or others.
They want to remain consistent with what they have said earlier.
E.g. “I am going to save money so I won’t make any big purchases.”
Now when you offer them your product, they fall back on this and choose to not go ahead.
Loss Aversion: A perceived loss is greater than a perceived gain and they will avoid it at all cost.
Even if something is the same value, if it is seen as they will lose it rather than gain it, they will just avoid it all together.
E.g., There was a study to see what would influence people to buy a textbook earlier. Two options were tested. The first option was to, “Buy before this date and get a 10% discount.” Not many people took it up.
Then they tested, “If you don’t pay before this date, you will have a penalty of $x.” X amount being the same total as the previous test. Most people paid before that date.
People’s brains are wired towards preventing a loss versus achieving a gain.
Selection Difficulty: If there are too many options, it is easier to choose none.
If people don’t feel confident that they will choose what is right for them, then the default is to choose nothing.
E.g., There was a jam company that tested having 28 jams on a stand versus six jams. More people stood in front of the 28 jams browsing but more purchases were made when there were only six jams.
When the options are greater, the client’s worry about making the right choice increases. This is why many people just stick with what they know. Too many choices could leave them too open to making a perceived mistake.
Preference Stability: People get used to doing something a certain way or buying a specific product or brand and don’t want to change.
E.g., Even though we all know how much more value and convenience there is getting an Uber instead of a taxi, there are still people out there that use taxis.
Once someone is used to doing something a certain way it can be very difficult to get them to change.
Values Conflict: When there are conflicting values, the easiest decision is to make no decision.
E.g., If you are buying a car and want a practical car for the kids or to enjoy weekends away versus a two-door sports car. It is likely you won’t choose either of those cars at all.
Having values conflict is another reason why people choose to do nothing.
Anticipated Regret: People often choose not to buy because one day they may regret it
E.g., What if when I purchase this product another better/cheaper one comes out next week?
This all stems from the unknown. Imagined future judgement affects the customer’s ultimate outcome. People will always imagine bigger than reality: good or bad. The more certainty you can give them the better.
Anticipated Blame: Being blamed for making the wrong decision
E.g., When making a purchase for your partner to install in your house and you don’t want the blame of making the wrong choice.
Being blamed for making the wrong decision either by a boss, a partner, a friend, or themselves can often lead a customer to choose not to do anything at all instead of making a decision that they can negatively be blamed for later.
Perceived Cost of Action or Change: There is a calculated cost for taking action.
E.g., If there is an option to change a mortgage to save $5,000 a year and save yourself approximately $450 a month in real money, but there was a cost to change of $500 to change the mortgage, people choose to stay.
Most people have the default mindset that doing nothing will cost me nothing, but that isn’t always the case. Even if there is no monetary cost upfront to change, people are still considering the time, stress, or resources it will cost them.
How Do I Overcome These?
Most businesses would have all eight of these working against them and don’t do anything about it.
Overcoming these will start to open much, much more of your market.
There are specific tools and tactics to overcome them with your marketing so you can start to grow your business without even thinking about what your competitors are doing.
I am a believer that nothing that is free is valued. If you want to know some tools then comment on This Facebook Post which one you resonate with the most.
Write what your prospects’ mindset would be and what your business is and I will reply with an example you can use.
Right now you could be the 80% of people who read this and do nothing,
OR
Take action and get a reward!
Black Lion Digital, Newcastle. If you want this applied to your own campaigns, the Acquisition Audit is where it starts.
