Science experiment reveals how to snatch customers from your competition

Let’s run an experiment:

Grab three buckets filled with water: one with cold water, one with hot, and one with lukewarm.

Stick one hand in the cold bucket and the other in the hot. 

After a couple of minutes, plunge them both into the lukewarm bucket.

Here’s the million dollar question:

What do you feel?

If you have ever visited a school in your life, you’ll know that the hand from the cold water feels warm, while the hand from the hot water feels cold.

Same water, totally different sensations.

Crazy, isn’t it?

This is called the… 

Contrast Effect

I’m certain that you have heard – or even tried – this experiment before.

But one thing you might not know?

This same principle is highly relevant for you as a business owner marketing your product.

No matter if you’re a freelancer, coach, or SaaS founder…

There are a ton of cases where the Contrast Effect can be employed to put your marketing on steroids. For example:

• Price anchoring – naming a higher price first to make the subsequent, lower price appear like even more of a bargain

• Upsells – if you’ve bought a $1,000 product, a $100 upsell will seem like a drop of water in the ocean

• Competitor comparison – by putting 2 product’s features side-by-side you can impact which one is perceived as more valuable

But today, I want to talk about a different, yet incredibly important scenario where the Contrast Effect can make… or break your marketing.

That scenario is…

Your Funnel

Let’s think back to our experiment.

Depending on what temperature water your hand was immersed in before you plunged them into the lukewarm water… your perception of that lukewarm water was different.

• Cold water → lukewarm feels warm

• Hot water → lukewarm feels cold

It’s the same with your funnel.

Depending on what your customer felt/expected when they entered your funnel, their perception of “the next step” can be wildly different.

And this is called…

Framing

The frame you set at the top of your funnel determines how successful the bottom is going to be.

If you set the frame of hot water first, you’ll have cold hands later.

To make this more specific:

Let’s say you’re selling knitting products to old grandmas (I know that’s not what you do but just play along).

You’ve set up a highly optimized online store where you tell a wholesome story of how your grandma used to knit Christmas socks for you and why that’s important to your customers.

Pretty clever, right?

But now, let’s look at your top-of-funnel content…

If that consists of tips and tricks on how to sear the perfect rib-eye steak, that’s going to attract all the wrong people.

When one of them then checks out your website…

They’re probably like:

“Wtf is this? I came here for some juicy steak not some fucking knitting products.”

You’ve set the wrong frame.

That’s why it’s so important to have a coherent customer journey (read: funnel). Every step has to flow effortlessly into the next.

If one step is framed the wrong way, the next will seem unnatural and that’s where you’ll lose your customers.

And guess what it all starts with?

Top-of-funnel social media content.

If you’re posting content without a strategy… you risk giving people an entirely wrong perception of you which will make the rest of your funnel feel unnatural and untrustworthy.

This is why lots of people get good engagement…

But can’t convert anyone into customers.

This would be the perfect time for me to pitch you on my DFY pogram where I help you create a coherent and brutally effective customer journey (including content, landing pages, email marketing, and sales pages).

But…

I actually don’t have any spots open at the moment.

However, I do have a waiting list with priority access for when I re-open in about 3 weeks. 

If you’re a SaaS founder and you want me to stick my name onto that bad boy, reply with ‘DFY’ and I’ll do so.

For the time being, I want to leave you with this question:

What can you do to make your
customer journey more coherent?

Work back step-by-step from your offer and build a fluid process that smoothly guides people from top-of-funnel content straight to the checkout page.

Hope you enjoyed this one :)

If you’re feeling confused or having doubts about your own customer journey…

Just reply and give me a little context so I can tell you what I would do in your shoes. 

No strings attached, I just feel like being nice today.

Talk soon,

Tim <3