Five tweaks in two weeks: Small changes that will make a big difference to your business

I’m guessing you want less to do, not more? And you want the things you do to generate better results and improve your business?

Here are five easy, science-based tweaks you can make within two weeks. Small refinements to your business that will have a big impact.

Five tweaks

1. Anchoring

   The first piece of information people receive is the most important because it “anchors”, or sets, their expectations. This is especially important in two domains: price and time.

   Steve Jobs knew all about anchoring prices. When announcing the first ever iPad, he set expectations at $999 by talking about what “pundits” believed the price would be. He then revealed the true cost as “only” $499. We just saved $500, what a relief!

   Similarly, if the first bottle of wine I see on the menu is $75, the $50 bottle I see down the list will seem much more reasonable. Had I not been anchored, the $50 would have seemed outrageous.

   Therefore, when it comes to pricing, it’s important to ensure when developing point-of-sale, putting a project’s cost estimates together or quoting a customer a “ballpark figure”, that you anchor expectations before you hit them with the actual amount.

   Use anchoring with time, too. Rather than telling someone the job will take “four weeks”, and risk them thinking this seems a long time to wait, first say something like “for a job similar to yours last month it took around six weeks. For you, if we get the order in today, we can deliver in four”.

2. Numbers psychology

   Aside from anchoring, you can also tweak how you represent the price itself. There are three things to be aware of when trying to persuade customers your price is reasonable: dollar signs, decimals and directionality.

   Dollar signs remind people they are spending money, which is not a good thing if you are trying to encourage them to purchase! Instead de-emphasise the currency sign by representing in a smaller typeface, or include in a table header rather than right next to the price.

   Decimals (and commas) elongate numbers, taking longer for your customer to mentally process them. The result? The number is perceived as bigger, so $5,000.00 seems more than $5000. This is great if you are offering a prize or giving money to them (like a discount), but not when you want them to think it’s not a huge amount of money.

   Directionality is about the direction a number seems to point. 1, 2, 3, 4, 7 and 9 point left (depending on your choice of typeface, of course), whereas 5 and 6 point right and 0 and 8 are centered. Why does this matter? When coming up with a price point, you want people to focus on whichever digits seem small.

   $1999 seems so much better than $2000, doesn’t it? That’s because the “9s” influence us to look at the “1”. $2000 just seems like a big fat round chunk of cash!

   The key tweak when it comes to how you communicate your numbers? Remember the digits themselves are telling a story so make sure it’s a compelling one!

3. ‘Get’ before ‘give’

   Often when we’re telling a customer about a great offer, we lead with what they have to do for us first, like “join our newsletter to get 10% off”. The problem is we are leading with pain rather than pleasure, which isn’t much of a turn on.

   Instead lead with what they get before saying what they have to give you. “Get 10% off by joining our newsletter”, for example.

4. ‘Done’ before ‘do’

   Like “get before give”, you should lead with what you’ve done before what you want your customer (or stakeholder) to do. This is especially important when communicating bad news (like a price rise) because it helps soften the blow.

   By signalling what steps you have taken to avoid or lessen the impact on them, you are using the principle of reciprocity — you’ve gone first so they will feel better about obliging your request.

   For example, “We held your price constant for the past two years, but this year you will notice a small increase”, or “We’ve pre-filled the application form for you, so all you need to do is…”

5. Friction audit

   The final tweak you can make within two weeks is to do a ‘friction audit’. Look for any points at which your customer is slowed down or left confused. The best place to start is your website, but you should look at any paperwork, forms or emails too. Are you using jargon? Have you assumed knowledge they may not have?

   Common examples: 

   • File attachments in an email that people have to click and download to get the answer they’re looking for. If you include a file, then you need to include a reason for them to want to open the file in the body of the email;
   • Requiring customers to print something just to sign it, then scan and return it to you. There are plenty of alternative e-signature software providers you can use instead;
   • Not pre-populating order or tracking details in a landing page when your customer has clicked through from an email;
   • Not including parking or transport information when you are inviting people to a physical location;
   • Subject lines that “cry wolf”, creating false urgency about “important news” when it really isn’t. It means your customers are less likely to open your email next time; and
   • Passing a customer between call centre staff without any handover of what the issue is. The fastest way to inflame an issue is to require your customer to retell their story without any acknowledgement they’ve been heard. Instead, the next staff member on the call should be able to say “Hi Bri, John has briefed me on your issue and this is what we’ll do now…”

While these points of friction may seem insignificant in isolation, they are the paper cuts that can undo your business. Every irritation is whispering to your customer that their time and energy is not important to you — and that’s how you become unimportant to them.