People want to stick to their commitments (Consistency)
Players on a football team are committed. They ask questions in order to learn, they arrive on time, they listen to what their coach says when he gives them instructions on how to play, they see adversity as a challenge and not a setback and they keep trying until they succeed.
Consistency is the 4th principle of persuasion. Consistency is one of the 6 shortcuts people take when they need to make a decision. When you want to influence and persuade customers to buy from your shop, you should start asking for small commitments somewhere along the way. These commitments could be, for example, signing up to your newsletter, participating in your Facebook competition or involvement in determining which products you should offer on your shop.
When your customers have shown their commitment to you once, twice or more, they will at some point make a purchase from your shop. Why? Because people in general want to stay true to their previous actions. If customers have indicated before that they like your brand, they will stick to their actions — because they want to be consistent in their behaviour.
Sweetdeal — Email sign up
One way to get your customers to commit is through an email sign-up on your shop. Just remember to tell them what they will get in return for signing up to your newsletter. There should be at least one benefit so that they have an incentive to sign up. Read more about what you can do to get more people to sign up to your newsletter here. Sweetdeal is using the consistency principle whereby they ask customers to sign up to their email by giving their name, number and postcode.
By asking your customer to sign up, you’re more likely to persuade them to buy because you use the consistency principle. Customers who sign up to your newsletter make a small commitment and show that they like your product and that they may eventually see themselves as customers of your shop.
Billigparfume.dk email sign up with Social proof
BilligParfume.dk is also asking for their customer's email address on their shop to get their customer to commit to their brand. BilligParfume does also use Social Proof where they write that they have 50.000 sign-ups.
Pixizoo — email sign-up with discount code
If you expect people to make a small commitment to you, you should consider giving them something in return for giving their personal information: name, email and zip code. Pixizoo is using both the reciprocity principle and the consistency principle when asking customers to sign up to their newsletter by giving them a code for a 20% discount on purchases made from their shop.
2. Ditur.dk — competition
Ditur.dk is hosting monthly competitions whereby participants can win a watch from Ditur.dk. To participate in Ditur.dks competition followers must make a small commitment whereby they give Ditur.dks competition post a like and write a comment in the comment field.
When followers participate in a competition, they are making a public commitment which is much stronger than other types of commitments because they now must demonstrate that they are obliged to meet that commitment. Ditur.dk is using the consistency principle by getting their followers to interact with their Facebook page to participate in the competition.
Just because someone likes your Facebook competition does not mean that they would buy from you. But, if they start making other small commitments, like signing up to your newsletter or are helpful when you ask for ideas for new products on your webshop — they will at some point make a purchase from your shop. Smaller commitments will result in bigger commitments because your potential customers are eager to meet their previous commitments to you.
3. Go Pro — Customer-generated content
If you want your followers to go a step further than merely liking your page or a competition, you can ask your customers to post a picture of themselves with your product. When customers are showing pictures of themselves next to your product, they are signalling to their followers that they like your products and that they can identify with your brand.
Go Pro’s Instagram profile is different from other Instagram profiles. 80% of the content is user- generated. The pictures consist of everyday pictures from Go Pro’s customers, such as families and sport enthusiasts around the world. The pictures show amazing nature scenes in Slovenia, a beautiful sunset in Brisbane and a diver discovering the secrets of Palawan.
Go Pro benefits from these initiatives and improves consistency because they focus on the involvement of their customers. Customers show their commitment by uploading Go Pro pictures to their profile. Customers are also more eager to take some good photographs because the best customer photograph will be reposted on Go Pros official Instagram page.
By showing your customers pictures, you will: discover new things about your product, focus more on your customers’ stories, you will appear more personal and authentic because you use and share pictures from customers instead of sharing pictures of your products. Remember to tell customers that they should include the relevant # if they want to have a chance of being featured on your Instagram profile.
4. BYIC: Voting on Facebook
Instead of just assuming what your customers want, you can ask them what they want. Ask what colours they like, what designs they like and what brands they are more eager to buy than others. BYIC is practicing the consistency principle by asking their followers on Facebook what they prefer when it comes to which dresses they like the most, what colours they prefer over others etc.
When customers respond to your questions, they are interested in your products and they are demonstrating their commitment when the choose to write a comment about what they want.
Starbucks — page for customer ideas
Starbucks appreciates their customer's ideas and they are anxious to find out how they can improve their coffee bars with ideas from customers. Starbucks wants its customer to be committed. Starbuck has created a page on which existing and new customers can submit any ideas they might have, regardless of whether it’s a new idea or an improvement to an existing idea.
By asking customers what they want, your customers will be more committed to you. When do you do ask for customers’ ideas and opinion on your shop?
5. ViaBill — create a survey
Once or twice each month, ViaBill sends out surveys to their new users to find out whether they are satisfied with their ViaBill account. When new users decide to answer questions from the ViaBill survey, they are indicating in some way that they are committed to ViaBill. If you are anxious about getting enough responses from your customers when conducting a survey, you might consider offering them a discount code to your shop. In this way, you are rewarding customers for taking the time to respond to your survey. Rewards also improve your customers’ consistency because they get a feeling of being valued when they do something useful.
6. SmartKidz — Customer club
Yes, customers might fill in a few lines of personal information like their name, address, town, email etc. in order to be a part of your customer club. But, if you remember to tell them the benefits of signing up, they will not hesitate to do it. If you experience a low submission rate from customers, you might consider giving some thought to whether the benefits are strong enough.
Smartkidz improves consistency with their customer club whereby customers get free delivery and returns, 5% discount every time they shop as well as access to special campaigns and offers. Customers who have signed up to Smartkidz customer club are indicating that they want to be a part of this club and they are also showing that they are committed.
Consistency is all about commitment. You must get your customers to make small commitments before you can expect them to buy from your shop. If you succeed in getting some kind of sign that indicates that your customers are committed to you, you will witness a higher conversion rate. There is a great chance that customers will choose you over another shop if they have indicated before that they are interested in your shop. To improve consistency though small commitments, you should get customers to:
● Sign up to your newsletter
● Participate in your competition
● Upload pictures of themselves with your product to Instagram
● Vote when you ask them what they like most
● Come up with ideas and suggestions
● Answer questions in your survey
● Sign up to your customer club
