BusinessDictionary.com states that a product’s value “may have little or nothing to do with the product’s market price and depends on the product’s ability to satisfy his or her needs or requirements.” So is it possible to charge more for your products or services without making any major changes to your offer?
Absolutely.
Behold The Power Of Cost-Reframing
Reframing is the process of using a different frame or lens to create a new reality or meaning for a specific situation. Realities can be reversed or certain elements can be emphasized or downplayed to produce different meanings. For example, you can reframe an issue as an opportunity or you can reframe a weakness as a strength—a common tactic used during job interviews.
When it comes to ecommerce, cost-reframing is an excellent strategy to adjust the perceived value of your products, and this doesn’t necessarily involve changing the way your customers perceive your product’s quality. Instead, you reframe the cost of your product so customers perceive it as less expensive.
Check out the advertisement below, which compares the cost of having two lattes a day to buying a brand new car so the car’s price would seem more attractive and affordable to potential buyers.
Alex Birkett of ConversionXL: “Large amounts of money are especially conducive to reframing exercises. Copywriting is a great realm to try reframing things:
- Is it a ‘bargain’ or is it ‘cheap’?
- Is it ‘exclusive’ or is it ‘expensive’?
- Is it ‘comfortable’ or is it ‘tacky’?
You’ll have to bring out your inner spin doctor, because there are endless ways to execute the power of reframing.”
Add A Dash Of Philanthropy
It feels good to give back—and that’s a fact. Research conducted by Michael Norton, a professor at Harvard Business School, shows that regardless of income, people who spend more money helping others experience greater levels of happiness compared to people who spend more money on themselves.
Accordingly, altruism can also compel shoppers to choose one brand over another. According to Rachel Lamb of Luxury Daily, “94 percent of consumers report that they would switch to a brand that supports a cause” and “20 percent would buy a more expensive product if it supported a cause.”
Corporate altruism fosters a deeper connection between customers and businesses because it enables them to align with causes and values that they both support. And consequently, “corporate altruism creates a halo effect” that increases the perceived value of a company’s products or services in its customers’ eyes.
Just make sure that any cause you’re affiliated with supports the core values of your company and customers.
Which One Of These Things Is Not Like The Other?
One thing you really want to avoid is having your customers perform apples-to-apples comparisons between your product and others like it. Whenever your customers compare the facets of your products to those of your competition, if the products appear pretty much equal, your customers are going to choose the less expensive option every time.
If, however, you can differentiate your products and make them stand out in some way, aside from being less expensive, then you can escape the apples-to-apples lower-price nightmare.
Here are four ways that you can make your company and products stand apart from the competition:
- Improve the quality of your products
- Offer a stronger guarantee
- Position yourself as more trustworthy
- Provide a more convenient shopping/shipping experience
And as a fifth suggestion…
Let Customers Peek Behind The Curtain
Manish Punjabi of Conversion Fanatics: “Have you ever seen those Apple videos explaining how their machining and design processes work? Why would they do this? Because it forces people to realize how much time and effort went into making every, single, little detail of their products.
If you want to raise the perceived value of your product, teach people how to think about it. Explain to them what goes into making it, show them the process behind it. Tell them the story of the product and how it came to be. They will be forced to realize it’s more valuable than they previously imagined.”
What do you think about these strategies to increase the perceived value of your products? Have you tried these suggestions or any others before? What kinds of results did you get?
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