How do YOU make buying decisions?
Everyone has a strategy they use for making purchases. In fact you probably have several strategies depending on price points. For example a strategy for items under $10, another strategy for items $11 to $100 and so on.
Most people have NO idea they have a strategy. IF you are in the business of selling “stuff” it is useful to understand buying strategies and how they work, so you can ace a sale right out of the starting gate.
I’ve worked with many authors who think that FREE is a magic word. They don’t understand that many people have a buying strategy for FREE which at times makes it AS difficult to sell FREE than it is to sell something with a price tag on it. Go figure!!
In order to clarify, I will offer up two of my Amazon buying strategies. I have worked in high tech industries for decades and have spent well over $100 for technical books I need in order to write intelligently for clients or in order to do my own work. My buying strategy for these books is … if I need it to do a client’s job, if it will make me money, if it will save me time … I get it. So as you might have guessed, price is not a big factor.
So you will laugh over my buying strategy for inexpensive Kindle books, FREE and up to $5.99. Here’s a bit of background: I hate having a cluttered computer. I am totally disappointed with Amazon’s extremely poor way of organizing book purchases. To my mind it stinks, is archaic and difficult and leads to a lot of clutter. Some of you may disagree, but this is the basis of my buying strategy.
Buying strategies have nothing to do with LOGIC. In fact, most buying strategies consist of convincing yourself you can have what you want.
MY STRATEGY
- I see a book title and two line description in a blog post, Facebook post, tweet or Pinterest post.
- I go to Amazon. I look at the cover. I read the description. I read the author bio. IF those interest me …
- I read the reviews. No reviews? Hmmmmmm. Doesn’t this author have ONE friend?
- I open up the preview and read or skim. Sometimes there is nothing to read or skim. To me this is an important consideration.
- If I am still interested, I pause and think about it. Am I REALLY going to read this book? When?
- Do I REALLY want this book cluttering up my Kindle space? THIS is important. If I don’t plan on reading it in the next week or two, I’ll probably pass.
What’s hidden in this strategy is some of the assessments I make in #2:
- A crummy cover usually means an author who doesn’t know better, or crummy content.
- A one sentence, two sentence description means (to me) that the author just doesn’t give a hoot. They have written a poor book, or hired some outsourced labor to scrape content. The author can’t be bothered to tell me why I should read the book, so therefore I can’t be bothered to get the book, even if it is FREE.
- NO author bio. To ME this means, one book, first book, probably a pseudonym. This is not as important as the description, but it adds up.
I have friends who buy a brand new $30K car faster than I will download a FREE book.
So given my buying strategy . . .
How does an author get me through the starting gate?
Simple:
- 1. An attractive book cover
- A description that tells me about the book and why I should buy it
- An author bio that is interesting, that creates expertise, or that makes the author “human.”
- A book that is long enough to include a “Why Should You Buy This Book?” page.
- A few reviews.
Since you are in the book business, what is YOUR book buying strategy?
Do you have a strategy specifically for FREE or do you simply download a book because it is Free? What is the BACKGROUND that “runs” your strategy (mine is clutter).
If you can’t get past your OWN starting gate, you are in deep trouble!
Totally OFF Topic. I’ve seen the statement “99cents is the NEW Free” numerous times.
Really? REALLY?
Try this:
100 x $0.00 is ZERO
100 x $0.99 is $99.00
The “NEW free”? … you have got to be kidding.
**What’s your buying strategy for $0.99? Is it the same as for FREE?
One of my buying criteria is the number of pages in the book. Even if it is FREE. I have so often found books under 30 pages to be useless. Probably a student of the guru who says you can write 30 books in 30 days. You probably can and they are all garbage. Free or not, I won’t read it.
I partially agree with you Graham. Many of the under 30 page books ARE garbage. But I’ve found a few gems. If there is not enough pages to get a decent preview I rely on the description and IF it gives me a reason for being short, or other compelling reason I will give it a go. I’ll admit that I delete many of these off my device and out of my account.