What is the Insula and how does the pain of paying work?
The insula is located deep in our brain. Yes that’s right, completely hidden, but it has an important role. The insula registers our pain. If we hurt ourselves and are in pain the Insula makes sure we register that. Now nobody wants to feel pain, but if you look at how much pain we unconsciously inflict on our customers, it is bizarre.
After all, the pain of paying is just as bad as physical pain. When we pay with cash, debit card or contactless, we also feel a degree of pain, which is registered by our Insula. Since not everyone has this knowledge, you see at many online and physical shops that payment is the last step in the customer journey. Basically, you then say, ‘thanks and here’s a kick after’. The chances of a customer coming back after feeling this unconscious pain are immediately reduced a lot.
In what 3 ways can you reduce the pain of paying?
- Make sure you separate the purchase from the payment. For example, by not sending the invoice or note until a few weeks later. Then people already have the product and it is not subconsciously linked to the purchase.
- Add a new touchpoint to the journey. This is after checkout. For example, IKEA does this very well by introducing a cheap ice cream or hot dog after checkout at a very competitive price.
- Give your customers a money-back guarantee. In practice, we see that less than 5% of customers return something. If you want to reduce the pain of paying, provide some form of assurance that the customer can get their money back.
In these ways, your customers are more likely to come back. They subconsciously feel the pain of paying a lot less and are a lot more positive about your brand and product. There are even more ways to reduce the pain of paying. Want to know more about this and get help with implementation? Then check out www.funsumers.com
