Gregory Koberger :: the blog

In just a few short months, I’ll be moving to California to start work at Mozilla.

There is a ton of changes I need to make.  I need to find a new apartment, a new route to work, and more.  One weird thing I’ve noticed, however, is how predisposed I now am to making smaller changes.

For example, I get toiletries from the local store.  There will be local stores in San Francisco, that sell the same stuff they sell here for the same price.  However, I decided to switch to Alice when I move there.  I’m not doing it out of necessity- I’m doing it merely because I’m already making one big change in my life.  There’s a billion other things I plan on changing when I move- simply because I’m in “change mode.”

So, what’s the takeaway?  Try marketing to people who are already making big changes.  Buy ads with apartment realtors or moving companies.  If someone is in change mode (move, big purchase, etc), they are more likely to change the little things, too.

A few summers ago, I found myself selling 50-50 tickets at a little league game. The average was about $100 per game- not a bad haul, but I thought I could do better.

I told everyone there was a special that night- two for the price of one. A dollar would get you two tickets instead of one, and you could get two arm lengths for ten dollars.

Everyone received twice the amount of tickets, so there was absolutely no change in odds.  Everyone knew the deal was offered to anyone buying tickets, so nobody was tricked into thinking they had a special advantage.  People buying tickets had absolutely no advantage over any other night. However, it worked- we sold over $350 in tickets that night.

In the physical world, it’s rare we have a chance to double what we’re offering without suffering some sort of loss in profits. Best Buy can’t sell you two TVs for the price of one, and McDonalds loses money if they give you two burgers when you only paid for one.

People react positively to getting twice what they paid for.  Companies lose money on buy-one-get-one-free offers, knowing that it will get enough people through the door to make up the difference.

However, this only works to a certain extent with physical items. Online, it’s easy and cheap. Take a look at how the “freemium” model works- customers get a certain amount of something for free, and have to pay for more. Often, a pro account costs a company just as much to run as a free account. A scarcity of supply is created for the sake of making money.

What if you doubled your offer? If your “premium” level includes 10 users, make it 20. If customers only get five gigabytes of space, make it ten. And make a big deal about it- don’t just quietly change it on the site. Make it obvious to potential customers that you’re offering a promotion- even if it’s a permanent change.

Take GMail, for example.  The service is constantly adding space, even though most people won’t come close to the original 2GB GMail initially offered.

Anyone who comes to your site thinks they’ll be getting a great deal if they sign up, and it costs you absolutely nothing.