Price-sensitive shoppers scrutinize price tags before they decide to buy something. But that doesn’t mean they’re exclusively on the hunt for cheap prices. In fact, low prices can give the impression that an item is low quality.
Price-sensitive shoppers are looking for the fairest price for a certain product.These people are experts in comparison shopping. Before they make a purchase, they’ve likely visited four or five different websites to ensure they’re getting the best deal.
As a result, this consumer set is super-savvy and very informed about all the features and benefits of the products they’re interested in. Millennials are increasingly adept at this — 95 percent of respondents in a recent survey said they have more or the same sensitivity to price as they did last year.
But how do you know how to price your products to make your business appealing to price-sensitive shoppers without slashing prices? Here are five effective strategies.
Focus on benefits.
It’s not enough to just rattle off a list of a product’s features. You need to focus on the actual, tangible benefits of those features. Help customers really understand why investing in your product is money well spent.
Are you using certain hard-to-find ingredients? How much time does your product save? Are aspects of your product a vast improvement over what’s out there today? Is it using new, advanced technology?
Providing customers with a comprehensive understanding of the ROI (return on investment) goes a long way. It’s far more compelling (and better for your branding) to sell your benefits instead of your prices.
Focus on education.
Sixty-six percent of shoppers use search engines to find the products they want. You’re not going to connect with those people if you don’t have quality content that’s visible when they Google certain phrases. That’s why content marketing is so important.
Start a blog or a resource center where you educate people about the benefits of your products and share your expertise. Engaging, unique content helps get your business on people’s radars, establishes you as a thought leader, and guides purchasing decisions. If you’re new to content marketing, here are four easy ways to get started.
Be transparent.
Why not explicitly tell people why an item is priced a certain way? Everlane has built a booming retail business by making “radical transparency” its cornerstone. For each item, Everlane reveals where it was made, how much it cost to make it, and how much it was marked up. The result is a trustworthy brand that people feel good about making purchases from.
Create a sense of urgency.
As we mentioned, price-sensitive shoppers like to research. Creating a sense of urgency forces them to speed up the purchasing process. Things like flash sales or limited-run items can help compel impulse-buying behavior.
Offer bonuses to sweeten the deal.
Price-sensitive customers evaluate how much an item is going to cost them “all in,” including shipping. Econsultancy found that 74 percent of shoppers abandoned baskets due to high shipping costs.
If you can offer a bonus like free shipping, do it. If you can offer fast shipping, even better. Eighty percent of shoppers now want a same-day shipping option, and 61 percent want items within one to three hours of placing an order.
