Speed Trigger
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4 Ways to Use the “Speed Trigger” to Seduce Your Prospects

It’s the ultimate buyer’s aphrodisiac…
Want to give your customers a shopping “high?”
Want to make them giddy, and thrilled to click through and opt-in and buy without a second thought?
There’s a very real and palpable feeling people get from a well-choreographed sales pitch that includes this powerful trigger.
Leave it out and you’ll see a drop in conversion.  Stick it in and you’ll be shocked at the difference it makes.
I’m talking about the BIGGEST thing people want from their internet connections, their smart phones, their investments, their diets, and solutions to every problem they ever face.
They want SPEED.
And no matter what you’re selling, you can give it to them.
Here are four ways to use the SPEED trigger to seduce your prospects…

1) Speed to Buying Decision…

How long’s it gonna take for them to figure out what you’re offering and whether or not their interested?
Imagine you’ve just sat down to a dinner you were really looking forward to digging into when the doorbell rings.  You’re thinking … how long is it going to take this electric company guy to get through his smart meter pitch before you can get back to your steak?!!
That is the precise mental state most of your prospects are in when they read or watch your stuff.  They were doing something else (checking email, watching Jedi Cat on YouTube?) before they got to your pitch.
So, the quicker you can show them that spending X amount of minutes with you to learn Y, the more engagement you’ll get from them.
I’ve always liked the way Ryan Deiss does this.  It seems UNchoreographed but you can bet that its very intentional.  The opt-in video for the Napkin Project he’s doing right now starts out with him saying a very important phrase in the first 15 seconds …
“If you’ll stick with me for just a minute …”
It may not seem like much but this is a powerful way that he’s giving us SPEED.  He’s letting us know that he know’s we’re busy but without saying these exact words he’s letting us know that he’ll cut to the chase quickly and it’ll be worth it.
It worked on me.  How about you?
And by the nature of this headline we can tell that it’ll be pretty quick to get, learn and start using the info we’ll get from the videos. 
Speed to Buying DecisionAnd the language he uses (“mini”) connotes speed.
It’s a mini course, delivered over three little days.  That should be no skin off your back if you want to learn how to TRIPLE YOUR BUSINESS over the next 6 months!
Speed communicated in the headline

2) Speed to actually buying …

In other words, can they get through it with minimal typing and just a few clicks?  Or, must they click lots of boxes and jump through lots of hoops to give you money.
I recently wrote about making it EASY for Homer Simpson to buy from you.  Well it doesn’t just need to be easy.  It needs to be fast.  Homer’s got a short attention span.   Pre-populate fields whenever possible.
If I click through to your order page and my details are already there (shipping address, etc.) and all I have to do is enter my cc details, I’m far more likely to go through with the purchase than if I have to fill out all of those fields on my own.
That’s not just easier, it’s FASTER!
And guess what … YOU CAN DO THIS even if you don’t have a list of buyers yet.  You won’t be able to fill in details you don’t have but you can auto-input their first and last names, their email addresses, and any other information you have.  You can pre-check the choice you want them to make if there’s a choice to be made on your order page.
The Yankee Candle Company is missing an opportunity to convert more from their emails.
Pre populating fields to increase speed
While it’s nice that they’re giving me a chance to log-in and use my credit card details from past purchases (which would definitely be quicker), I clicked through to this point on their website from a promotional email they sent me.  They could have easily pre-filled my name here.
Or, they could input my name and email address in the guest check out area.
The amount of time it takes to get through these hoops without prepopulating presents a conversion problem that doesn’t need to be there!

3) Speed to learn, implement, use…

How fast will they be able to get through your course, implement your strategy, or use your widget or method?  Will it take weeks of learning first or is it plug and play?
I don’t care what you’re selling and I still don’t care if you’re thing actually takes a L-O-N-G time to consume.  It’s the presentation of that timeframe that’s so important.
Frank Kern’s latest Mass Conversion pitch video is a great example.  He actually apologizes for delivering a 45 minute video …
Frank Kern copywriting
Are you kidding me Frank?
When the promise is that I’ll get to learn how to EASILY sell FAST (that’s a paraphrasing of the headline on the video page), 45 minutes is pretty speedy.
And although he outright says that’s long, the fact that the length is pointed out and apologized for makes us feel like we’re all on the same team.  Frank gets us.  We’re busy and he knows that.  So, it appears like 45 minutes to get everything he’s got on the subject of selling fast and easily is not a big time investment (and it’s not).
Here’s a Tip Just for Service Providers …
One of the ways that I personally cater to my prospect’s need for speed is by including my estimated delivery date in my proposals.  The idea here is that by giving them a date I’m planting a seed in their mind that they would have completed copy by X date if they say “go” today.  The image of completed copy in-hand is a powerful one.
Finally, whatever you can do to paint that picture of result achieved, do it.

4) Speed to results …

How fast will they be able to achieve their goal/dream with your thing?
This should go without saying, but if you’re not addressing speed to results in your copy fix that today.  It’s a critical element to conversion.
Here’s yet another great example from Amazon …
Amazon showing speed to results
They’re certainly appealing to my need for speedy flip flops.
Nutrisystem’s entire campaign is about speed.  Its even in the name of their new program, “Fast 5.”  That’s probably because they know that motivation is at its height during the sign up process and if results aren’t achieved quickly they’ll lose customers (no matter how well their program works).
Nutrisystem campaign
Conversion Rate Experts isn’t in your face about fixing your conversion fast, but its implied by the six week milestone they insist on.  I like this approach because it gets the wheels turning in your head about what your life will be like 6 weeks from now without even telling you to imagine that.  At the same time it probably does the conversion rate experts a favor by pre-setting the expectations from their clients so folks aren’t expecting magic in a day or two.
Conversion Rate Experts campaign
Brian Horn isn’t even making a promise here, he’s just conjuring an image of overnight exposure.  This opt-in form even says “almost” so it’s not an outright claim.  But he’s still implying that powerful aphrodisiac that all buyer’s find very hard to resist.
Brian Horn campaign
Have you seen this opt-in from Survival Life?  Well it doesn’t just make what the reader wants easy to find.  It also seduces them with the promise of speed.  Opt-in and you’ll be “first”, don’t and you’ll just have to wait for a disaster.
Survival Life Campaign
It really stinks to have to wait … for anything … WITH KIDS, especially sick ones.  So Harris Teeter pharmacy is getting it right with this 15 minute prescription guarantee.  Its not just a smart policy.  They use it on signage everywhere in their stores.
15 Minute Prescription Guarantee
The big question is, are you using the SPEED aphrodisiac to its fullest extent? 
Are you showing your prospects how fast they can learn about what you offer?
How fast they can decide if they want it?  How fast they can get it in their hot little hands?
Are you painting a picture of how fast your solution works?

Julie Boswell

Julie Boswell

Julie operates a copywriting and consulting business she cofounded, www.AskACopyExpert.com, a company dedicated to providing a second set of eyes for business owners.  Their focus is on teaching the fundamentals of direct response copywriting, reviewing and providing feedback for improvement, as well as providing done-for-you copywriting services.

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