Are Two Products More Credible Than One?

March 10th, 2009

After my initial post on blog-ified and geographically falsified landing pages, I ran into a few more such pages and they all shared the “2-product combo with a free trial of each” strategy.

So it’s only fair to ask: can you get sophisticated and wary audiences to buy pseudo-snake oil simply by switching from extolling the virtues of a single miracle product to praising the miraculous combination of two semi-wondrous products? As in this teeth whitening example:

Well, yes, actually. The tactic works because having to use two products is a type of downside.

By implying that the promised miracles are too big for just one product and that you’ll need to combine a couple of wonder-products to get the results, the copywriter is tacitly admitting a downside to the strategy: you’ll have to buy two products instead of just one. And admitting the downside boosts credibility.

Moreover, the “housewife just like you who stumbled into a miracle cure of the decade” bit (the part that’s “enhanced” by the false home town claim) comes off as a lot more credible because more people can see themselves discovering a combination of existing products than discovery a single miracle cure.

But, wait: I can get you a trial sample of both for free!

Ah the copy writer givest a downside, and then the she taketh it away – almost. If I can get both products for free, it’s not much of a downside that I need to combine the two of them, is it. Plus, I can see if the combination really works before having to buy.

And then the auto-renewal on your credit card snags ya.

P.S. As a follow up to the Jenny Perfect Skin article, Grok reader Steve Chase snagged this screen shot from Calcutta and it seems that Jenny has a twin sister living there! And she ALSO figured out this amazing skin combo. Incredible, huh?

In Copywriting, Improving Conversion, Interesting Websites, Landing Page Optimization, Marketing Rants, Online Persuasion, psychology

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Comments (9)

Jonathan
March 10th, 2009
4:41 pm

did you notice that cathy lived near by to you? I looked at the code and found this service being used to say “she” lived close by.
http://dev3.maxmind.com/app/ip-location

Thoughts?
Jonathan
March 11th, 2009
3:57 am

did you notice that cathy lived near by to you? I looked at the code and found this service being used to say “she” lived close by.
http://dev3.maxmind.com/app/ip-location

Thoughts?
OH! You’re my new favorite blogger fyi
Jeff Sexton
March 11th, 2009
10:57 am

Jonathon,

If you check out the first link in this post, you’ll see that Jenny’s cheesy use of the “same hometown trick” was what started this little rant. Cathy/Jenny/Amy live nearby to everyone, even if you live in Calcutta.

- Jeff
Articole SEO saptamana 11 - 2009 - SEO - Optimizare web
March 14th, 2009
4:38 am

[...] 2 produse sunt mai credibile decat 1 [...]
Property Management Software
August 16th, 2009
12:47 pm

thats what those temporary credit cards your CC provider gives you are for. They are good for one time use only and only for a certain dollar amount. Great for when a site requires your credit card just to register or get their free sample.
Janice Dowden
October 15th, 2009
8:16 pm

Well, I fell for it, too, and I’m a Mensa member! Yuk. Got my “membership” cancelled, but on condition I return the “free samples” within their 14 day window. Who wants to bet I don’t even RECEIVE the samples in that window? Live and learn, but I will fight to the death to get the charges off my card!
visitenkarten online
October 28th, 2009
9:33 pm

another great post by you. I too believe that the 2 products thing adds to the credibility.
Los Angeles Web Design
October 29th, 2009
12:37 pm

Very interesting, especially about the credibility.
law firm websites
October 30th, 2009
6:47 pm

Never thought about the two product dillema before, danke.

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