You’ve probably heard some of the tricks stores use to make you buy more stuff, like having oversized shopping carts, or playing music that makes you feel nostalgic. But here are three tricks WEBSITES use to get you to spend more.
1. They offer free shipping, but only if you spend a certain amount. And it’s almost always higher than the price of whatever you’re buying. So you end up adding something else that you don’t really need.
2. They don’t put all the product details on the main page. And it’s not just to save space. A study last year found there’s something called the “TMI effect”, where you’re actually more likely to buy something if you DON’T see all the details right away. So that’s why a lot of websites make you expand a section or go to another page to see a list of all the specs.
3. They pretend to have “limited time offers”, just like infomercials. When it’s a commercial, they usually offer something like “two for the price of one, but only if you order in the next ten minutes.” And the ten-minute thing is just marketing nonsense. But it also applies on websites. Like if you’re looking at a jacket, there might be something next to it that says there are only four left in your size. Which makes you more likely to buy it, but it’s not always true.
