Multiply your sales with this simple sign trick

"People are four times more likely to buy something they can touch."

That's quite a promise. The quote is from Scott Taddiken, of the Washburn Small Business Development Center, quoted in the Agurban in 2009 and repeated this week.

Photo by revger, on Flickr

I went searching for the source of that "four times more likely to buy" statistic. What I found was a great article by Bruce Baker in The Crafts Report, How to get Customers 4x more likely to buy.

"Once a customer holds something in their hands, they are four times more likely to buy it," Baker said.

Baker continues with a specific trick to make your signs and displays much, much more effective.

"Signs that appeal to the senses and involve the customers in noticing or experiencing an item are key—to make customers literally see, touch, smell, hear or taste (when appropriate) an object."

He gives two brilliant examples:

Moreno Wool Blankets
$78
The softest blankets you will ever feel!

Basil
$1.95
Smell it!

[While I didn't find the source for the "four times more likely" claim, I did find quite a bit of research backing up the idea of touch influencing purchase decisions, including a study titled, "If I touch it, I have to have it: Individual and environmental influences on impulse purchasing" by Joann Peck and Terry L. Childers in 2006. It's very dry academic reading, but the headline tells the story.]

How could you make this work in your business? 

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