Do you need to convince people to buy something? We often try to persuade people with reasons why it will make their lives better, easier or more fun. Astrid Groenewegen explains in this video that you actually need to focus on what you are missing if you don’t buy a product.

Loss aversion

You can significantly improve your sales figures by using a powerful principle from Behavioural Design: Loss aversion.

Losing something hits us 1,5 times harder compared to winning something of the exact same value.

We hate to lose something. We can put this tendency not to lose anything to good use in sales. After all, you can present your offer in a certain way. Take selling solar panels, for example. You can do this in 2 ways:

  • Buy new solar panels now and save €250 every year.
  • If you don’t install solar panels now, you lose €250 every year.

Research shows that the second offer turns out to be much more efficient. This is because we find it worse to lose €250 than to gain.

You can also use this in your daily life. Incorporate loss aversion into your sales pitches. What you have to keep in mind is that you have to present something in a loss frame rather than a gain frame to stimulate the willingness to perform behaviour.

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