"Do well in your exams and
we'll get you your favorite bicycle"
"What a wonderful child you
are! You cleaned your room all by yourself!"
"Better share your toy with
your sister, else we'll give away all your toys"
Yes, we've spent a good part of our childhood being
witnesses to many million examples of positive and negative reinforcements. But
wait! Look around and you'll see subtle and direct examples of this concept all
around you, in infinite forms, even today:
End-of-the-year appraisals and
performance incentive
Wear a helmet and avoid being
pulled up by the traffic police
Shop at your neighborhood
supermarket regularly and get discount coupons
In fact, some reinforcements have such powerful impact on
our thought process, preferences, and subconscious mind that they even shape
our personalities and influence most of our important life decisions. Given the
immense significance of positive and negative reinforcements in all aspects of our
lives, how can the e-commerce world be far away? Go to any site and you'll see
indirect hints to loud proclamations sending us messages:
Sign in
today and get a discount!
Book
today to win early bird prizes!
The argument on the more effective form of reinforcement -
positive or negative - is a never-ending saga, but
e-commerce content definitely seems to be
leaning towards positive reinforcement. These sites use content to focus on
three main aspects of human nature: the need to have a sense of belonging, the
need to pamper one's self-esteem, and the need to be recognized. We love to be
motivated and to be "stroked". In turn, we often return the favor by
making the motivator our favorite person, someone we would want to hang out
with and look up to while making decisions. This is the primary advantage of using
content with positive reinforcements - your sites will definitely get repeat
visitors who will soon turn into dedicated followers.
Let's look at a few examples:
1. Most Indian e-commerce sites are already sharpening their
thinking pens, now that the festive season is around the corner. The sites are
overflowing with positive reinforcement content - mega sales, out of the world
discount, unique designs, and festival countdown to the discount date (the site
actually has a stop watch ticking away!) - there is a lot of goodies to look
forward to!
2. A footwear site encourages customers to share pictures of
their experience wearing their products - out on trekking, at the restaurant,
at their office desk, etc. The response is phenomenal since these pictures
appear on the home page of the site.
3. A food retail website encourages us to choose our
preferred food "box" - combo sets of fruits, vegetables, meat, etc.
The site helps us in planning our weekly food plan and promises the luxury of
receiving our planned boxes at our doorstep. It ends with the message that it
is "the easiest way to eat brilliantly!"
4. A site selling coffee calls itself a "for-giving
company" and encourages visitors to be part of a unique social cause
- every time we enjoy delicious coffee
we also contribute to a noble cause.
5. A site-selling cookie just says "Yummy" - what
better encouragement than this! But it does get better...they also make us the
offer of a gift box with the words, "It all sounds sweeter when you say it
with our freshly baked cookies"
These are all genuine promises of remarkable experiences we
will be taken through when we use their services or products. All these subtle
to loud-and-clear messages are examples of great content that aim for our heart
and are bang on target.
Content
writing for ecommerce is
about on creating great
content with positive reinforcement messages; you will definitely reach your
audience much faster and with a much clearer message than with any other form
of content.
