Imagine you are walking around the supermarket. As you approach the beverage section, you’re greeted by subtle Italian music and perfectly perched Italian flags. You might not even consciously understand the signals, yet you’re suddenly dreaming of gondolas, pasta, and da Vinci - only to discover there’s a hot deal on red wines from Italy. Inspired by the cues, you’re more apt to buy a few bottles.
Your website works just the same way. It can either grease the wheels for a smooth, engaging conversation - or push customers away in a hurry.
Whether people are visiting your website, listening to your Podcast, or checking you out on social media, it’s important that you get them ‘in the mood’ for what you’re about to talk about.
What other contextual clues do marketers use to ‘set the mood’ for their product offering?
Cinnabon. I know you’re smelling their authentic cinnamon fragrance as you read this. Trust me, they know that too. So much so, that they renovated their store layouts to position ovens at the very front entrance. Why? So their cinnamon siren song would inescapably tempt passersby.
Did it work? Locations positioning ovens in the rear of the store sold significantly less cinnabons. Without the cinnamony-scented enticement, customers were less likely to feel like they urgently needed a Cinnabon.
It’s why in LinkedIn ads, entrepreneurs superimpose their latest eBook onto the iPad of a curious reader. They want to put you in the mood to learn and read. It’s why coffee shops feel like living rooms and running stores encourage you to try new sneakers on an in-store treadmill. It’s why Target inserts family photos into picture frames. So you can easily visualize your own cute family members adorning your home gallery wall. How can you implement this clever marketing trick into your digital content?
3 ways your website can set the mood for sale-closing conversation
Set the mood with the right questions: Quizzes help customers visualize success
Quizzes entice us to make a snow cone to reveal which “Scooby-Doo” character we are. Old School chain letters in the @aol.com era encouraged us to answer 25 questions about our likes and dislikes to pass it along to our friends. It’s a thrill to answer questions about ourselves, isn’t it?
Quizzes can be an extremely powerful tool in your digital arsenal. They help ‘set the mood’ for your product offering by inspiring potential customers to visualize the success that can be realized by using your product or service.
Public speaking coach Liz Navarro uses a quiz to help web visitors identify their personal voice style. Her 10-question “Voice Style Quiz” serves up personable questions like “What are you wearing? (Wink wink!) and “In your favorite dream, you just found out you were named…”
You might think you’re just doing something fun, but suddenly, you’re primed and ready to hear more about her services!
When you’re finished answering this fun quiz, you’re given a voice personality (hello “Bold and Daring!) You’re then send an email that includes anecdotes, top public speaking tips, and your most shining characteristics to drop into your elevator pitch - all personalized to your specific style!
Liz’s quiz sets the mood for her public speaking services by helping you visualize how her skills and talents can benefit your business and lifestyle. Instead of describing how she can help you, she takes the extra steps to show how she can help propel you to bigger successes.
Set the mood with the right examples: Case studies help you target specific customer sets
What is a case study? As opposed to a broader subject blog post or a short social media caption, a case study takes a deeper dive into a success story. If you have trouble showing a specific set of customers what it feels like to be using your product, case studies are an excellent way to help set the mood for customers to truly understand how you’re able to help them. You can target a specific industry, job type, personality - anything. They’re a great way to take the extra time to walk a distinct group of people through the specifics of successes you’ve helped similar businesses achieve.
When faced with something that feels like they’re speaking directly to you, you’re magically more interested in what they have to say.
For example, this page from IoT expert Quake Global promises to show you how their RFID technology has helped solve revenue-draining roadblocks in the healthcare industry. While their website might focus on broader applications, a case study can set the specific mood for a healthcare professional to truly visualize how their hospital processes can improve using this technology.
Set the mood with the right visuals: Trade vague social media imagery for tangible results
These days, businesses clamor to put out the most well-curated social media photo. So much so, that it might seem like finding the right coffee mug to tuck in the background has become more important than the product itself. Businesses are so frantic to make the photo look “just right” that they forget to show what the heck it is their product actually does. You might double-tap photos like this for sake of aesthetics. But does this kind of imagery interest you in learning more about the product? Or do you just scroll on with zero impression of what the product actually did?
So how can you use social media to get customers ‘in the mood’ for your actual product, instead of just being an unremarkable pit stop during a forgettable scroll session?
How many shampoos, conditioners, face moisturizers and more have you seen lying askew in a dewy Instagram-worthy meadow? Natural haircare maven Curly Coily Tresses doesn’t just populate her feed with pristinely placed branded bottles. In fact, maybe 1 out of 15 images are actually of the product itself.
Instead, most of her images are of the actual results of using her products. She even shares videos of herself washing her hair to immerse customers in the actual process of using her products. There’s no question what her business is about, and her content isn't meant to just be pretty. It serves as an excellent mood-setter for the haircare success she’s able to deliver to her customers.
These are just some of the ways you can set the mood for customers to visualize exactly how you’re able to help them. Instead of using your digital content to strictly convey information, try integrating a few of these ways to set the stage for customers to truly visualize the benefits of doing business with you.
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