How Good Are Your Anchors?
Software is about the most abstract product in the universe. After all, it's just 1s and 0s organized into a unique pattern that—when translated correctly by the right system—does something interesting.
As such, it's different from selling cars or toaster ovens.
Because software is abstract, it's in many ways more like a service than a product. When we buy a service, we're buying an abstraction: a promise or expectation that an activity will be performed correctly. Software is similar. There are no doors to slam, leather seats to smell, engines to rev. Of course, there's the demo, but we all know about the demo.
The answer is in anchors. Basically an anchor is a first impression that modifies all subsequent decisions. This is why grocery stores price items as “4 for $1”—the number 4 is the anchor and will increase the quantity that people buy.
Scary, but based on science.
Now this is the important part, so try to stay awake: You've got anchors all over the place for your company, your product, and you may not even be aware of them.
Take your web site. I hate to harp on this, but if it looks home-grown, kludgy, broken links, bad design—people will anchor your company/product there. No matter how good your company/product is, they will downgrade its value because of the negative anchor.
The opposite is also true. Have a positive, strong anchor, and customers will subsequently be more likely to upgrade your company/product even if their experiences aren't as positive as they should be.
This isn't slime, although it could be used as such. This is smart: don't shoot yourself in the foot. Anchors include your web site, data sheets, trade show booths, business cards, the way you answer the phone: anything that creates that first impression. Make sure they're working for you, not against you.
