How Ikea builds customer trust using its sales copy

How Ikea builds customer trust using its sales copy
Tali Shapira

Tali Shapira

May 12 2023

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9.8k

Running a promotion is more than reducing prices; it's an opportunity to build customer trust, drive profitable growth, and increase sales. IKEA is a great example of how to grow trust with every promotion.

Running a promotion is often misunderstood as merely reducing prices and trying to sell slow-moving inventory. However, this is a lazy way of running a promotion. In fact, you can even increase prices and still run a promotion. There's a lot more to running a promotion than just selling cheaply. A promotion is an opportunity to not only sell a product but also build customer trust driving long term profitable growth in a business.

Ikea sales copy example, we lower prices where we can.
Ikea sales copy example, we lower prices where we can.

Let's take IKEA as an example. They have a 90+ score on the Konigle Profitability Index. In the above example, they are selling a wardrobe for $199 with a compare at price of $229. Apart from implementing two classic pricing tactics, 

  1. Compare at Price
  2. Charm Pricing 

IKEA is also using the sales copy to convey the reason why the price is reduced. It says, "We lower prices where we can." This is a great way to position IKEA as a brand that is always looking to do the best by its customers, which includes reducing their costs and passing the savings to their customers.

In their sales copy, "We lower prices where we can," IKEA is building trust along the four pillars of trust according to McKnight and Chevarny's famous research, What is Trust? A Conceptual Analysis and an Interdisciplinary Model, termed as BUMPER - benevolence, integrity, competence, and predictability.

Instead of simply stating that they have discounted a product, IKEA is communicating their benevolence and integrity by implying that they are passing on cost benefits to their customers. They are also demonstrating competence by positioning themselves as capable of offering high-quality products at the best possible prices in the minds of their customers. Additionally, by saying "We lower prices where we can," they are conveying predictability and encouraging customers to anticipate price drops. This reframing of the product as the result of IKEA's brilliance in cost reduction, rather than as a slow-moving item, further reinforces their competence and predictability.

All of these measures help increase both conversions and customer lifetime value. They also provide IKEA with the pricing power to launch a product at a higher price and then reduce it if it does not sell well, preventing dead stock.

This is what we call a unicorn tactic, which is seldom seen but highly effective in implementing multiple strategies of the 7 strategies of making money online at once.

Run high trust promotions on your Shopify store 

Its great to know about this amazing tactic by IKEA, but how can a Shopify store benefit from this ? Well, you can implement such high trust promotions on a Shopify Store in minutes using the Konigle Bulk Price Editor Tool. Here's how :

How to run a promotion that builds trust on a Shopify Store
Tali Shapira

Author

Tali Shapira

Tali Shapira a CFO helps an e-commerce business find areas to reduce costs for an online store and suggest tactics they can implement.