Myth: Countdown counters increase conversion

Still using countdown counters? Once they were popular, and we decided to think about how much these meters can harm the business.

So, I would like to make out a common, judging by what can be observed on many landing page, a myth.

Countdown counters.
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As you probably know, these counters should make it clear to the potential client that decision time is limited, thus setting a deadline in front of him. Theoretically, such an approach to “closing a deal” solves the problem of overly long deliberation of a proposal by a client, which reduces the likelihood that he will change his mind.

Contrary to theory, practice shows that those landing pages that use the countdown counters in the b2b services sector have an average of 27% more “failures” than those who do not use them. Roughly speaking, the use of this tool simply "drains" your advertising budget "into the pipe."

What are the reasons for these "failures"?

In view of the fact that I did not find any evidence explaining the reasons for the rapid departure of people from sites using countdown counters, I can only guess.

• Assumption number 1: pride

Customer pride is hurt: he is told how long he can afford to think.

As a rule, a person who is in the position of a client wants to be the owner of the situation, not the hostage. Becoming a hostage to the situation, the client feels frustrated and instinctively pushes away from himself the reason why he was disappointed.

Will not a healthy person hold in his hands a hot frying pan if he felt pain?

• Assumption number 2: experience

The experience of many entrepreneurs tells them that it is very risky to conduct any business with those who from the very beginning use such an obvious manipulation of the behavior of their potential clients.

In order to avoid possible problems, such entrepreneurs simply leave the site without giving the performers a chance to let themselves down.

• Assumption number 3: principles

There are many people who, in principle, do not want to be “made fools” of them. It is natural that there are such people among entrepreneurs. Many people know that this counter is updated when the page is updated, well, or, in extreme cases, is updated at the expiration of the countdown.

If a person is at the same time one of those who dislikes when someone “tries to make a fool” and those who know how this meter works, he probably will not leave a request on a site that uses countdown counters. The same can be said about those cases where a person did not have time to make a decision during the countdown, after which he returned to the site and saw that the counter counts all the same time as the previous time.

Does this foster trust? Controversial issue.

• Assumption number 4: stress

As you know, people instinctively avoid making difficult decisions. If a person has a choice between: “to take right now” and “not to take” - he, most likely, will not choose anything that is equivalent to the option “not to take”. Thus, once again it is possible to make sure that the counters are not that “do not work” - they lead to losses, which is much worse.

Conclusion: as you can see, your intentions mean nothing. It is only important how they are perceived by other people. It is up to everyone to use the countdown counters, but you need to be well aware of whether or not they really harm your business.

Knowledge of behaviorism is what allows marketers to avoid mistakes that lead to loss of profits.
We, as a video studio engaged in the creation of advertising videos, are well versed in behaviorism.

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