purchase, order, or buy

"Grab the opportunity, Right Now!>>"

 

I have Buy Now. I don't think it makes a lot of difference. Personally I like Buy Now because it suggests "exchange for something valuable". Order sounds like there's a delay before the order and the product. But that's just my opinion.

 

Ive always been a fan of telling it like it is. Being really direct and as unconfusing as possible. If someone likes your game (the key deciding factor) then they want to find out how to buy the thing. Not guess that the words "get it now" are goign to take them to the purchase page. I can't really envision the scenario where it says "buy now" and someone is so turned off by the word buy (how dare they expect me to BUY this!) that the sale gets snuffed.

 

I definitely prefer going to a website with a clear Buy Now button, and don't like to be put off with a red herring like Order Now.

 

My guess is there is some psychological research somewhere that shows certain word choices would convert better than others. All words have different connotations in each language with different repurcussions from using each word.

Is "Order Now" really a "red herring" compared to "Buy Now"? They mean the same thing... just different connotations.

 

I suppose marketing peoples brings the experience from the real life into online too easily. When you visit some real store and somebody from staff says: "If you get this away right now..." you obviously understand that you should pay for this. Peoples get significantly different experience at the online web area - too many things go for free there (web games is the first example coming into mind). That's why we prefer to stay as clear as possible for our visitors - want to get the full version "Buy Now"

 

Back in 1995 when I launched my website a friend of mine who worked in marketing suggested I change all my "Buy Now" links/buttons to "Order Online". His rationale being that "Order Online" is not as aggressive sounding.

He also suggested that I take the word "GAMES" out of my company name. He claims that if I ever planned on selling products other than games, I would be taken more seriously with the word "SOFTWARE" in my title. He says this is the reason that "Id Software" chose their name. He said they knew in the future they would be licensing their 3D engines as a major part of their business model and wanted the Suits to take them seriously.



Stan Chatman
TC ConS Software & Games

 

The actual name of Twilight Games legal entitiy is Twilight Development Corp. I did that for the reason you describe. I could open theme parks with the name development. Software limits me as well!

I think the notion of order now being less agressive etc... Its bs. I'd like to see anyone back that up with some solid stats showing a site with order now buttons outsells a site with buy now buttons. I have a feeling I'll be waiting a while.

 

I use "Order" and put the price nearby. I don't think the difference between "Buy" and "Order" is that great. Order might imply placing an order, whereas buy might seem more instant.

"Buy" is probably better than "Pay For". I thought "Get Full Game" was what Dexterity ethused? I certainly do not like the sound of "Get Now".

Mark

 

Does anyone who gets decent sales care to try an A/B test?

 

And me, I wanted to switch TO Hamumu Games from Hamumu Software, just because it sounds too damn stuffy and doesn't immediately tell people they'll be getting games. And ironically, the opposite problem as stanchat - I'd like to sell board/card games maybe in the future, so "Software" would be confusing and wrong!

 

if I ever have more than one game to sell, I'll use "add to cart" phrase. People love to shop and if your site is a store I think I oughta bring that feeling to the customer
Anyway, I kinda agreed with opinion that "buy now" is too strong even though I can't point out a good data on it.
It's just that when I enter a site and see in my face that I have to pay (yes, i'm cheap), sometimes I don't even bother to see what games they have.

I believe there are subtle ways to pitch your sales or at least let the customer get to know your product first. Words such as "See our demo", "Order it now online", etc have better ways to get into your brain.

If you talk to a speechwriter or any writer, they'll give you a hard time why in english we have "purchase" and "buy".. but that's probably just bs

 

There's another (stronger) reason why "order online" is preferable to "buy now" :
"order online" might appeal much more to the compulsive buyer type of people.
"Order online" refers to novelty, technology (online) and something that is still new for many consumers, that is buying online. More importantly it tells them that it's not like going to the store for a traditionnal purchase ("buy"), in the contrary they are just a few clicks away from owning the products and mastering modern technology at the same time. That gives them a great sense of power (primary motive for compulsive buyers), they are on top of the wave.
A good way to appeal to a compulsive audience is to tell it that they will be part of something new and exciting,something shiny and technological and more importantly that they will benefit from the top of what can be offered to somebody with the power to purchase.

 

I've found your opinion fun and probably correct electronicStar. I'm just pretty not sure that most of peoples prefer to be part of something new...

 

Many people are resistant to change, but if there is a place to find people who like new things and are less resistant to change, wouldn't it be the net?

 

I tend to go with the term "Get Now". I do agree that people are wary of the world "Buy" or "Purchase"

 

For the same reason we always put our Buy Now button immediately near the Try Now one -- the potential customer shoul associate the one-click from the Try Now option also with the Buy Now, therefore thinking of a painless buy procedure, [disclaimer: shameless ad following] which is, of course, true