Internet Marketing Services, The Ridiculously Powerful Concept of Endowed Progress

I’ve always told my clients and readers to make sure the price on the front door is as high as makes any rational sense.

If you can, in any way, justify a price so high, it’s still probably too low.

Because when it comes to websites, effective marketing never takes your customer through the front door. There will always be a special offer, sales funnel, or secret back door that gets them the deal of a lifetime.

So you have to have that “full-boat retail” on the front door. And it has to be a live link that someone can buy through.

This leads us to the concept of Endowed Progress.

Some of the most imaginative marketing I’ve seen has been done by carwashes. One such “test” promotion was done in 2004. A carwash gave out 300 loyalty cards, but used a split-test. 150 randomly selected customers were given a loyalty card with 8 spots for a stamp. Each time they used the carwash, they got one stamp. When they collected 8 stamps, they got a free wash.

The other group of 150 customers received a card with 10 spaces. But the first two spaces were already stamped.

Same thing, right? Both groups had to get 8 washes to get one free.

I’ll bet you can guess what happened. Here’s the study for my fellow numbers nerds.

Only 19% of the cards with 8 spaces were filled and redeemed for a free wash. While 34% of the 10-space cards with 2 pre-filled were redeemed for a free wash.

Quite significant.

It has to do with perceived value and the desire to not lose progress already achieved.

There is a greater perceived value in a card that is already stamped, so the customer is less likely to discard or misplace it. And if someone believes they are already part of the way toward a goal, they feel much more compelled to complete it.

Can you imagine what the results would have been if the card was found on the floor with 7 of 10 spots already stamped, versus a card that just had 3 spaces on it?

I used this powerful concept in one of my sales processes, with great effect. By attending a 90-minute webinar presentation, prospects earned $6,000 toward my $10,000 software and training membership system. Can you sense how this felt, rather than just placing a $4,000 price tag on the product? Now, in that case, the $10,000 price tag was entirely justified. The product was worth it. The homepage of the site sold it for that much, as well.

Take a moment and think about it… How can you Endow your prospects with Progress towards a purchase? Can you incorporate this concept into your sales funnel? Can your prospects take some action that awards them part of the purchase price, already paid?

It is entirely different than giving a discount, though the outcome is the same.


If you walked up to a counter in a store and asked the price of an item you found with no price tag and the checker said, “$10”; but then the manager walked up and slapped a $5 bill down on the counter, saying “That thing is awesome. I’ll pay for half of it”, how likely would you be to complete the purchase?

Endowed Progress is just one of Seven powerful psychological concepts we at Mixed Synergy apply to every marketing project we handle. Give it, or us, a try.