Imagine this…
Your workday is coming to a close. You spent the day busting your butt and your brain is fried.
Suddenly your phone dings and you see a text from your spouse.
They’re asking a question that fills you with dread, “What should we make for dinner?”
You’re all decision-ed out for the day.
You want something delicious and healthy, but you don’t feel like spending an hour in the kitchen. There aren’t any leftovers in the fridge, either. You could order take-out, but you already got UberEats this week.
In a moment of procrastination, you open your inbox. You scroll through emails and see an ad with a subject line that grabs your attention.
It reads: “Fresh, ready-to-cook meal kits at your door — try it free”
You open the email, click the promo link, and before you know it you’ve placed your order.
A few days later, a big green box arrives at your front doorstep. Your spouse asks what it is and you excitedly tell them, “It’s dinner for the next week!”
You both breathe a tangible sigh of relief.
Where did you order from?
In today’s special edition of Why We Buy, we’re analyzing a brand you’ve seen promoted across your social media news feeds.
This week, we’re diving into—you guessed it—HelloFresh.
Let’s get into it.
“Top Marketing Newsletters You Need to Subscribe To”
A Look Inside HelloFresh🤑
Turns out you’re not the only one struggling to come up with dinner ideas at the end of a long workday.
HelloFresh has seen 7.22 million customers walk through its digital doors. In Q1 of 2021, they had 2.6 million active customers.
That equated to $705 million in 2021 Q4 sales!
They even have over 260,000 Instagram posts tagged with #hellofreshpics (more like hello free marketing…).
People can access hundreds of thousands (millions?!) of free recipes online…
How did HelloFresh become such a massive business?
How HelloFresh Uses Buyer Psychology 🧠
HelloFresh’s success isn’t a convenient outcome. The food delivery service has figured out a thing (or 4) about creating a successful business that makes their customers keep coming back for more.
Here are some tasty strategies worth stealing:
IKEA Effect
People place a higher value on things they helped to build or create. This is known as the IKEA Effect.
#HelloFreshPics is a testament to people’s love of sharing things they’ve made. From building a dresser to making chicken parm—people want to show off their masterpieces. HelloFresh’s business model bakes in shareability as their customers happily snap photos of their fancy meal.
Social Proof
Turning your customers into your salespeople is low-hanging fruit that HelloFresh harvested early on. Their refer a friend program gives customers a kickback for getting people to try out the meal service for the first time.
Zero Price Effect
HelloFresh is always looking to sweeten the deal. Their current offer includes “16 free meals and 3 gifts.” They know hesitant first-time buyers need an extra nudge, and free stuff is exactly what they’re waiting for.
Authority
If there were influencer olympics, HelloFresh would be a contender. Their influencer marketing game involves white labeling from A-list celebrities like Jessica Alba. They’ve used influencer marketing to create authority in specific niches (stay-at-home moms, working parents, married millennials, etc.).
Framing
How you say something matters even more than what you say. HelloFresh knows this which is why their checkout page shows the Box price ($59.94) and the Price per serving ($9.99). This is smart framing because $9.99 feels cheaper compared to the $59.94 box price.
Pricing like this also makes it easier for people to conceptualize how much they’re spending per meal using HelloFresh vs. eating out.
Thinking About Your Business 🤔
You don’t have to be a DTC company to use the buyer psychology principles that have turned HelloFresh into a 7+ million customer company.
Ask yourself:
Q: How can you give away a free taste?
Even if your products are digital, your buyers would love to get a “taste” so they know they’ll like what they sign up for. Get creative about ways you can show your customers just how “tasty” your products are.
Q: Are you using your army of free salespeople?
Your buyers want to promote how much they love your products. Don’t make them jump through hoops to do it.
Fun fact: We just started using Sparkloop for our newsletter referral program and we gained 346 referrals already! 🎉
Q: Can you create authority in your industry?
Use influencers in your specific niche to get built-in trust from your ideal audience. You don’t need A-list celebrities—you need nano and micro-influencers with engaged audiences.
The Short of It 💥
You could just look up free recipes online and drive to the grocery store to get your ingredients. But, that’s not the same.
HelloFresh proves that convenience sells, especially when you integrate buyer psychology principles like these.
They’ve done their homework and now you can swipe what worked.
Until next time, happy selling!
Pssssttt…
Wanna really get inside your buyer’s head?
There are a few ways I can help:
- Get explosive clarity about what works with buyers by learning how to conduct 1:1 Clarity Calls (2000+ happy students)
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- Book a 1:1 strategy call with Katelyn and get the answers you need to get unstuck and move forward with confidence
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