One of the best ways to truly understand consumer behavior is to put it to the test and see the results. Getting consumers to opt in to things is a difficult proposition. Any amount of work involved in opting in causes friction. People don’t like taking action, even if it means getting free money. It’s even worse if it means saving money.
At our nursery, I was looking for ways to get people to buy more trees. So I tried to find out why people don’t plant more of them. It turned out the reasons were three things: 1) cost, 2) the large size of the trees, and 3) fear of spending a lot of money and having the tree die.
So I built a program to try to remove some of those barriers. I started by giving a big discount if you purchased more than two trees, and an even larger discount if you had three or more planted. Our biggest cost was loading up the trees and bringing them to the yard. There are large economies of scale when bringing multiple plants, and I passed those savings along. This was received very well.
To tackle the large size issue, we offered to deliver the tree and drop it right in your yard next to a flag we provided—if you lived within 20 miles. This took all the work out of figuring out how to get it home. We handled that part, and again, it was very well received.
The last part was the hardest. How could I take away the fear of losing the tree and eating the cost? The easiest answer was to guarantee it. The problem with a straight guarantee is that it puts all the risk on the nursery, even though the homeowner controls the watering and care. If it’s guaranteed with no questions asked, many won’t make an effort to keep it alive.
So I added an “insurance fee” to guarantee the tree. That didn’t work. The people who bought it were usually the ones most likely to kill the tree. The buyers who knew they’d care for it tended not to purchase it.
One day, a large company that sold mycorrhiza came to talk about their product and how it improved tree survival rates in the first few years. I asked, “Can you guarantee that?” Long story short, we worked out a deal. They said if we bought $5,000 or more of their product and verified that it was used at planting, they would guarantee the tree from year two to year three. We’d cover the first year, and they’d cover the next two.
I took this and created a program called “Get Your Tree Guaranteed for 3 Years” for only $20. It was a great deal, but the same issue came up, no buy-ins. So I changed it. I raised the planting cost by $30 and included the product in the price. Then I changed the marketing to “We Guarantee Our Tree Plantings for 3 Years for FREE.” No opt-in. No choice. You got it automatically when you bought from us.
I don’t remember the exact numbers, but plantings went up at least 100–200%. It was a huge hit. Over ten years, we had about the same percentage of losses after year one, but since we were planting so many more trees, the total replacements increased. Still, the tradeoff was worth it. We built an entire planting division with two full crews working year-round. That came from one crew that wasn’t even full during the summer before.
That program did millions in sales over the years. Eventually, the company providing the insurance ended the program after a bad Midwest winter when our refunds were five times what we were spending with them. We eventually had to drop it down to a one-year warranty, but the gains had already been made. Losses after the first year were due to weather, not plant quality or maintenance, so without insurance, it made no sense to cover them.
This taught me a lot about opt-ins, tackling customer fears and needs, and using those lessons to build sales and programs. There’s no better way to understand customer behavior than to test it.
Quote of the Day:“The best way to find out if your idea works is to put it in front of people and see what happens.” — Eric Ries
Domain of the Day: Cho.co Hack and a 3L
Please Note: The list below contains affiliate links and/or names that have been posted for a fee. It is how we pay for our time since it is a free site. More details at bottom of page. Can go to any of the auctions by adding the names at the end like this one
Dynadot
FQQT.com I do think Q has become usuable in 4Ls because of Quantum but two makes it difficult
GOAI.xyz Think what the dot com would be worth and take 5% of that
StartupAngel.com Pretty much covers the VC angle
OXXX.net 24 years old. I see adult here
SugarDrop.com Ends today. Good dropcatching name
UltraDealer.com The best dealer of whatever they are dealing. 22 years old
YWBF.com Currently at $20. No reserve
Refueller.com Top it off
Namejet
Shipmind.com AI for shipping
Yalco.com 5L at auction at $85
Vendstar.com Where I get my honey buns or turn in my coins
PrimeSignal.com Exudes data scraper from net or social media to establish direction or trends early
PerfectWeather.com I would use it to market my destination with perfect weather. A Hawaii or San Diego type place. Clothing too “Its not the weather, its the clothing”
Antico.com “Ancient” in Italian so you see it in a lot of Pizza and Italian restaurant names
LoveAndMarriage.com 60 bidders. Yes, I think of the song too
GoodTruck.com Not much can beat a good truck
PoolRepair.com Auction just started
BusinessMasters.com Sounds like a course or a group of peers in business
Immunocare.com 100% a drug or pharma
Atom – Active Auctions
Sweefy.com Like this as a brandable for $80. No reserve
QOZO.com Officially a CVCV.com
PHPS.com Opening is pretty close to wholesale value
QuQQo.com Visually a cute name. No reserve at $20
Gumbo.xyz $80 opening and no reserve. A little value at that price. No bids
AKVD.com Most bids on the Atom auction board
Taxing.ai No reserve. My new accountant
RYFN.com FN for financial
Sedo
Ethereum.ar Keyword is worth $500 on its own IMO
WDR.com and AFZ.com Two LLLs in this auction. The Z in the second one makes for a tough acronym. Dr. in the first adds value
Invention.co exudes innovation and new tech
Online.coffee A bit generic but the overall SLD and TLD together is very brandable
AgenticAdvantage.com Hard to find a hotter word than agentic. Under $100 at press time
Pida.com Great name but to have a reserve of $2M wastes everyones time
PDN.ai Reasonable reserve on this one
Catched
Arc.me Arc is such a good brand
Evolution.capital A lot of companies are using .capital. On Google do site:.capital and you will see
Robotics.me Another great keyword in .me
Firefly.me Throw in one more
Byron.co First AND Last name
Strike.es Samsies but worse TLD
Private.gold With gold at all time highs its ripe for RWA tokenization
Winnie.co Disney and a popular first name
GreenTree.co Another dot co doing well
Godaddy Domains with Bids
eAngels.com Most bids on the board and I don’t like. I would never buy an e name at this point. Dates a project
PandaGaming.com Already have the logo in my head
VirtualPower.com Power and energy are the key needs of everything. Virtual or real
Covers.co Many valuable things need covers. Truckbeds come to mind first.
LRM.org Live something Model
Stancy.com Last name but all the results come up for the Steve and Nancy couple in Stranger Things
UnderTheTable.com Where all the good transactions happen
IntelligenceSystems.com Sounds like a 1980s company
Cotic.com Used by a few companies with leading results UK Bike company
LifeWings.com Taken in 15 extensions
BlueJeans.org Many people have no idea of the giant collectible market of blue jeans and blue jean clothing
Tasers.org Unfortunately trademarked but could be a fan site 😂
Good Value Godaddy Names (1 or NO Bids or Good Value at Current Price)
Other GoDaddy Names With More Than One Bid
64932.com
774444.com
77752.com
99128.com
AboutFaceInternational.org
aketta.com
AutoMexico.com
bandlwinecellars.com
Banjo.info
BenefitsUses.com
BestCryptoBets.com
Bethie.com
Betting-Crypto.com
BinGrant.org
bm111.com
BolesWorthInternational.com
CasaVigilMiami.com
CindyLuis.com
CloudSip.com
copdaz.org
cryptoaec.com
cryptokonvo.com
CryptomeriaLabs.com
DigEbitCrypto.com
DigitalPremier.com
ebikeuniverse.com
EverythingRadish.com
evictionkc.org
FishOnline.org
flyash.info
gdlv.com
GenuineJoeCoffee.com
greenybros.com
HappyOdds.com
ichibanri.com
InvestmentBootCamp.com
jcryptoc.com
kutub-pdf.net
kxpoker.com
kyria.com
LittleTroubleLockhart.com
md222.com
MobileCryptoBet.com
motelpalmeiras.com
MultiVersed.com
NashvilleMeetsLondon.com
nasseej.com
oraribus.com
PayPeach.com
pbccaribbean.com
pghub.com
PowerSourcing.com
rachaelkable.com
ShowMeTheSite.us
SolidGo.com
Stem-Works.com
thesocialaz.us
ThinkNova.com
traumatys.com
TravelMateRobotics.com
tudoctor.com
usmf.com
VeganHeritagePress.com
VideoDocs.com
wmrrcnc.org
xperttaxis.com
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