
On this episode of Brain Driven Brands, Nate and Sarah take a good look at his bundling strategy and break down the science behind the sell. Nate also makes a sneaky move when he announces a product that might change everything for Original Grain…...
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Nate Legos
Welcome to the 90th episode of Brain Driven Brands. Can you believe we've done 90 episodes?
Sarah Levinger
That's a lot, actually. Don't. I've heard those podcasts end, like, episode seven.
Nate Legos
Oh, yeah. No, we're killing it. We're top 1% of podcasts. Look it up. Are we? Yeah.
Sarah Levinger
Is that a real thing?
Nate Legos
Yeah, if you do more than, like, a thousand total downloads, you're, like, top 1%.
Sarah Levinger
That is bonkers. Oh, I'm gonna celebrate. This is gonna be so fun. We should do something. I don't know what. We'll.
Nate Legos
Yeah. By the way. Chat or Twitter or whatever. Give us ideas for what to do for the Hundredth.
Sarah Levinger
Yes.
Nate Legos
Because we haven't planned for it. The hundredth is only going to be, like, two weeks away or something. We got to figure it out.
Sarah Levinger
We should probably figure it out because. Yeah, we're coming up on it in, like, two, three weeks. End of July, we will episode 100.
Nate Legos
100 unsponsored podcasts. I mean, just.
Sarah Levinger
We did it.
Nate Legos
Just huge. Just huge that we haven't hoard ourselves out.
Sarah Levinger
Hey, hey, ain't nobody tell us what to do. Okay? That is Sarah's mantra in life. Ask my husband. Ain't nobody gonna tell me what to do.
Nate Legos
Unless you're talking on podcast ads. My podcast is sponsored. Every episode has been.
Sarah Levinger
Okay. It's not for lack of trying. Like, I've tried.
Nate Legos
I know, I know.
Sarah Levinger
And it just. It hadn't happened there, so it's fine. We are on episode 90 today.
Nate Legos
I will.
Sarah Levinger
Interesting. Top topic.
Nate Legos
Yeah. I'm super excited. I get to pick the topic for once. So if you guys listen to this episode and are like, damn, that was a good one. Let me have more input on the show. Notes.
Sarah Levinger
First of all, I spend at least five minutes thinking about every episode, so.
Nate Legos
Yeah, five minutes more than me. All right. Can I tell you what's crushing for us?
Sarah Levinger
Yes. Do it up.
Nate Legos
That, like, a year ago, I thought was a bad idea for us.
Sarah Levinger
And, like, oh, okay.
Nate Legos
I thought this wouldn't have played out the way it did. Bundles are ripping.
Sarah Levinger
Oh. Which is so weird because you guys are in freaking watches. Like, how are bundles working for watch? Explain that to me. Explain. I don't get it.
Nate Legos
I don't quite know, but.
Sarah Levinger
Oh, okay.
Nate Legos
I'll tell you what we found out so far. When we, like, pre build a bundle and name it something cool that absolutely rips. When we tell someone, like, hey, you can pick any three watches on our website and use this code to get the same amount Off. Yeah, that does not work at all.
Sarah Levinger
If you prepackage the logic, it works. But if you let them pick, it doesn't work.
Nate Legos
Yeah. So like, we have to, like, pre build bundles and then name them, like the Master Distiller bundle or like the Whiskey Neat bundle.
Sarah Levinger
Oh, my.
Nate Legos
And those are absolutely ripping. I think it just reduces decision fatigue and I think it, like, guarantees that there's going to be a watch in there that whoever they're gifting it to, like, they're gonna love. But I mean, crushing.
Sarah Levinger
So much psychology in that, I can't even tell you.
Nate Legos
Well, get into it. We got 25 minutes.
Sarah Levinger
Okay. All right. 25 minutes. All right. So first off the bat, this is fascinating that you have tested both. And I appreciate, like, the type of marketer that you are because you don't just, like, take ideas and go, that one sort of worked. We're just gonna keep doing it for the next five years. You're very calculated in about how you look at these things. So you have two different bundles, one of which is just like a. Choose your own. Which you would assume most customers would.
Nate Legos
Love because it's like we cleverly titled it the BYOB deal. Build your own bundle. Genius.
Sarah Levinger
People were like that.
Nate Legos
You're like, no, don't like it.
Sarah Levinger
Which is crazy considering your customer loves that BYOB thing.
Nate Legos
Should have.
Sarah Levinger
Yeah, should have ripped a big part of their ecosystem. Interesting. So it should have worked. Why didn't it? The psychology behind this is really interesting. So we talked a little bit the last episode. Choice overload. Right. So if you give somebody too many options, they typically just opt out of the entire experience because it's just too heavy. The brain goes, that's a lot. And they just skip out. Now this is fascinating though, because you've basically taken the same experience you've just pre bundled. You just made it easier for them to, like, make a decision. Because I've given you the options for you. You don't have to pick them. We're just going to bundle them ourselves. Now, that's the first thing you did right. Second thing you did right was you named them.
Nate Legos
Yeah.
Sarah Levinger
That is one of the things that I. I don't think any D2C brand ever listens to, Sarah, when I say this constantly. Name it. Give it a name. And I'm not even talking about just like the three step face. Like serum. No, no. Give it an epic name. Yeah. Give it a freaking identity. Because at the end of the day, ain't nobody buying any three step system.
Nate Legos
No.
Sarah Levinger
But they Will buy the Clear Skin solution. They will buy that. So talk to me about these names. What do you, what are they? Like what are the bundle names?
Nate Legos
Master Distillers Bundle. Whiskey Neat Bundle. The Whiskey Sunset Bundle. Comes with sunglasses. Got the Outdoorsman Bundle, we've got the Craftsman Bundle. And yeah, I mean like I think we have not split test the names, but I think that's what I want to do next.
Sarah Levinger
Yes.
Nate Legos
Because I want to see like what other identities we can tap into. But no, like every time I check how many bundles we're selling, I'm like, really? Really? Because our, our AOV is like 300 bucks. The cheapest bundle is 600 so it gets double our AOV. The most expensive one is 1500 and we sell a lot of that 1500.
Sarah Levinger
Dollar bundle in insane. And you guys didn't do bundles last year because you talked about like you didn't think this was gonna work. Why didn't you think it was gonna work?
Nate Legos
Because we tried everything to get people to buy more than one watch.
Sarah Levinger
Everything like, okay, give me the breakdown.
Nate Legos
Everything like even like buy one, get one half off deals we tried doing basically like, hey, if you buy two, we'll do an escalating discount if you buy three or five. So we, we, we tried everything and struck out on everything until we just built one and we're like, hey, now this is one SKU that is called, you know, whatever, the Whiskey Neat Bundle. Yeah, it has three watches on like the product shot and it's priced 600 bucks. Ripped. That is absolutely ripped.
Sarah Levinger
Especially because you ran what I would say typical like promos for most DDC brands. They ran a BOGO 50 like you ran like buy one, get, buy two, get three. Like you ran a whole bunch of different from formats of this. But it wasn't until you just were like, we're going to give you five.
Nate Legos
Yeah, we're going to give you three or five. You get a deal on it. You get the display box for free.
Sarah Levinger
Why would that happen? All right, so now I need to dissect the like psychology behind this. If you have a customer type and oh, I think I have an idea of why this is working for you and why the smaller bundles did not. If you have a customer type who's typically the type of human that thinks things should be earned, usually whatever the prize is at the end of their, like end of the race or whatever it is, that prize needs to be big enough to make it worth it. If you discount something by 50, that tells me this is not worth it. 50 is huge. Like, especially if I'm act. If I want it to be hard and you're telling me we're gonna make it 50 easier for you to get it, I'm gonna be like, what the. Like, I'm. I want it to be difficult, make it hard for me to get. I don't want to get something that everybody else on the planet has. Like, I want it to be. And we found this out because we ran a whole bunch of like, marketing, like research panels for you guys. Your customer type loves things to be difficult. So that's the first thing. Second thing I see in here, which is really interesting, is you ran different packs of things because you ran that like, buy one, get one 50% off, which we already understand why that didn't work. You ran two other ones, though. What was the two other ones?
Nate Legos
Like, an escalating discount. Whether you bought two or three or five would go up from like 20 to 30 to 40 off.
Sarah Levinger
That's it.
Nate Legos
Probably.
Sarah Levinger
Thing is the BOGO51 same psychology, the discount hurts ya.
Nate Legos
And then we did buy two, get the third free, and it didn't work.
Sarah Levinger
That's really interesting. Yeah. They don't want it to be free.
Nate Legos
No.
Sarah Levinger
In fact, you should probably make it even harder to get your products. This is where the psychology comes in. And this is why I'm like, most marketers don't think about this shit. Think about it, guys. Like, if your customer likes things to be difficult. Because we know a lot about Nate's customer. If you've been listening to us long enough, you already know that, like the OG customer type, it greatly values their work ethic. They're incredibly family oriented, very community focused. They're also the type of guys that are deeply interested in sacrificing. Sacrifice being the key word here. They really, really enjoy giving up something in the hopes that they will attain something bigger in the future at some point in their life, if that's who they are, don't make your products easy for them to get. Oh, my God. This is like basic psychology 101. Do not make your products easy to get. For a customer type who doesn't like it easy.
Nate Legos
Yeah.
Sarah Levinger
Now.
Nate Legos
So do you know what we do that plays into that perfectly that. I didn't realize there was a reason behind it until you just told me. When we have a watch that's like selling out too quickly, and I'm like, oh, we only have 200 of these. They're moving quick. I'll remove it from the website. Except for in the bundle. So it's like if you want that watch, you can't buy it on its own. You have to buy the fifteen hundred dollar bundle.
Sarah Levinger
That's smart. That's really smart. You either wait until that watch comes back in stock or you can get it in the bundle. Wow. How did that work?
Nate Legos
Really good.
Sarah Levinger
Like I want you to know a lot of psychology.
Nate Legos
So good I'm considering never selling an individual watch again. In the zone of winning. I'm by winning. I went here and I went there. Now what?
Sarah Levinger
Whoa. Okay.
Nate Legos
I'm, I'm seriously like, well, why don't we just bundle everything, have like 10 bundles and nothing else available on our website.
Sarah Levinger
That's wow.
Nate Legos
Because even if conversion rate cuts in half, we're going to be better off.
Sarah Levinger
That's brave man. That's very brave.
Nate Legos
We're baby stepping our way there. We'll see if I get there.
Sarah Levinger
Well, I mean all it comes down to like looking at your cogs, taking a look at your sales, taking a look at how your product moves in your supply chain. If it makes more sense and if you're selling enough funnels that. Yeah, I was going to say if the math works, why not test it for even a couple months and see what it does. Now if the business starts to tank and it's like, ah, shit, that was a bad decision, then you know, back up a little bit. But also it'd be really interesting to test just a bundle only atmosphere. A lot of consumers nowadays, especially in the economic ecosystem that we're in right now, are very sensitive to the fact that I don't want to spend a lot of money unless it's going to be worth my while. Bundles are one of the best ways to help customers feel that way about your products is like, I can get more bang for my buck. As long as it's a quality product, I'm totally fine with spending that cash. Oh, fascinating. Yeah, that's nuts. You have a lot of psychology involved in your bundles. I never even heard of this before. Okay, so in general obviously this applies to a luxury based product. What have you experienced, I think outside of luxury, like even in your own shopping behaviors when it comes to bundles. Because I've got all kinds of like psychology tips for this.
Nate Legos
But, but yeah, I think the best like acquisition bundle strategy is just look at what people are buying on their second and third orders and like, yeah.
Sarah Levinger
That'S a good one.
Nate Legos
Those are the bundles that I buy. That's how we originally built these pre set bundles was like, well I know when someone buys that watch first, they usually come back and buy numbers 2 and 3. Let's bundle them all together. Let's see if we can get them all up for front. So, yeah, that's like, what I would do. A hundred percent. Any brand. If you have any kind of repeat purchasing behavior, just look at what people are buying in subsequent orders. Bundle it all together and put an offer on it.
Sarah Levinger
Okay, that's smart. Well, I love the tips. Okay, so I'm gonna lay it out for you of, like, where that fits in CRO level testing, right? So I think that's like, phase two, where you gotta have some good things set up on the bundle side first, which is, like, bundles 101. Then you got bundles 102, which is similar to this. Go back and take a look at what everybody's doing inside the ecosystem. Pair things together that make logical or behavioral sense. And then there's like, a third level that's, like, weird CRO tests you could do, which, if you want to know, one of those, like, tests that you could do at level three, go back to the last episode that we just talked about where you're, like, asking people not to buy stuff.
Nate Legos
Well, so. All right. I wanted to come back to that because do you think that's something that can make our, like, build your own bundle thing work better?
Sarah Levinger
Ooh.
Nate Legos
It, like, should there be a progress bar in the cart as soon as you add one? Watch. Should there be something that, like, when someone adds four, just be like, hey, you already unlocked the bundle deal. 3. Pick your favorite three.
Sarah Levinger
That. That should fix what we call, like, the cognitive dissonance that's happening in there, right? Where they're just, like, not sure, like, I think I want three. Maybe I want four. Maybe I'm spending too much money. What we're trying to do is, like, we talked about last episode, we're trying really hard to make sure that they don't overextend their capacity because everybody is. Everybody's eyes are bigger than their stomach, right? Like, we all think that we could eat craft tubs. So if you have a build your own bundle offer in place, what I would do on the front end. This sounds weird, but what I would do on the front end is I would probably let them know you can add as many as you want in here, but we're going to help you narrow it down to the one that's, like, meant for you, the watch that was meant for you. That way, while they're going through the process of, like, trying things on you're the stylist in the background that's going, that's cute. But like, look at this one.
Nate Legos
That's interesting.
Sarah Levinger
That's the only thing I would do on the front end. Everything else should work.
Nate Legos
Would you. The. The other thing I've thought about is, like, making suggestions based on which watch they add to cart first. So kind of doing the opposite of like, I'm not going to find the one that that's meant for you is like, you find the one that you love the most. I'll give you two that Compliment it. Well, that compliment and like, auto add it.
Sarah Levinger
Yeah. Oh, I love this. Oh, my God. CRO is so interesting when you start. Yes. Because you're again, by the way, for.
Nate Legos
The marketers in the back. All your conversions happen on the website. They don't happen on Facebook.
Sarah Levinger
Yep.
Nate Legos
Go work on your website.
Sarah Levinger
Yeah. Your website's kind of important. All of it comes down to choice architecture, man. You are an architect. It is your job to architect, especially if you're the guy that's laying the fricking concrete to help people understand where they should walk. Pay attention to. Oh, what, this is going to bug me now that I don't know this phrase. Desire. I think they call them desire paths. I need to look this up.
Nate Legos
Yeah. Like how people always cut corners and stuff. And like.
Sarah Levinger
Yeah, people cut corners in. In like on grass or whatever, even though the sidewalk exists in, like, a geometric pattern.
Nate Legos
The, like, college quad is like the example.
Sarah Levinger
Yeah, yeah.
Nate Legos
Where like, they have the things. But then what are those natural pathways?
Sarah Levinger
There are natural pathways that your customers take all the damn time. And if you can look at the front end and the back end and make connections between the two similar to how we just identified, like, you might be able to fix the issue with the build your own bundle just by helping people get to where they want to get to faster.
Nate Legos
Yeah.
Sarah Levinger
The watch that was made for you is a much stronger choice pathway than just be like, pick whatever you want. That's.
Nate Legos
Well, because I already think, like, we, We. We give people too many options on our website to. To start with, I think it's hard enough for someone to pick one watch that speaks to them. And I think if we can be like, all right, well, if we can eliminate the decision on numbers 2, 2, and 3, and you say, okay, our watch experts have curated this. This for you to be the ultimate collection.
Sarah Levinger
Yes.
Nate Legos
It'll have variety in color and movement and everything and size.
Sarah Levinger
So true.
Nate Legos
That's what I want to do. I don't know how to build that yet.
Sarah Levinger
Again, a lot of it just comes down to noticing that it's even happening.
Nate Legos
Yeah.
Sarah Levinger
And. And we already know that that, like, cognitive load is a thing for every customer, for every, like, website across the planet. So if you can tell where they're getting overwhelmed, very, very easy to just put guardrails in place and just be like, you can only add three or you can only add four, or you can add as many as you want. But at the end of the day, we're going to try and help you figure out which one is actually meant for you. Yeah. Way better architecture there. Oh, so interesting. Okay. Is there anything you want to add we could talk about?
Nate Legos
No. Run bundles. And I talked to someone the other day who didn't think bundles were right for their store. But, like, I'm telling you, I didn't either. It works. And, like, we are now even developing new products just to be a bundle thing.
Sarah Levinger
Oh.
Nate Legos
Like, we're talking about rolling out other accessories that, like, we wouldn't be too pumped about as, like, hero Skus. But I'm like, I think I can put that in a bundle and get people excited about it.
Sarah Levinger
Oh, my gosh. All right. So run your bundles, people. Also, I just put out on Twitter, Nate and I are up on 100 episodes of Brain Driven Brands. What should we do? And somebody, Carson said, I vote to drink whiskey and write copy using psychology for the whole thing, and then live stream.
Nate Legos
Cool. That's what I do on Friday nights anyway. Perfect.
Sarah Levinger
I'm just gonna. This is like Nate's normal Tuesday.
Nate Legos
Cool. Yeah.
Sarah Levinger
That is hilarious.
Nate Legos
Love you. And Casey, come out to the farm.
Sarah Levinger
Good. Super Casey.
Nate Legos
We can eat steak, drink whiskey, write copy.
Sarah Levinger
I mean, I'm down.
Nate Legos
Shopper stuff will hate it, but.
Sarah Levinger
Oh, shopper stuff. She can write copy with us.
Nate Legos
I don't think she wants to write copy.
Sarah Levinger
Consumer Casey doesn't know how to write copy.
Nate Legos
Yeah.
Sarah Levinger
Like, he's just gonna be there for the fun.
Nate Legos
I think both their spouses are probably sick of hearing about this. That's what I probably.
Sarah Levinger
This poor guy, he's like, why don't you go talk to Nate about that? I'm like, come on. It's interesting. Okay. Where can people find you?
Nate Legos
You can follow me at Nate Legos on Twitter and you can listen to the Tactical and practical podcast. It's pretty good. It's the latest compliment I got on it. I'm not kid thing. Someone DM'd me the other day. I said, think your podcast is pretty good. All right.
Sarah Levinger
Yeah. I think it's all right. You're doing an okay job.
Nate Legos
Okay, great. Thanks. Guy with 32 followers on Twitter. Appreciate it.
Sarah Levinger
Gotta pay attention. Those are the ones that I'll get you.
Nate Legos
I know he probably sneaky, runs a billion dollar brand and now you should not. I'm on a podcast, but he just.
Sarah Levinger
Trolls people for fun. Like, yeah, it's all right. All right. Follow me. Sarah Levinger Everywhere you could do content. Come check out the school. If you guys will learn how to apply psychology to your brand. We teach a lot of this stuff inside the school. If you guys want to join the community, there's over 140 members at this point in time. Get in there soon. Because I keep raising prizes because it there's so many people that want to learn now I'm like, guys, stop. Slow down. I can't answer all these questions. Okay? Anyways, come join us. Otherwise, have a lovely day and go test some bundles.
Nate Legos
Brain Driven Brands is part of the Learn and Laugh series on the Quickfire Podcast network and is presented by Tether Insights. For more information go to tetherinsights IO.
Podcast Information:
The episode commences with co-host Nate Legos and Sarah Levinger celebrating the podcast's impressive achievement of reaching 90 episodes. Nate expresses excitement about their standing in the top 1% of podcasts, highlighting their consistent performance without sponsorships up to this point.
Nate Legos [00:10]: "We're killing it. We're top 1% of podcasts."
Sarah humorously doubts the longevity of podcasts, referencing how many typically end prematurely.
Sarah Levinger [00:10]: "Don't. I've heard those podcasts end, like, episode seven."
Transitioning from milestones, Nate introduces the episode's main topic: the surprising success of bundling strategies in their watch business. Initially skeptical about bundling a year prior, Nate reveals that pre-packaged, creatively named bundles have outperformed traditional discount offers.
Nate Legos [01:43]: "That is absolutely ripped."
Sarah Levinger [02:24]: "If you prepackage the logic, it works."
Sarah delves deep into the psychological principles that make bundling effective. She references "choice overload," explaining that too many options can overwhelm customers, leading them to abandon the purchasing process altogether. Pre-built bundles simplify decision-making, reducing cognitive fatigue and ensuring customers find products they'll love.
Sarah Levinger [03:19]: "If you give somebody too many options, they typically just opt out of the entire experience because it's just too heavy."
Nate shares his observations, noting that self-selected bundles (e.g., "Build Your Own Bundle") underperformed compared to pre-packaged options with enticing names like "Master Distillers Bundle" and "Whiskey Neat Bundle."
Nate Legos [02:30]: "We have to pre-build bundles and then name it something cool that absolutely rips."
Sarah emphasizes the critical role of naming in bundling, arguing that epic, identity-driven names resonate more with customers than generic labels. This strategy not only makes bundles more appealing but also aligns them with customers' self-perceptions and aspirations.
Sarah Levinger [04:15]: "Give it an epic name. Yeah. Give it a freaking identity. Because at the end of the day, ain't nobody buying any three step system."
Nate lists several successful bundle names, illustrating how thematic branding contributes to their popularity.
Nate Legos [04:48]: "Master Distillers Bundle. Whiskey Neat Bundle. The Whiskey Sunset Bundle."
The hosts discuss the ineffectiveness of standard discount models like "Buy One, Get One 50% Off" or "Buy Two, Get One Free." Sarah provides a psychological rationale, explaining that customers who value effort and sacrifice are deterred by easy discounts, as they perceive higher value in overcoming challenges to obtain exclusive products.
Sarah Levinger [07:18]: "If you discount something by 50, that tells me this is not worth it."
Nate reveals a strategic shift in their business model, where exclusive products are only available through bundles, enhancing perceived value and exclusivity.
Nate Legos [09:16]: "If you want that watch, you can't buy it on its own. You have to buy the fifteen hundred dollar bundle."
Sarah introduces the concept of choice architecture in Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO), advocating for designing website pathways that guide customers toward desired actions without overwhelming them. She suggests implementing features like progress bars or personalized recommendations to streamline the bundling process.
Sarah Levinger [13:04]: "That should fix what we call, like, the cognitive dissonance that's happening in there."
Nate concurs, sharing ideas like auto-adding complementary products based on initial selections to enhance user experience and increase average order value.
Nate Legos [13:58]: "Would you. The. The other thing I've thought about is, like, making suggestions based on which watch they add to cart first."
Drawing from their experiences, Sarah and Nate outline actionable strategies for implementing successful bundling:
Analyze Repeat Purchases: Identify which products are commonly bought together in subsequent orders and create bundles based on these patterns.
Nate Legos [11:24]: "Any brand. If you have any kind of repeat purchasing behavior, just look at what people are buying in subsequent orders."
Create Thematic Names: Develop bundle names that evoke specific identities or lifestyles, making them more attractive and relatable to customers.
Limit Choices: Use design elements on the website to guide customers towards selecting a specific number of items, reducing decision fatigue.
Exclusive Access: Make certain high-demand products available only through bundles to enhance their exclusivity and value.
Nate shares the tangible benefits they've observed from their bundling strategies, including a significant increase in Average Order Value (AOV) and overall sales performance. He contemplates the future of their business model, considering an exclusive bundling approach that could potentially streamline operations and boost profitability further.
Nate Legos [16:58]: "We're talking about rolling out other accessories that, like, we wouldn't be too pumped about as, like, hero Skus. But I think I can put that in a bundle and get people excited about it."
Towards the end of the episode, Sarah and Nate encourage listeners to experiment with bundling strategies, emphasizing their effectiveness across various industries. They also invite the audience to engage with their community, seek advice, and share their own experiences with bundling.
Sarah Levinger [18:26]: "Get in there soon. Because I keep raising prizes because it there's so many people that want to learn now I'm like, guys, stop."
Nate humorously highlights their collaborative spirit and ongoing commitment to exploring new marketing tactics.
Nate Legos [17:38]: "We can eat steak, drink whiskey, write copy."
"The Psychology of Bundling" episode of Brain Driven Brands offers a comprehensive exploration of how strategic bundling, underpinned by psychological insights, can significantly enhance sales and customer engagement. Through their candid discussion, Sarah Levinger and Nate Legos provide valuable lessons for e-commerce brands aiming to optimize their product offerings and marketing strategies.
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Brain Driven Brands is part of the Learn and Laugh series on the Quickfire Podcast network and is presented by Tether Insights. For more information, visit tetherinsights.io.