Funnel Breakdown: How To Sell A $70 Toothbrush

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How do you sell a $70 toothbrush?

Considering that a high quality “regular” toothbrush costs $5, it is a hefty challenge to convince thousands of customers that they should spend 14x more to achieve the same outcome.

Ultimately, we all seek the same thing when buying a toothbrush: cleaner teeth, a healthier smile, dental hygiene.

Dental hygiene is a daily routine that we do mindlessly, so there has to be a compelling story to create a change in the habit.

Thus, it is an interesting case study to see how different companies approach this challenge, and what strategies are used to attract and convert customers.

 

The Challenges Marketing An Electric Toothbrush

 

  • Alternatives are abundant, and all cheaper. Toothbrushes are a means to the end: you want the fresh mouth feel. Sometimes you’ll use your finger to brush your teeth to get there if needed. There are a ton of cheaper, or free, alternatives 
  • Hard to understand the features. It’s hard for the average human to understand, or care about, toothbrush features. So how do you convince a potential buyer that your solution is good? You have to focus on the benefits instead. Which do you care about more–removing 10x plaque than a manual toothbrush, or the toothbrushes VPM (vibrations per minute)?
  • Low Customer Willingness to Pay. How much will we really pay for a toothbrush? The marketing must demonstrate a lot of value in order to justify a $70 price tag. Thus, you are having to sell on the value of the product, instead of the price of your product. 
  • Customer Lock In. Customers aren’t just purchasing a toothbrush, but making a complete commitment to using an electric toothbrush–once you shell out the $70, you are also committing to an ongoing commitment to use proprietary replacement brushes for the foreseeable future.

These are the strategies that the companies use to convince shoppers that they need the high end toothbrush. These are timeless marketing strategies, that are applicable for any product, vertical, SaaS, ecommerce, or more. 

Most importantly, understand what your customers care about, and offer a compelling vision to help them reach their goals. 

 

  1. Show, Don’t Tell: Show how the product is actually going to be used every day. Use visuals: videos, customer testimonials, product demos. This helps build emotional connection with the viewer. 
  2. Quantify Authority: We listen to, and trust, the opinions of experts. We are also more likely to purchase based on this trust and credibility. Use the authority of those in your field, as Burst does–stating the exact number of dentists and dental professionals that recommend their product. 
  3. Social Proof: When uncertain of a decision, shoppers will look to others to influence their decision. Robert Cialdini calls this Consensus–a key pillar of persuasion. Customer reviews and testimonials are a great way to showcase Consensus. 
  4. Affiliation: Using a familiar face associated with a product acts almost as a personal recommendation from a friend. There is also a subconscious association between that person, their desired traits, and the product. Burst uses celebrities, micro influencers, and “normal” folks throughout their shopping experience. 
  5. Share Your Story: People buy based on emotion. One way to stir up emotion is to share the origin story, and the “why” behind the product’s existence.
  6. Address Objections Preemptively: Price, return policy, shipping fees, satisfaction guarantee, and more. Customers will have various hesitations before purchase, so addressing those throughout the conversion process will only make the purchase process smoother.

 

The Two Toothbrush Contenders

 

Let’s compare how two leading direct-to-consumer dental brands market their products. The niche of dental care is becoming more competitive—venture-backed companies that offer innovative products, similar offerings, and expanding product lines.

 

Quip Burst
Founded In 2014 2017
Total Funding $62.2M $20.0M
Website https://www.getquip.com/ https://www.burstoralcare.com/

 

Let’s see how these two companies attract and convert.

In my search for buying an electric toothbrush online, I looked at the first two results for my Google search: “electric toothbrush online”.

I consider this a Middle of Funnel search–I know the category of product that I am searching for (presumably I have done my research on the category already), but I don’t know which brand I want.

Both companies have a similar ad copy: Brand name (with Registered or TradeMark) + Keyword + Social Proof. 

Burst addresses the “why” we should purchase (ie “whitening), addresses objections (90 day trial and lifetime warranty), and some features.

On the other hand, Quip goes straight into the price—without any mention of the benefits we are getting for the price.

Both ads could test using a Display URL to test for a higher Click Through Rate, for example, www.burstoralcare.com/electric-toothbrush

Here is the video text.

I just chose the first ad created in June, 2020 that is still active. Interesting to note that Burst created __ new creative, and Quip had 1 new creative. Which account do you think performs better?

Yes—Burst is throwing out many more hooks, with more types of ads—videos, images, testimonials, product images, and more.

More opportunity to see what resonates, tweak copy, and reduce ad fatigue on cold traffic campaigns and remarketing alike.

The Product Pages

 

The Product Page is the money page, where I decide which toothbrush I want.

And this is where Burst earns my money in a landslide.
Address Objections Preemptively

What if I don’t like it? I don’t want to pay extra for shipping. Will I be locked into another subscription? Were animals hurt in making this toothbrush? Seriously, Burst addresses each of these objections, before I may even think of these myself….they are called “Burst Perks”

Show, Don’t Tell

The best marketing will create the bridge from where I currently am, to where I want to be. In this case, I want sparkling clean teeth. The demonstration of how the Burst brush compares to what I am normally doing with my manual toothbrush is a compelling visual that shows me the results. This becomes even more real, with the videos in the product images and the Chrissy Teigen video.
Quantify Authority

A key principal of Robert Cialdini’s Principles of Persuasion is the Principle of Authority: “people follow the lead of credible, knowledgeable experts. it’s important to signal to others what makes you a credible, knowledgeable authority before you make your influence attempt.” “25,000 Dental Professionals” is a strong indication of approval. And it is a specific number, just as the 35,072 reviews of 4.9/5 stars. Moreover, quantifying the improvement over a manual toothbrush is effective: “10x more plaque removed, reduces gum bleeding (gingivitis) up to 3x”

Use Social Proof

Lots of dental companies tout their approval from dentists or dental organizations. However in this case, the strong approval, and volume of reviews, offer a lot of validation for this product. Cialdini calls this Consensus: “Especially when they are uncertain, people will look to the actions and behaviors of others to determine their own.”
Affiliatiate with Aspirational People

Will I buy a $70 toothbrush because Chrissy Teigen or Khloe Kardashian use it? No. However, including a familiar face does in fact drive conversions. This is the “Transfer” strategy at work, from Cashvertising: using the authority of trusted and familiar people to promote the product and therefore transfer confidence into the product. 

Tell Your Story

Burst personalizes the brand, telling the story of founders Hamish and Brittany. They paint the picture of a David vs. Goliath, “a nerdy pair” in a “mall tucked away office in Venice Beach”, going up against big name brands who have billions of dollars?”. This narrative is a great story, and provides context for the WHY of Burst—and helps shoppers feel an emotional connection to the toothbrush.

So in comparison, here is the product page for Quip:

This page looks sterile (pun intended) by comparison. Not one human face, video, quote from a customer. Maybe the Quip team has extensively tested various styles of product pages and this works for them, but it doesn’t speak to me, as the customer. I’m only one data point (and opinion) though.

Many of the good things that Burst includes in its landing page are absent here:

  • No quotes or testimonials from customers
  • No images of the toothbrush in action (or better yet, the result of the toothbrush doing its work, like Burst cleaning the corn on the cob)
  • No offers to reduce any hesitation — free shipping, satisfaction guarantee, free returns or support? nothing is mentioned on this page to reassure me of a safety net in case I purchase it but don’t like it.

 

Here are three easy things that could make it a better shopping experience:

  • Use More Product Images. It’s hard to tell that any difference between this and a manual toothbrush—even one video would help. Include multiple photos, a video or two, would go a long way here.
  • Create More Focus. Focus on one goal at a time. Half of the page is dedicated to presenting an upsell, before I have even purchased the product I came here for. Focus on one goal at a time. A confused customer doesn’t purchase.
  • Be More human – humanize the product. A toothbrush in isolation is useless. Including even just one image of a person would help in creating the visual image of how this product would be used.

The Final Takeaway

 

The Quip toothbrush is $45 as opposed to Burst’s $70 version, but despite the price difference, the benefits were not marketed in a compelling way. I’ll pay more for a product that I understand better, used by people that I know, and with an underdog story that I can get behind.

Ultimately, Burst did a comprehensive job in demonstrating the value that I will get out of the product if I purchase it.

This includes the primary benefits of course: healthier teeth, less plaque, reduced chance of gingevitis.

But even moreso, it is also emotional–a chance to join a group of other people who have shared values. Purchasing the Burst toothbrush bridges the gap and opens doors for me to join that group, and associate with people that I aspire to become.

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