If you accept online payments, here's a great little motivation trick

Motivation in online sales can be as simple as the sound of a new order. If you have a webshop or another site that accepts payments, here’s a little idea I’d used at both SPAMfighter and Amino.

Motivation in online sales with a sound in the office

The idea was to have the order system send an email whenever someone made a purchase. Those emails went to a special account I called the cash register.

On a computer, the email program could then play a cash register sound when an order arrived. Instead of the usual email sound, it went ka-ching, and everyone in the office could hear something good had happened.

The first purchases made a big impression

I remember when we told SPAMfighter’s free users about a commercial version. When the first order arrived, we looked at each other and almost thought it must be a mistake.

But more came. It was fantastic walking around the office hearing new purchases come in. It reminded me of salespeople ringing a bell or playing music when they’d made a deal.

A little trick from 2012

In the video, I suggested using an old computer or your own machine. It was about making progress noticeable and sharing the joy with others.

It wasn’t a claim that the sound generated more sales. It motivated me and gave me pleasure to hear the results of the work.

How I set up the little cash register

It’s a little tool I’ve used both when we built SPAMfighter and now at Amino. If you have a webshop, website or anything else accepting online payments, start with the order system: Make sure it sends an email whenever a new order arrives.

Create a special email account for those messages. I call it the cash register. Then find an old PC, an old laptop or another machine that can stay running in the office. It doesn’t need to be anything special.

You could also have a screen with something like Chartbeat or another service showing how many visitors you have right now. I mention that as an option in the video. But the cash register idea itself is about the sound of incoming orders.

Set up the email account on the machine. In Outlook or another email program, you could typically change the new email sound or use rules for it. Find a cash register sound and use it instead of the usual email sound. Then the machine goes ka-ching whenever an order email arrives.

Motivation in online sales that everyone in the office can hear

Then everyone can sit there clapping and enjoying an order coming in. It sounds trivial, but it’s like salespeople ringing a bell when they’ve sold something. At some companies I’m involved in, they play Tina Turner’s Simply the Best.

Here it can happen automatically. Nothing motivates me more than walking around the office sorting things out while it goes ka-ching, ka-ching. It makes the results of the work feel immediate. Also read Min vej som leder about my experiences with motivation and people in a business.

Two minutes to the first order and 200 ka-chings

I remember when we sent the first emails to SPAMfighter’s free users telling them there was a commercial version. After two minutes, the machine went ka-ching for the first time. We looked at each other and thought it must be a mistake.

Then it went ka-ching around 200 times in the next two or three hours. I nearly came in my pants every time. I describe hearing those orders coming in as a multiple-orgasm experience. That’s how excited I was.

If you lack motivation in your daily life, here’s a little tip. It needn’t cost more than a bloody old laptop or whatever the hell you can set up. You can use your own machine too. Motivation matters. Take care.

Best wishes, Martin