What Can You Learn from Smarties Candy?

In January 1949, Edward Dee brought his family from England to New Jersey, USA. He rented a facility, installed two machines, and began making a candy wafer roll called Smarties®.

If you’ve ever had one of these, you know each roll contains 15 disc-shaped candies of assorted colors and flavors. Pop one in your mouth, and you will get a pleasant, mild taste of… something.

It’s not always easy to figure out what the flavors are, and that’s because whatever the flavor is, there isn’t enough of it to truly make an impression.

And so what do you do when you’re eating these little candies?

If you’re like most people, you pop a few more in your mouth, and you chew.

Thus, a candy roll that could have taken all day to consume - had it been more flavorful - is usually eaten in mere minutes.

It’s like the initial taste is just a tease, and if you want to really experience the flavor, you have to make a more significant commitment to the product.

How does this apply to your marketing?

I’m glad you asked. 😉

If you sell memberships, give out many tiny samples of what’s inside the membership and then require them to join to get the full effect.

If you sell ebooks, give them the table of contents and maybe the first chapter for free. Or give them a few tasty excerpts that end in cliffhangers (snicker snicker).

If you sell a service, give them the first consultation for free, and be sure to give them plenty of reasons to come back for more.

If you sell products that are consumed, don’t give the full benefit in just a small amount when you can do it in a larger amount.

Examples: Herbals supplements – make the capsules half as strong and the dosage two capsules instead of one.

Face cream – Rather than just a drop, dilute the product, so they need to use more to get the same effect.

MORE. Ask yourself how you can get your customer to want MORE of whatever you’re selling. The idea is to make them pleased with a little but wanting more.

Sometimes it’s as easy as dialing down the flavor or withholding just enough to keep them coming back for more.