John Crestani Marketing Psychology: 4 Key Strategies
This is not a review of John Crestani’s Super Affiliate System product.
It’s something much more valuable. What follows is an analysis of how John Crestani makes his course irresistible to his audience.
You’re going to learn the exact persuasion and influence strategies he uses in his sales funnel.
He follows a similar formula to other online marketing gurus. Much of his strategies follow the blueprint laid out in Expert Secrets by Russell Brunson.
In this post I’m going to reveal:
- A highly persuasive tactic used by Crestani as well as Amazon and some of the world’s top airlines
- How he appeals to the desire for instant gratification
- The real reason why John Crestani and other gurus say 9-5 employees are ‘slaves’
- How he uses the ‘opportunity switch‘ technique
Who Is John Crestani?
John Crestani is an online marketing influencer, known for his YouTube presence and affiliate marketing training.
His YouTube channel has over 329,000 subscribers and the John Crestani Instagram page has 23.9K followers. According to his LinkedIn profile, Crestani owns a company called Pendragon Labs Marketing.
If you want to get a clearer insight into his personality, I suggest watching the John Crestani interview with YouTube channel Coffeezilla. It’s interesting to observe how Crestani defends some of his more questionable marketing tactics – which I discuss in this post.
Crestani’s Target Audience
Before we get into the exact marketing psychology tactics used by Crestani, we need to consider his audience.
His average follower is likely to be male and fairly young (16-24).
He targets people who are already interested in making money online. His audience are at a beginner level in the make money online space. They may have attempted to make money through drop shipping, YouTube or Facebook ads but likely haven’t succeeded yet.
Many of his viewers may be feeling frustrated because they haven’t been able to earn money through online marketing yet. I’ll explain how Crestani capitalizes on this later in the post.
Most of Crestani’s advertising is done through YouTube, where he places his ads before online marketing videos. But he’s also running Google ads on searches for other marketing gurus like Alex Becker…
Both of the ads above run to the landing page of his Super Affiliate System product.
Knowing who his target audience is will help to better understand why his marketing tactics are effective.
Scarcity & Urgency
Humans are wired to desire that which is in scarce supply. If something is available now but may not be available tomorrow, an urge to get it while you can kicks in.
Why is this?
It’s well established that humans go to greater lengths to avoid pain than to gain pleasure. The thought of missing out on a special deal is perceived by your brain as a painful experience.
You can probably recall at least one experience when you wanted to buy something but left it too late and then that product was gone. Your brain remembers the pain and disappointment associated with that experience.
To avoid suffering a similar painful experience again, your brain automatically craves anything that is in scarce supply.
Businesses in all industries are well aware of this and use it to their advantage. Airlines use it to motivate you to purchase airfares…
Marketing gurus like John Crestani are also using this concept to their advantage. Crestani uses scarcity to motivate his audience to buy his Super Affiliate System program in several ways.
On the program’s landing page, we see he uses a countdown timer to create a sense of urgency. If the user doesn’t buy within the next 43 minutes, they will miss out on the $4000 discount.
The screenshot above is from his landing page. But he also uses the same tactic during his webinar to motivate the audience.
To be clear, this isn’t real scarcity. You won’t actually miss out on the discount if you don’t buy in the next 43 minutes.
Anyone can go back to the same page later and still get the same price. But Crestani (and other marketers) wants you to think you need to act now or miss out.
Scarcity also works because it creates a sense of urgency to act immediately.
Many of the persuasion techniques used in Crestani’s webinar create what’s known as a privileged moment. Robert Cialdini discussed this idea of a privileged moment in his book Pre-Suasion.
After being exposed to persuasion methods, there is a privileged moment when someone is going to be easier to influence. This is often only a very small window.
For Crestani, this means when someone views his webinar and is exposed to his persuasion, there will be a window of time when that person is far more likely to buy his product.
After the person leaves the webinar, the window closes and the chances of the person buying are drastically lower.
To maximize the chances of someone buying during the priviliged moment, Crestani (and other gurus) need to use scarcity to create a sense of urgency.
He also creates a sense of urgency, by offering a limited number of bonuses.
Because the scarcity tactic is so widely used, many people now see past it. A lot of people visiting Crestani’s landing page will realize that it’s not real scarcity.
If you can show your audience that your product actually is in scarce supply, the effect will be much stronger. Take this example from health and beauty course, Get Glowing:
On their landing page, they aren’t accepting new students. Enrollments are closed. But you can join their waitlist.
If you join the waitlist and then are notified 2 weeks later that enrollments are open again, the desire to register will be much greater. You know these guys are for real, they might close enrollments again tomorrow. And if you don’t register now, you might miss out again.
In Crestani’s webinar, he leverages scarcity by telling people there are limited spots available in the course. Of course, this isn’t true. But he does at least justify this with a reason why there a limited spots, to make it more believable.
While Crestani undoubtedly gets some extra sales by using this false scarcity, I would caution against using scarcity in this way.
Firstly, it will be viewed by many as unethical and manipulative. And buyers are becoming more aware of this. Many people will know exactly what you’re doing if you use false scarcity and may become skeptical of you if they recognize it.
But scarcity can be used ethically and in a way the customer will appreciate. Let’s say you’re selling TV’s and a customer is looking at a particular model, of which there is only one remaining in stock.
By telling that customer there is only one remaining in stock, you are increasing the chance of him purchasing the TV. And if that customer really wants the TV. he will appreciate you alerting him before someone else buys it.
If you’re offering online courses, you can use enrollment windows like Get Glowing to create genuine scarcity.
Creating A Perception of Ease
John Crestani wants to give you the perception that making money with his affiliate system is easy.
This is one of the most common tactics used by marketing gurus including Russell Brunson and Alex Becker. You’ve probably seen this tactic employed in other industries as well, including finance and weight loss.
I explain in another post how the human brain is wired to conserve energy. Your brain needs to conserve energy in case you face a difficult life or death situation later on. So it’s naturally drawn to anything that it believes will produce a high return, with minimal effort.
This is why diet pills are appealing to many people. They offer a potentially high return (weight loss) with very low effort.
Closely related is the idea of instant gratification. People desire instant success and rewards. Marketers can make their products more appealing by promising fast results. This sales page for the 4 Week Diet is a good example of this:
Notice the emphasis on “rapid weight loss.” They know their audience doesn’t want to wait 12 months to lose weight. They want it now.
Crestani creates a sense of instant gratification by telling his audience they can make money fast by following his system. In his webinar, he says you should be making money by the end of week 1.
Almost everyone is susceptible to these instant gratification appeals. Which of the following sounds more appealing?
- “Follow our system to make $100 per day by the end of your first week”
- “You will need to spend 12 hours every day, writing, researching and making videos for the next 3 years before you can earn enough to quit your job.“
Most people don’t want to delay gratification for 3 years. Option 1 sounds far more appealing because it offers a reward in just one week.
Observe the language that Crestani uses on his landing page for Super Affiliate System. It’s carefully scripted to create a perception of ease and appeal to people’s desire for instant gratification.
Even the product name Super Affiliate System appeals to people’s desire for ease. The word ‘system’ gives you the sense that this is something that has already been built. You just follow the blueprint and get the same results as John Crestani.
Of course, gurus like Crestani can’t explicitly tell you that you can follow their plan and you will make $10,000 per month. There are laws restricting them from making such claims.
But they can imply this will happen.
The word ‘method‘ has a similar effect to ‘system.’ Most people don’t want to figure out how to do affiliate marketing themselves. That would require too much mental energy.
But following a method that someone else has developed for you requires much less mental energy. And it makes his audience feel more certain that this can work for them.
Stating that his students are making sales in 24 hours or under appeals to desire for instant gratification. And when reading this, people will imagine themselves getting their first sale.
Claiming that you can do this for just 4 hours per week and still see amazing success is another appeal to the desire for ease and instant gratification. Crestani reiterates numerous times during his webinar and sales materials that you only need 4 hours per week to do this.
The Reasons Why John Crestani & Other Gurus Bash The 9-5
Crestani and other online marketing gurus want you to know that the traditional 9-5 job and college education is a scam.
Tai Lopez does this, Dan Lok does it and countless other gurus do the same. Even though you’re statistically more likely to earn more money working a 9-5 job than starting your own business…
So why do they tell you the conventional wisdom is wrong?
You might think they are trying to convince their audience that becoming an entrepreneur is better than working for someone else.
But there is actually a much more nuanced explanation why Crestani does this. It comes down to a psychology concept known as confirmation bias.
Confirmation Bias
Confirmation bias is a natural tendency that humans have to seek out information that confirms their existing views.
When you discover new information that confirms your existing beliefs, you are likely to view that information favorably. And also view the person presenting that information positively.
This 5 minute YouTube video from Thought Monkey explains exactly what confirmation bias is:
When people see information that confirms their existing beliefs, it makes them feel good. It makes them feel like they have got it right. And they are likely to consume more information from the same source to get more of that feeling.
Media outlets are masters of using confirmation bias to their advantage. Take liberal media outlets like CNN and The Huff Post for example.
They know that if they keep broadcasting information that confirms left-leaning beliefs, their liberal audience will keep coming back for more. Conservative media like Fox News does the same.
This phenomenon explains why bashing the 9-5 and college education is so effective for John Crestani and other gurus.
Crestani isn’t trying to change beliefs here. Remember who his audience is? It’s not 9-5 corporate employees who have been working in the same job for 10-20 years.
His audience already believes that the traditional career path is broken. They have already consumed enough content from other gurus like Tai Lopez, to have this belief firmly ingrained in their minds.
The sales copy above from Crestani’s landing page is designed to leverage confirmation bias.
The target audience viewer feels good because Crestani is confirming their belief that working a traditional job is the wrong path. They now see Crestani as a source of truth and continue watching to see what else he says.
I don’t particularly like this usage of the confirmation bias by Crestani and other gurus. Not everyone is made to start their own business. And the majority of people would simply be better off financially by getting a traditional job.
But it’s a good example of how you can leverage the confirmation bias. Think about your own audience and what beliefs they hold.
By confirming those beliefs for your audience, they will pay attention and seek out more content from you.
The Opportunity Switch
In his book Expert Secrets, ClickFunnels founder Russell Brunson explains the concept of the opportunity switch.
An opportunity switch involves giving people a new vehicle to achieve the same result they’re already trying to attain.
In Crestani’s case, his audience are already trying to make money online. Some of them are probably doing e-commerce. Others might be doing Kindle publishing or freelancing services.
Crestani is still offering to help them make money online. But through a new vehicle: affiliate marketing.
Below is the slide where Crestani introduces the opportunity switch in his webinar:
“Entrepreneur” is all the other making money online methods that his audience has been trying. And “affiliate” is the new opportunity that will allow them to reach the same goal.
Why Does The Opportunity Switch Work So Well?
In the online marketing space, the opportunity switch is incredibly effective.
This is partly due to the way online marketing opportunities are promoted. People have been trained to believe that making money online should be easy.
But the reality is that making money online is actually very difficult and requires a lot of work. Almost anyone who genuinely makes a lot of money online will tell you that it took a lot of work to get there.
So when people begin trying to make money online and don’t see immediate results, they get frustrated. Alex Becker, Sam Ovens and Dan Lok told them that this is supposed to be easy!
But when they are introduced to a new make money online opportunity, they start to feel excitement again. Perhaps this new opportunity is the way to make money fast and easy.
The opportunity switch is a way out of the frustration and self-doubt they are currently experiencing. It’s a way to make a fresh start and feel hopeful again. And that is extremely appealing to people.
Should You Buy Super Affiliate System?
If you’re interested in generating an income through affiliate marketing, you can take a look at Crestani’s webinar yourself.
You can also view his sales page for Super Affiliate System here. I recommend taking a look even if you’re not interested in his product. Just take a few minutes to analyze some of the marketing psychology methods he uses.
I haven’t personally tried his products so I can’t comment on the quality of them. If you’re thinking about purchasing the Super Affiliate System product, just be aware that it’s not going to be as easy as Crestani tells you it is.
But there is a lot to learn from John Crestani about marketing and persuasion. You can learn this for free (from this post) and studying his sales funnel yourself.
It’s worthwhile going through his YouTube videos and sales materials and observing the techniques he uses. If you want to learn marketing rapidly, analyzing professionals like John Crestani is one of the most effective ways.
If you want to learn how to become a highly persuasive marketer, check out this post I wrote. I explain a process to learn marketing from the world’s biggest brands and marketing professionals gurus like John Crestani for free.
