How to Sell 100,000 Extra Units With Psychology-Based Bundling

If you're not aware of the Nintendo's previous sales model, it was a pretty common one. Fixed bundles with pre-selected products would be offered at select times of the year to both loyal and new customers via all sorts of marketing channels.

In Nintendo's case, this often resulted in offering a bundle that looked something like this:

Look familiar? It's because Nintendo was using the same bundling methods in 2005 that we still use today.

In DTC, bundle offers are often built by coupling products that are most likely to increase AOV, promote LTV, or get rid of discontinued products instead of being built from what really sells: solving the customer's problem.

How to Bundle Like a Boss

As someone who is obsessed with driving brand efficiency through human behavior, bad bundling drives me nuts. 😂

We often create offers that have no behavioral rhyme or reason to them. Products are in a bundle because we bundled them, not because it makes sense to bundle them.

And this was the exact problem Nintendo was having.

Before the strategic shift, Nintendo's fixed bundles had a notable drawback. The company noticed that many potential customers hesitated to make purchases when the contents of the fixed bundles did not align with their personal preferences (contrary to popular belief...not everyone wanted to play Tony Hawk 😂.)

As a result, customers frequently postponed their buying decision, in the hopes that a more appealing bundle would arrive in the future. This hesitation and reluctance had a negative impact on Nintendo's sales, limiting their revenue potential and hindering the overall growth of the business.

Seeking a solution to this challenge, Nintendo made a strategic shift and introduced "Blended Bundles".

This new approach allowed customers to choose between purchasing the entire bundle or buying each product within the bundle separately. Sounds strange, but having both options side by side helped create dynamic customer segmentation right on the landing page:

• Customers who were price-conscious purchased the bundle at a discount and didn't mind getting a random game.
• Customers who wanted the console but not the bundled game got to buy the console and their preferred game separately.

There's some science as to why this works.

"Researchers found that consumers might actually value the bundle less than they would value the individual component products...there was a "negative synergy" associated with the bundle."

"Despite this, they found that Nintendo sold the most products when it offered a bundle option—a video game console and a game sold together as one package - coupled with an option to buy each piece individually." - Forbes​ (Read the full article here.)

"Negative synergy" = customers didn't like the products being bundled together. Random, confusing, complicated bundle product choices were literally turning customers off...and hurting sales.

At the end of the day, people want options that fit the problems they're looking to solve. They don't want to be stuck with pre-selected products that have no benefit to their everyday lives. By breaking free from the fixed model, Nintendo found a psychological sweet spot that helped them move thousands of units.

It's the best of both worlds. And it's easy to copy!

How to Build a Blended Bundle Model:

1. Mix and Match: Look for products that complement each other behaviorally: like PB&J. Don't bundle products according to their business value - bundle them according to the way your customers use them, need them, and want them.
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2. Sweeten the Deal: Your offer doesn't have to make logical sense, it just needs to be believable. Your customers aren't doing the mental math as often as you think they are, so price your bundle in a way that makes the deal believable.
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3. Break the Ice: Get to know your customers inside out. What products do they love? How are they currently using them? Understanding how your customers are using your products will help you create bundles that are not just beneficial...it'll make them essential.