Show HN: Business Book Club – subscription service from an indie bookshop

Hello HN! We've been independent booksellers in the UK for 15 years and Business Book Club is our first subscription offering.

The pitch: every month you get a book that the Business Book Club team has read and found thought-provoking or inspiring. £14.99/month or subscribe yearly and get a free month.

Happy to answer any questions you have!

If I understand correctly - the book is fixed for every month for every user ? Will it not be a better idea - that user could choose from a group of books.

When should user return the book - by end of month ? Who will bear postage charges ?

Hi Hugh -- thank you for sharing this. Fantastic idea, and there is definitely legs to it. In fact, I think I have searched for something similar in the past in the UK, but couldn't find it.

This is perfect for me, and I love the idea. It's definitely a service that I would use. However, for some reason, I didn't end up signing. That got me thinking about the consumer psychology of my behaviour. I half entered by credit card details, then thought "Hmm. Do I really need this?"

I'm sure I'll eventually come back and sign up, but I thought it would be useful to take you through my thought process. Of course, consumer behaviour isn't always rationale, and I may be diagnosing my behaviour wrong, but I thought it would be useful to you -- and, perhaps, other people in any case. It's also useful for me to analyse my behaviour, and see if I can learn something from it.

There is a critical moment when people, for whatever reason, decide to buy a product. Something coalesces -- and we make a decision about buying. I'm sure it's a complicated tangle of (mainly) emotional but also rational reasons. I've always believed that understanding that moment is a key to online business success. How do you create a webpage that is conducive to bringing about a buying decision? Gives the consumer the psychology security to commit? Inches them over the line?

I thought my behaviour on your website was interesting because all the rationale cues were there -- I wanted the service, I like reading business books, I like the ideas of getting one delivered to my door every month. I liked the FEATURES. But the emotional side left me cold. Or I think that's what it was.

Here's my after-the-fact rationalisation:

The website only sells the functional features of the product. It doesn't talk to the type of person that I want to be and identify as.

After half entering my details, I thought... "Is this payment worth the service?" I ended up saying to myself "Actually, I can just go around the corner and picking up a business book myself."

Instead, if I have viewed the buying decision as affirmation of my identity, then I think I would have gone through with the purchase. I wouldn't have viewed the purchase as an monetary exchange for the functional features that you are selling (book delivery), but as a statement of my identity (I am the type of person who reads business books, is ahead of peers on business theory, and is looking to always learn and improve himself).

So, what changes might that analysis suggest...

+ probably the introduction of some messaging around "A bookclub for CEOs, founders, and other ambitious entrepreneurs";

+ probably a testimonial from someone I would like to identify with;

+ I would go bigger on the monthly newsletter. It is not only a newsletter, but the membership of secret UK community of entrepreneurs, and other people who are trying to build and scale businesses.

Anyways. Sorry to hijack your post with a 1,000-word self-interested stream of conscious post. -J