Chris Anderson in his book ‘The Long Tail’ presents an intriguing case study. In two separate instances, shoppers at a specialty food store were presented with a display table of jams and jellies. On each table was a coupon offering a discount on any item they chose to buy. The first experiment had 6 options, the second 24 options.
On the table where 6 options were presented, 30% of the samplers took a coupon and bought a product. When 24 options were available, while more people sampled the flavors, significantly fewer took advantage of the coupon or purchased a product. It seemed that too many choices created a ‘paralysis of analysis’.
Anderson goes on to discuss 2 important reactions to the experiment. First, he says that this study should not be misunderstood to suggest that consumers do not like options. In fact, restricting choice be just as big a problem.
Secondly, he suggests that overcoming the tyranny of choice can be achieved by assisting your prospect with the selection process. Online retail giant Amazon.com has an exponentially larger selection of products available than most retail stores, but resolves the challenge of ‘information overload’ by offering product reviews, ratings, and popular choice information to consumers who are considering any of their products.
It may not be feasible to develop the software engine that Amazon.com uses, but most websites and shopping carts do have the ability to offer content rating and related item listings. Customer reviews and testimonials are also powerful tools that help a prospect decide to buy from you. Pulling all your sales and marketing efforts into a well designed customer relationship management (CRM) system will ensure that your prospects get the information they need in a fashion that moves them to a buying decision rather than an overload retreat.
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