Choices are hard enough for the average consumer, great businesses commit to making the buying decision easier for their customers.
The world seems to be determined to continue increasing the difficulty level of every choice we must make. Before making even a small choice, it is simple for us to pull out the old smartphone and start to consult with everybody in the world about the choice we are about to make. Fear of missing out, not wanting to be outdone by peers, or that terrible feeling of buyer’s remorse are reasons that we all turn to the greatest tool man has invented to access the opinions of billions of other consumers, the smartphone.
Ironically, the more information available to help us make the perfect choice, the harder our choices become. The phenomenon known as “The Paradox of Choice” shows that a u-shaped curve exists where options in a choice are beneficial to a person’s happiness and well being only up to a certain point. Once there are more than a few options, a person’s confusion and anxiety levels increase. This was written about by psychologist Barry Schwartz in his book, The Paradox of Choice – Why More Is Less. In the book, Schwartz argues that controlling consumer options greatly reduces anxiety for shoppers.
Meanwhile, consumers have shown a strong desire to get informed prior to making purchasing decisions. Statista (https://www.statista.com/) publishes a ton of insightful data about how consumers make decisions in their purchasing journey. Take a look at this chart:
The top 3 influencers on consumer choice are generally about price. That is intuitive. The next block of influencers on consumer decisions are all about the choices available and the information that the internet puts at our fingertips to find relevant data.
Good businesses know that they must present a product at a fair price. Great businesses find a way to make their product and price compelling enough to motivate a consumer to act. Think about how Amazon and Walmart provide pricing that has ultimately revolutionized retail.
Good businesses know that they must show a positive representation of themselves online to influence a shopper. Great businesses commit to an authentic voice and genuine interaction with their customers to turn even negative interactions into positive reflections of their operations. Think about how Zappos never fails to respond to negative customer reviews, and they give their responses a positive twist. Zappos is famous for this kind of response:
They corrected their initial misstep, offered to send the customer a replacement, AND they recommended that she keep the original product. Only an internet troll would argue with an attitude like that.
Good businesses present their products for sale in an organized and aesthetically pleasing way. Great businesses apply the knowledge that sometimes, too many options are a bad thing. Great businesses commit to presenting a simple path for their consumer to engage with their products and move from research to purchase seamlessly. Simply put, great businesses take the time to ensure they thoughtfully reduce the stress and anxiety that consumers feel when making a purchase.
In the automotive industry, we are working with consumers who are possibly making the second largest purchasing decision (only behind home buying) that they will ever make. In such a high stakes scenario, adding confusion and anxiety to our customer’s choice is a recipe for disaster. Given the wide array of influences on a consumer, there is no silver bullet that solves all problems. The great companies that I have in mind are all taking many small steps toward building a compelling buying choice. We can all make incremental improvements on many of the influencers mentioned above. The question really is whether you want to invest the time and energy it takes to be genuinely great at ushering someone from being a shopper in to being a lifelong devotee to your brand.