Sometimes less can make a big big difference in sales

Back in 2000, a couple of researchers tested the theory that if we're provided with too many choices then we end up making none at all. They set up a booth at a posh supermarket in America and posing as employees of the shop, displayed an alternating number of products to the shoppers. Half the time they displayed 6 jars of jam, the other half they displayed 24 jars.

As you might expect, with 24 jars laid out, far more people stopped to take an interest, with 60% of shoppers stopping to take a look against only 40% for the 6 jars.

What is interesting is that of the shoppers that stopped to look at the 24 jars, only 3% made a purchase compared to 30% who made a purchase when there were 6 jars on the table. In cold hard cash the difference amounted to 12 total purchases for the 6 jars half, versus only 2 total purchases for the 24 jar half. This means that the total sales for the 6 jar half were 600% greater.

Whilst there are no benchmarks that I am aware of for the optimum number of products or calls to action that should be shown on a web page it is a cornerstone of maximising the conversion funnel not to over complicate the sales process, part of this is necessarily to not have too many products on the page. On the other hand, having too few can also act as a deterrent as it doesn't allow the customer to make a conscious choice in their selection. Only by monitoring user behaviour, page layout and the conversion funnel carefully and manipulating the process can you maximise sales.

How to Build Customer Commitment

I keep reading about the emergence of the value consumer, who, once driven by quality and exclusivity is now busily coupon cutting for cheap or largely incentivized offers. Luke Johnson in the FT recently said that businesses must adapt and embrace this new order or asphyxiate.

Like most things there are two sides to this. Whilst discounting undoubtedly holds the strongest voice in today’s economic opera there is a concern over the level of customer commitment generated. Whilst the aria at the moment is purely about ‘bums on seats’ it is worthwhile considering the longer-term objective of loyalty and customer commitment.

I recently read ‘Neuro Web Design’ which refers to research by Caldini in 2007 showing that if a public commitment is not ‘owned’ by a person, and is mainly made to gain a large reward, the individual is not deeply committed and will not show deep commitment in future behaviour. However, if the action is made voluntarily because of ‘inner beliefs’ then the person will feel much more committed to the action. Crucially, to get commitment we need to engender ‘inner responsibility’.

To build ‘inner responsibility’ Caldini goes onto to say that it’s worthwhile giving a mild admonition or small threat of punishment as this can encourage us to behave in certain ways. Afterwards we’re more likely to display a tendency to want to be consistent and take responsibility for our behaviour. The pressure for consistency causes the commitment to deepen.

Let’s be clear – I don’t think that Caldini is advocating that you treat your customers as Basil Fawlty would, but sometimes making the customer conversion process more like joining an exclusive club may actually improve loyalty by making the customer emotionally engaged with the decision.

Many people have experienced this process over the last few years as they ditch their PC’s and embrace Apple Macs’ – it’s not easy making the change, and you avoid making the decision for quite a while until you are convinced that it’s really something you want to do. Once you make the choice, you expect pain on the way, but ultimately you believe the choice will be worthwhile and it’ll be for life….