Give Me Fewer Choices!!!

eMarketer is an amazing resource. But even if you can’t afford the subscription or the studies, you owe it to yourself to apply for their FREE newsletter, which serves up tantalizing bits of data every day. The goal, of course, is to get you to buy a full study. And in my experience, eMarketer studies do not disappoint. But even if you are a cheap person or a person on a very strict budget, the newsletter is of enormous value. It is my only “absolutely must open” of the day.

Well, today’s newsletter provided a great piece of data. It shows the growth in ecommerce sales juxtaposed against the rise in web-influenced offline sales. See below:



Signficance? Digital is likely playing an enormous role in sales for your product even if you don’t sell online. Natch, this is not an earth shattering revelation for most of us, but it is amazing how we continue to dump millions into media that may not have a demonstrative, quantifiable effect on our sales, while ignoring this pregnant fact about online

Brant Barton at Bazaarblog offers up a great collection of research on this very subject.

If you want more specifics, surf on over to the Yahoo Search Marketing Blog offers a PDF of research on the impact of search on offline sales here.

Now the idea of researching products online is nothing new. Heck, a big chunk of web leader CNET’s business is built on it. But what is amazing now is that the reviews you find online aren’t only about gadgets and printers can cars. Check out this collection of consumer testimonials for Olay Regenerist, which is anything but electronic.

I am always amazed at how willing people are to help each other online. And people are clearly hungry for info about practically everything.

Which also begs a question: how much choice is the right amount? When the web began, pundits were predicting an age where people could gleefully revel in carefully considering 125 choices for everything. This new era would mean you’d get exactly what you want. But the challenge is, of course, that considering so many choices requires that we have the time and the level of concern necessary to do so.

People prefer limited choice in practically all cases. Perhaps that’s why so many of us are turning to the web for info. Instead of using of using it to expand our choices, we’re appear to be using it to narrow options through reading what others recommend.

Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.