WOM Helps Customers Make Better Decisions

You’ve probably read about information overload…how we all have too many emails/blogs/status updates/newsletters/RSS feeds to read on a regular basis and that just the mere thought of all this information makes some people feel overwhelmed/cranky/like unplugging their computers permanently.

The term is bandied around a lot these days but it is actually a scientific concept that researchers were studying a long time before the Internet exacerbated the problem.

From a marketing perspective, some of the original research into information overload focused on how much information an individual could handle in order to make a good decision.

The research from the pre-Internet days found that in some cases, more isn’t better…that sometimes when we have too much information we make poorer decisions that we would with less information. The explosion of information available to us via the Internet might suggest that some of our decisions are going to be, well, not so great, because we can’t handle all the information we find.

We end up making decisions maybe not on the best product or service for our particular needs, but on other factors (how quickly it can get delivered, how close it is to our workplace).

You might think that word of mouth might add to the problem of information overload, because after all, it is simply more information, right? However, I want to suggest that you can help your customers manage information by using information from your other customers, in terms of their recommendations and reviews of products and services. Put another way, word of mouth can help make choices easier and decision-making processes simpler and faster for your customers.

1. Make it easier for customers to make decisions

Bookstores tend to stock a lot of different volumes but not a lot of any one volume, so it can certainly be overwhelming to go into a bookstore to find a book. If you’ve wandered into an independent bookshop lately, you might have noticed shelf tags on some of the books that are favorite reads of the people who work there.

These tags are great ways for customers to quickly find a book or two they might want to read. Once they read a book recommended from a specific staffer and like it, they could return to the store to find other books recommended by the staffer.

I’ve always wondered why more stores don’t do this. Of course, customers can always ask the salespeople for recommendations face to face, and get help that way. Nevertheless, a large number of people don’t do this they’re shy, or they can’t find a salesperson easily, or more likely, they just get overwhelmed with choices and decide not to buy anything that day.

2. Relieve cognitive dissonance

Another way to make decision making easier is to minimize the chance of cognitive dissonance, otherwise known as buyer’s remorse. Why do so many bookstores post the New York Times Bestseller list? Because people want to read what other people are reading…if a lot of people purchase something, it must be good (or at least it has a better chance of not being bad).

If there are bestseller lists for anything purchased at your store (perhaps developed by a trade magazine), post it so customers can see either in the store or at your website. Some cosmetics stores use tags to do this: they’ll use shelf tags to indicate which products won an award from this magazine or an accolade from that one. I like this system too…. especially if the magazine making the recommendation is one that I respect.

I bet your staff, and maybe even some of your customers, would be willing to make recommendations on products and services that they’d be happy to let you share. You can post recommendations as shelf tags, in your newsletter, or even at an online discussion board. This will be a great way to add to the positive word of mouth in your store since people will want to tell others that their recommendations are being used by your store.

When people feel like an expert, they get excited and want to pass that excitement on to others. And when customers are talking to their friends and family about brands (which research shows they do five times a day) they’ll remember your business and how it helps them make decisions…and they are likely to share this with the people they speak with. That starts some great word of mouth for your business, and it encourages more people to get involved with making recommendations.

So yes, you’re adding to the information out there, but in a way that helps to mitigate the problem.

I’d love to see more businesses use this technique. It would help me make better, quicker decisions when I’m shopping, which saves me time. I would certainly pass on what stores do that to other busy people I know! Moreover, it would make me feel like a smarter consumer. I would also think the business cared about me as an individual, and wanted to help me make good decisions…that they were more of my partner rather than a chore.

Have you tried this? What works for you?

– Kim