"The way a question is framed can strongly influence how someone responds, especially when there is risk involved, for example the purchase of an expensive item.
Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman pioneered research in this area and are famous for their Asian flu experiment, where two groups were asked to select a program to combat a fictional flu expected to kill 600 people in the U.S.
Group 1 were presented with a choice between two programs:
- Program A: "200 people will be saved"
- Program B: "there is a one-third probability that 600 people will be saved, and a two-thirds probability that no people will be saved"
72 percent of participants preferred program A.
Group 2 were presented with the choice between:
- Program C: "400 people will die"
- Program D: "there is a one-third probability that nobody will die, and a two-third probability that 600 people will die"
78 percent preferred program D.
Altering the way the two options were phrased did not just change, but actually reversed participant's perception of the two options.
The way that you frame your marketing message can have a powerful impact on its ability to influence your customers, particularly if a decision comes with financial risk."
A jam experiment conducted by Sheena S. Iyengar and Mark R. Lepper demonstrated that more choices might attract more attention, but fewer choices increased sales.
The researchers set up a tasting booth for exotic jams at a high end grocery store and rotated the display so that either 6 or 24 flavours of jam were on display. All consumers could sample as many of the jams as they wanted and everyone who approached the booth was given a coupon.
Ivengar and Lepper found that having a bigger selection of jams attracted more people to the booth: 60 per cent of the customers who passed the booth stopped when 24 varieties were on display, compared to 40 per cent when 6 jams were out.
Yet when it came to sales, the smaller selection won the day. Thirty per cent of people who stopped by the limited selection actually purchased a jar of jam, compared to just 3 per cent for those who stopped by the table when 24 choices were on display.
"This is kind of the conundrum of too much choice," said Ariely. "It attracts to people but then they end up doing nothing."
If
you are trying to sell something you have to understand how complexity
is working both for and against you. For example, having too many
choices on your website may encourage customers to browse, yet deter
them from actually buying.
Reducing the number of choices can not only increase sales, but it may help you save money as well as you will be focused on a small portfolio of products and services.
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