“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.” –Robert Frost
The great poet Robert Frost showed it best. The choices you make will cause a huge difference in your life. Or will they? Depending on how you look at it, these choices can be a good thing or a bad thing. Barry Schwartz is his talk about “The Paradox of Choice” indicates that having too many choices is a bad thing. While I don’t necessarily disagree with him, I find his arguments contrary to current product and service marketing. In the year 2009, it seems like consumers are forced to make a choice about every product or service they buy. Businesses seem to be very choice oriented. Most businesses aim to give consumers every possible combination of goods and services imaginable.
Granted, many consumers have different needs, but I think consumers are spoiled. They are no longer satisfied with just getting soap, shampoo, or laundry detergent. Now it must disinfect a certain way, smell another way, and clean a specific spot. Consequently, companies are constantly putting out new products to satisfy those specific desires. Then, consumers get tired of that product and want something new. Since we’ve always received tons of options, we always want more. Basically, the ability to have a choice has made consumers more needy. We want more because we know that companies need to satisfy us because we drive their bottom line. As a result, consumers begin to get this feeling of well they company owes it to me to give me a new product. Once we get a new product, we become overly critical about that product. If the company doesn’t exactly meet our needs, we threaten to switch to a competitor. Now I ask, what we did when we didn’t have so many other options.
Another interesting thought involves the fact that most consumers use their close friends and relatives opinions to select a product. Since we cannot decide on our own, we must rely on people we trust to tell us what to do. For instance, at the grocery store, I find myself calling my mom just to ask her what brand of bacon is better. While this is important for my breakfast, it’s a little ridiculous that consumers cannot make a simple decision on their own anymore. Consequently, marketers must work heavily to reach the decision maker in the family. The ultimate example of this is the success Nintendo has had in marketing the Wii to stay at home moms.
On a personal level, I face my own paradox of choice recently. I decided to move into an off-campus apartment after living in an on-campus dorm for three years. I tormented myself for three weeks about whether to move off-campus or not. Even when I decided to move off campus, I immediately faced regret. I kept thinking about the reasons I should have just stayed on-campus. Yet, I originally was really confident in my decisions. I realized I was in a paradox. Either decision I made was really right and that’s why the decision was so difficult.
Similar to my situation, consumers are faced with a paradox. They may be indecisive as to what product to buy or what service to use. This indecisiveness arises from the fact that either decision is really correct. For example, I highly doubt that axe body wash is any better than old spice body wash. Its just now that men have a choice they ponder the pros and cons of each purchase. As a result of so many options, consumers are unsure of their decisions and experience buyers’ remorse.
Consumer indecisiveness relates to the argument in the article “Get Closer to Your Customers by Understanding How They Make Choices” by Itamar Simonson. It seems like all companies have done by diversifying their product portfolio is make it more difficult for them to understand their own consumers. Thus, companies must work to ensure that their products are the most satisfying to the consumer. This satisfaction oriented approach will help to minimize buyers remorse and help the decision making process easier. Now the question becomes, “What satisfies consumers?” If there is one thing being argued here, it is that marketers really don’t know exactly what drives consumer decisions. Marketers may have a pretty good idea, but it seems nearly impossible to completely understand the complex minds of a consumers. As a future marketer, I will definitely try to find the “golden ticket” to consumer decision making.
