We're Overwhelmed With Decisions (Marketing Insights Into Consumer Behavior)

Marketers need to keep it simple because we're overwhelmed with decisions.

It will come as no shock that people feel an increasing amount of stress in their lives. Many studies, such as Gallup, have documented this trend over recent years. Researchers believe that the increasing amount of perceived stress people feel is the result of the decisions that are available to them, the need to “multitask,” and the free time they have to think about work that needs to be done. This stress has created a new trend in how consumers respond to marketing. Consumers are increasingly looking for goods and services that reduce cognitive load - or to put it simply - are “easy.”

The concept of “easy” isn’t as simple as it first sounds. As it manifests itself in a multitude of ways, some easy choices even seem counterintuitive. For instance, Uber, Lyft, and other ride-sharing services quickly grew to dominate taxis in large part because they made interacting with them so easy. Click two buttons and viola, a car arrives at your door. No need to provide directions with the driver, exchange payments, or even talk at all. Once you are done, the app pops up a one-click review.

Online insurers such as Geico and Progressive Insurance helped to revolutionize the auto insurance space. Certainly, part of the efforts was the consistent appeal to low costs, but a major driver was the simplicity they brought to the online quote process. When an applicant is in the process, they automatically pull information from publicly available records so that the consumer doesn’t have to find or type it into the site. This had the effect of making the shopping process much easier, giving them a competitive advantage.

Another online retailer Dollar Shave Club helped consumers get clarity instead of confusion, decision instead of doubt, and usefulness instead of noise. For as little as $1 a month, Dollar Shave Club launched with its $1 a month service that delivers high-quality razors to your home. Through its simple value proposition and humorous marketing that appeals to men who hate shopping, the company has claimed 48.6% of the online razor market. Its legendary launch video, “Our Blades are F*** Great” went viral, crashing DSC’s site and bringing in more than 12K customers within the first 72 hours. Within three months, the video had more than 4.5 million videos.

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