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Think Closely About the Choices You Present
One wrong word (or phrase) can injure conversions.
Dyson is an amazing company. They KNOW how to market their engineering story. They also have beautiful products and a beautiful website. But no one is perfect.
Before I go on, let me ask a question: do you prefer reading text or watching a video?
“I prefer watching a video”:
“I prefer reading”: Ok, so here are the options they present:
Pay attention to the first 3. The 3rd option (3rd from the left) has one extra feature listed: Intelligent processor in the head:
This leads to all sorts of cognitive issues because I assumed the first 3 options were the same, except for color. They have the same price and number of reviews, which supported my theory. I even clicked the down arrow to see if maybe the 3rd model had differences in terms of accessories. Here too I couldn’t spot any difference:
To investigate I explored the Learn more button for all 3 models. The phrase Intelligent processor in the head isn’t mentioned anywhere on the product pages. At this point, my brain is getting a little fried.
I believe Dyson made a mistake. They accidentally added the phrase Intelligent processor in the head on the 3rd option even though that’s a feature that applies to all 3 models. This could be a fatal conversion killer. I’ll tell you what it did to me. When I first got to the page the red color model spoke to me (1st one listed). I was about to pull the trigger when I noticed the phrase Intelligent processor in the head. The narrative in my head was that the iron/fuchsia model is $399.99 and has Intelligent processor in the head. Do I really like the red color so much I’m willing to forgo a compelling feature (“Intelligent processor in the head”)? I don’t think so.
Navigation flow slowed (that’s not a good thing for Dyson). Ended up spending an extra 20 minutes to get to the bottom of Intelligent processor in the head and couldn’t figure it. My emotional self wants the red color and my rational side isn’t willing to give up on Intelligent processor in the head feature (especially because it is FREE on the fuchsia color model).
Guess what I did? I decided to defer the purchase. Guess what that really means? I might never return to the site.
One wrongly worded phrase totally messed up the comparison table.
Comments 2
Anytime you are thinking of spending $400 on a hair dryer I think it is a good idea to “defer” your purchase.
I both read post and watched video. Video has more info but does take more time. The points your make are valid but I never gave it much thought. I notice whenever I attempt to process these “differences” I experience fatigue which as you point out pushes the user away.
You focus on the extra wording being the biggest issue but I think it is really the way the whole site (or at least that section) treats features as separate products. The wording is just the most obvious trigger but despite having clues such as number of reviews your quest fails to affirm the models are the same. Had each color (and model with case) simply lead to one product page your concern about missing out would be reduced maybe to the point of making a purchase.
As you our mentioned in the video our brains can only handle so much. An effective website should act as a funnel helping customers narrow their choice but in this case it appears as if there is only one model making it rather ironic the site raises questions in the consumers mind deferring or preventing a purchase.
Replybetterretail
Matt: Anytime you are thinking of spending $400 on a hair dryer I think it is a good idea to “defer” your purchase.
Rishi: Haha, true.
Matt: You focus on the extra wording being the biggest issue but I think it is really the way the whole site (or at least that section) treats features as separate products. The wording is just the most obvious trigger but despite having clues such as number of reviews your quest fails to affirm the models are the same. Had each color (and model with case) simply lead to one product page your concern about missing out would be reduced maybe to the point of making a purchase.
ReplyRishi: Totally agreed. Great point.