I’m a fan of craft beer. Over the years I’ve developed my pallet and can find something to like, or at least something interesting, about pretty much any style or beer. I’m also lucky enough to live very close to one of Australia’s best craft beer pubs. I’m actually writing this as my partner and I enjoy our Sunday afternoon ritual of sampling some options from the ever-changing taps.
The staff here are super knowledgeable and helpful. But more than once, when the place is busy and the folk behind the bar are engaged elsewhere, I’ve overheard customers, who aren’t beer enthusiasts, overwhelmed and confused by the multitude of colourful tap decals and ambiguous names, (‘Furious Gnome Bitter’ anyone?) give up on something new and default to the generic and familiar options.
This is can be explained by the concept of decision-making heuristics outlined by Robert Cialdini in his great book, ‘Influence’. In the absence of knowledge on a particular subject, people will default to decision making based on criteria they do understand.
For example, a person raised on the story that ‘price=quality’ may be put off by the low cost of your product. Even if the price is fair.
The one or two times I’ve been cajoled into betting on a horse race in my life, being wholly ignorant of what a “good bet” would constitute, I made my decision based solely on how amusing I thought the horse’s name was. (Incidentally, horse racing is something I’ve since come to believe is unethical… but that’s a whole other train of thought).
If your product is novel or complex and a good portion of your potential customers are uninformed, there is a good chance people will not be making decisions based on the criteria you’d prefer.
Where are the opportunities to remove friction, improve the experience and ultimately end up with happier customers who are less likely to have buyers remorse by engaging in a little skilful education?